How is your "Project" going?

[Ummgawa]

I am being transparent here in saying that my project is curently pissin' me off. It's hung up in Body Shop jail for so long now I can't remember the direction I'm going in. My body man is excellent but we need a come to Jesus meeting.

Can I get a witness?

[Steve Chryssos]

What's this? Outside labor customer service issues? Unheard of! I don't believe you! Here are some possible tools for resolution:

1) Dress up in a giant squirrel costume and camp out at his shop: 7 foot tall squirrels are really intimidating.
2) Kidnap his children and hold them as ransom: No car. No kids.
3) Kidnap his wife: Oh wait, that could backfire..
4) Crash a flatbed through his front door and pull the job: Very dramatic.
5) Ask how much extra to get the car done: Offer him a cool million if necessary.
6) Send in Star Jones to nag him until the job is done: "Don't you start on that Hyundai, honey! I'll slap you upside your head! You got to keep me satisfied!"
7) Remove one of his fingers for each additional week's delay: Messy.
8) Eat copious amounts of Taco bell and just "hang out" around the shop: I recommend two Big Burrito Supremes per session.
9) Get him laid. Hire a hooker, take pictures and then employ a little extortion: Works awesome!
10) Just give up completely. He has your car and your money. You may as well forget the whole thing. Leave the car behind and walk away, never to return.

[907rs]

LMAO!! Steve, that was hillarious!

[BC69]

6) Send in Star Jones to nag him until the job is done: "Don't you start on that Hyundai, honey! I'll slap you upside your head! You got to keep me satisfied!"

HAHA!! Your car will be done in a day!!!

Just keep at him, and make sure its done right...speed is nice, but get it done right! Better to wait and have it perfect then get it tomorrow and have to bring it back in later.

Tim

[Scotch]

I have never successfully broken out of paint jail.

I've dealt with 5 (FIVE) different body shops on three separate projects, and I ended up with the same thing from all of them.

A- an unfinished car, stripped of paint, with bodywork started and not completed

B- Missing parts. LOTS of missing parts. Of course, they're the hardest parts to find, too...not like stuff you can overnite from Jeg's or anything

C- Broken parts. Once I found them, they were useless.

D- Enemies. Well, maybe that's a bit strong, but whatever friendship I may have enjoyed with the jokers in question prior to the bodyshop hellrides was sacrficed when I pulled my stuff out.

E- Debt. I tried many combinations of remittance to get things accomplished. I traded work, cash up front, parts, made regular payments, etc. and still got nowhere close to where I wanted to be. I ended up losing my ass on one of the cars in question (actually a '55 Chevy truck), but I still have the 2 other stillborn projects in my posession and I'm committed to doing whatever I must to complete them.

So, either I'm not the guy to ask, or I'm the best guy to ask. GET IT IN WRITING and make sure you don't get screwed. Get any rare or expensive parts out of there and reinstall them yourself if possible. Don't trade out favors- cash only, business only. No buddy deals.

SP~!

[Payton King]

Can you get a witness? Amen Brother!

This won't make you or me feel any better but here goes.

Took a perfectly good car apart 4 years ago for a motor swap. Sat in my garage for a year. Decided to redo the sucker and moved it to a body shop while I was buying a new house. Sat for a year before work started. We are at 2 years now. A great metal man is working on my car as a side job and 2 years later he has about 250 hours in the car with about another 100 to go just to get it ready for paint.

I had a little "come to Jesus" with him not 2 weeks ago. Project is moving along nicely now and should be in paint by Christmas if not before.

Then the hold up is going to be me putting it together.

I almost sold my car 3 times while the work was in progress...I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it is not a train coming.

I would think a visit is in order and/or start interviewing a new guy.

[ViperBlue68]

I feel for ya man...I was in paint jail for well over a year when i was quoted 3 months tops...NEVER take your car to an active collission shop...every new wreck halted work on my car even thow that was not the agreement...ALSO get it in writing...luckily I did...when I mentioned I had called and spoke with the B.A.R. Beaurea of Automotive Repair my car finally got done!!! I'd say try talkin to him in a nice way first then do what you gotta do if that dont work....but remember one thing have your facts and paperwork in order the last person you wanna piss off is your paint man...

[rockdogz]

Wow you guys are scaring me... I'm almost 3 months in and so far have 2 replaced quarters and a pulled drivetrain. Supposed to be another 2 weeks until primer will start...

[awr68]

I hired a guy in May to do My car (body/paint), he started on it in June, came out of the gate hard, but a week or two later he decided going fishing every weekend (3-4 day weekends) was way more fun than making good money. I put up with this for a few weeks before I fired him. It cost me $600 for his labor and another $400 in materials that I purchased myself, which I can still use most of them when I do the body work myself. And this was after telling him I didn't want the car to be in jail as I was trying to make a show next March, he agreed that that was doable...but thanks to him I lost the whole summer and never will make the show!!

I had a couple other guys come look at the project but since the car was mostly skimmed in bondo they really couldn't see what they were getting into. So I sanded the car totally down for the second time, nothing quite like sweeping up $600 worth of labor!! The funny thing is that seeing the car in bare metal again actually made me feel way better, it allowed me to move on and try to forget what has happened in the last few months.

I have now decided to do all the body work, paint the bottom and inside myself and get the car basically ready to paint the exterior, then have a local shop shoot the color and probably polish it as well. I figure it may take a little longer, maybe not, doing it this way, but atleast I can pretty much control the schedule and quality better than just taking it to a shop and rolling the dice, and I should have a good shot at driving it next summer...that's the new goal anyways!!

So If I were you I would go get your car, but not untill you have a new painter lined up and make for sure the new shop has an opening and don't beleive them when they say they will get to it in a month when things get caught up...that will never happen as you found out. I'm all about second chances, but come on, you can only try to put the fear of God into somone so many times!! GO GET YOUR CAR!!!

[Steve Chryssos]

All very good points (and far more useful than my ideas). I pulled my car. Aside from just being pissed and feeling insulted, I had a tight magazine deadline to deal with. So I waited until the car was in primer and then pulled the job.
To me, rule number one is to take the car to a shop that specializes in restorations and customs such as Prodigy Customs in Orlando--not a general collision shop. The lure of insurance claim money is just too great for them. Actually you could crash into your own car at his shop, put in a claim, and get it done faster!
Going to a custom shop usually costs more per hour--and they usually adhere to their hourly rates (no flat rate). But the results and total experience are usually worthwhile. I learned the same lesson with fabricators:
-Got a quote from the pro: $75/hr. Said no way--can't afford it.
-Went with the meat-head who quoted a flat rate that should have worked out to $35/hr. But then the guy banged me on the way out the door. Total charge from the meathead worked out to $75/hr anyway.
-And then I had to pay the pro $75/hr to fix the problems caused by the meat-head.

Total charge for my naive ignorance? Cha-ching: $150/hr for $75/hr value in work. Brilliant.