Body Shop Recommendation for St Petersburg or Tampa FL
 

Hello,
Someone just decided to drive right into my 2011 XKR convertible today.
Passenger door and front panel needs to be replaced.
No damage to the wheels at all.
Any recommendations on a good body shop in St Petersburg or Tampa FL?

Thank you!

Suck, man

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Thank you for the comment.
Yeah, I was extremely upset because the guy tried to drive away.
I had to back up quickly and chase him.
He had quite a large head start but I caught him.
Cops came quickly too.
Car is no longer a "crash virgin".

Gordon Chevrolet in North Tampa, Andrew Cody. In my book, not a better painter around....

https://goo.gl/maps/byhjvES8i1o

Painted several things for me through the years

Thanks!

Thanks for the comment.
Wow, that sucks!
I really feel for you.
How did you end up resolving the repair? Did you fight it? Pay money out of pocket (i.e. pay for the amount that the in-network body shop would charge)?

When my 07 vert was rear ended State Farm was the other guys insurance company. They acknowledged the repair needed to be done Jag certified with no argument at all...with me. However, the shop manager told me SF drug their feet and questioned absolutly every little detail on the job. The result was a long and drawn out repair but the body shop stood up to them and did everything by Jaguar's book! At the end SF admitted it would have been cheaper to have totalled the car. The repair Sports & Imports (Atlanta) did was nearly undetectable including the paint match.

The moral of the story in my experience is that, it may take a long time for repair but if you stand your ground/not accept any shortcuts it can be done correctly and totally on their dime. (oh, don't forget the insurance company owes you a decient rental car and even something for your inconvienence.....they wouldn't admit the last part but you can always try.)

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Many thanks for the advice.

Wow man, sorry to hear about this! I am also looking for a body shop in the Tampa area, but in my case it is for fun stuff (Speed Pack Spoiler RS Rockers), plus an already missmatched bumper cover paint.. After thinking about it I have decided it is best to have it done at a Jag Dealer Body Shop. I feel there is no one else that has a best chance of matching my Liquid Silver exactly since they are used to painting that and other Jag paints etc. Yeah I know it will cost a little more, I feel it is my best hope for an exact paint match.

Let's share info that we find with each other.

Hope you have a Happy(er) Friday,

Dave

The insurance company covered the full cost of the repair in the end. The claims agent did need to get supervisor approval in order for the work to be done at the Jag Certified shop (Barrow Body Shop here in Atlanta), but it was not an issue after two of their shops told them they couldn't do the work.

The body shop did outstanding work and there are absolutely no signs of the collision above or below the surface. They did take their time in doing a quality repair though, which created some issues with insurance coverage of my rental car. The repair took 10 days and the insurance company (USAA) would only cover 3 days of the rental car stating that the body shop took an excessive amount of time with the repair. I was deemed to be 0% at fault in the accident so I was pretty upset to be paying for 7 days out of pocket and I fought them like hell. It was a relatively small amount of money, but the principle of the issue was infuriating.

There were over 50 messages back and forth over the course of nearly a month. The issue was escalated to management several times only to be rejected every time. I finally got so sick of dealing with them that I looked into suing them in small claims court and found that it was rather easy. I told them that we were done arguing and that they could expect to receive a summons via registered mail.

Two days later I received a call from someone at USAA who apologized profusely and said that they would be covering the entire 10 days of rental car. I was rather surprised because I fully expected to file suit and serve them before getting any movement on their end. I asked why they changed their minds and was told that they reviewed the case again and found that they had "dropped the ball several times and wanted to make it right."

The point is, don't let the insurance company cut costs at your expense! They need to fulfill their commitments. Plus, in my case at least, it would've cost them more money to send a representative from their company to defend themselves in an out of state court than it would cost to just pay out the claim.

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Thanks for the information -- very helpful.
Just heard from the insurance company and I was told that by law (I guess that it is a Florida state law), no insurance company can direct me on where to repair my car.
They told me to tow it to the place of my choice and will have an adjuster look at it.
I will find out later today if it is not a write-off --> I don't think that it is but 'hope for the best, plan for the worst'.

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Thanks Dave for the well wishes and your thoughts on the matter.
I decided to tow it to a local dealer who seems to have good reviews.
I will let you know what happens.

Because you were 0% at fault, all of the costs of your claim for property damage and personal liability, including but not limited to repairs to your vehicle, rental car, and diminished value, paid by your insurance company USAA pursuant to your policy limits, are reimbursed to USAA by the at-fault driver's insurance company. That process is called subrogation. Georgia is one of a few states that by statute require insurance companies to cover Diminished Value, which is how much value is lost simply because the vehicle was in an accident. That amount can vary from a few hundred to thousands of dollars in the case of a luxury or collector car.

In general, due to the aluminum bodies and the aircraft style construction, work must be done by a certified Jaguar body shop, of which there aren't many. If the parts are simply bolt-on, you can get away with a regular shop, but again, working with aluminum is a completely different animal. My car was able to be fixed in a regular body shop, and they did a fantastic job in my opinion. The nearest certified shop to me is in Jackson Mississippi, over 1 1/2 hours away, and their backlog is tremendous, so I did not want to go there.

All that being said, I also have USAA, and they worked with me well, giving me more money than the estimate I got from the body shop, and also I asked and received diminished value. I had a rental car for the entire time, which was probably around a month from start to finish, although a Nissan Versa is not much like my Jaguar.(I did enjoy the gas mileage though). It was not my fault either, and the guy that hit me also had USAA. They waived my deductible.

I've heard many of the same positive reviews about USAA and people are generally surprised when I share the experience that I had with them. I have no idea why they chose to be so absolutely stubborn in my case, but it sure wasn't fun. The car rental office and body shop both said that they had never seen anything like it. Just my luck I suppose!

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Thank you for the comment.
I have Traveler's and the other guy has Progressive.
I went through Traveler's and they already had the adjuster look at the car and authorize the repairs.
Traveler's told me that they will recover the deductible from Progressive and pay it back to me as the other party was clearly at fault.
I decided to go with a Jaguar dealer and they will be starting repairs on Monday morning.
I will let you guys know how it goes.

The stories above point out that human vagaries play a major part in the outcomes with various insurance companies and their offices. recently my wife's RX350 F Sport was damaged by a beer truck of all things. The claims office out of Phoenix, yes Phoenix AZ and the adjuster in LA couldn't have been nicer and we received the vehicle back from the body shop I chose on Monday of this week. Incidentally StateFarm knocked down the original estimate by about 15% and the body shop accepted the revised estimate without a whimper. As to the work done, it was exemplary as attested to by my detailer today. Oh, and payment of the claim was received before the work was finished. They are now going after local Coors distributor and we will get the $1000 deductible back. Accident occurrence 6/29 adjuster inspection at body shop 7/6 car returned 7/16 and would have been quicker but for the holiday in the middle.

If you want a factory finish, the Best shop here by far is Superior Autobody in Pinellas Park, Ron Vallerio Owner or Mike Pericles 727-525-7885 - they use water based paint just like Jaguar and specialize in high end and exotic cars.

Hi Dave

Unfortunately none of the Jag dealers around here have a true in-house Jag certified body shop, everything is sublet or sent, often without disclosure, to a sister dealership. I reckon the new Dimmitt collision center in Oldsmar will be certified once they get their new JLR dealership opened this year. However I had them do my Range Rover and it was a disaster. I have been using Superior Autobody for over 20 years and they are by far the best.