[chassis]

One of the cars in the fleet needs body work. Three months until they can take the car to start repairs. This is in a large-ish midwest metro area.

What are other people seeing?

[///MPhatic]

1 month wait to paint my rear bumper when the bumper cover was available in 4 days. It's all about staff.

[nerdogray]

When my Civic got clobbered, it took about that amount of time. Mine was backed up due to parts being delayed, which then backed up everything else.

[chassis]

I posted this in the wrong section. Can a moderator please move this to "Off Topic" or "General Automotive (non-BMW)"? Thanks.

[BIGW0RM]

The local BMW shop near me is 3-4 months backed up.

[M_Six]

I got rear-ended in January and didn't get my car back from the body shop until March. At least I didn't have to pay for the rental.

[Mingwan]

Sounds about right. I've been waiting for a part for one of my cars for about 8 months now. My car got wrecked into as Covid started. The repairs took about 3 months to complete mainly because parts from Japan took a long time to arrive.

[allinon72]

Everything is crumbling it seems. My local dealer is 8 weeks out for an ordinary oil change appointment. And they decided to cut all Saturday hours as well.

[aa2033]

I have 5 body shops and we are booked 2 months out at all of them with a backlog of work. We do mostly insurance work, and people continue to crash their cars, some more than they used to. It seems like everyone forgot how to drive when they were in quarantine.

Part shortages also mean we're keeping cars on our lots that can't be put back together because parts are on backorder with no ETA so we have less parking.

We're fixing more cars, with less staff than we ever have. Body technicians and estimators are extremely hard to come by. Technicians are getting older and retiring and there aren't any younger folk wanting to do labor intensive jobs anymore. Insurance companies laid off most of their employees so we're doing more work for the insurance companies than we used to also.

The whole industry like many others is in a rough place. We want to get to everyone and fix everyone's cars quickly, we just can't. We're trying to make sure we don't burn out the people we have left.

Hope that helps give you some insight on our end.

[zx10guy]

I had to wait a month to get my Toyota back from the body shop last year. Hit a rat with antlers. The body shop set expectations about how long it would take to get my car fixed due to parts shortages. The initial plan was to wait till the parts that seemed to make up the major part of the repair were available. But to my body shop's surprise, the parts were showing available. So they told me to bring my car in. Well, when they went to order the parts, they were no longer available and on back order.

The day I picked up my car after it was repaired one of the body shop employees told me it's gotten worse in the month's span. Said someone came in with the exact same car that she hit some road debris and had similar damage to the front as mine. They checked on inventory and what they got out of Toyota was no ETA. Didn't even show up as back ordered. The no ETA signified that the parts weren't even in production and they couldn't get an answer on when they'll actually be produced. So that lady was in a worse situation than me.

Another thing which I think is totally F'd up with at least State Farm is the rental car coverage. I have this on all of my vehicles. Well, I hit the maximum coverage limits due to the parts shortages. State Farm made zero exceptions to rental coverage limits. I ended up paying out of pocket for excess charges beyond the coverage limits. So be aware that you'll most likely run into this issue with your insurance company too. That's if you can secure a rental car. That was also a challenge when I had to put my car into the body shop.

PS: Why is this thread in the exercise, health, and nutrition subforum?

[chassis]

Thanks. The thread was started here mistakenly, my bad. I posted above to ask a mod to move it.

[cotmfk]

Originally Posted by aa2033

I have 5 body shops and we are booked 2 months out at all of them with a backlog of work. We do mostly insurance work, and people continue to crash their cars, some more than they used to. It seems like everyone forgot how to drive when they were in quarantine.

Part shortages also mean we're keeping cars on our lots that can't be put back together because parts are on backorder with no ETA so we have less parking.

We're fixing more cars, with less staff than we ever have. Body technicians and estimators are extremely hard to come by. Technicians are getting older and retiring and there aren't any younger folk wanting to do labor intensive jobs anymore. Insurance companies laid off most of their employees so we're doing more work for the insurance companies than we used to also.

The whole industry like many others is in a rough place. We want to get to everyone and fix everyone's cars quickly, we just can't. We're trying to make sure we don't burn out the people we have left.

Hope that helps give you some insight on our end.

Great post - really provides some of the perspectives "from the other side." Also, good on you for trying to not burn out your staff.

[DocOfTheDead]

My husband was involved in a hit and run in our Telluride. Damage wasn’t too bad but parts availability is terrible. It was in the shop for over four months. Luckily he had another car he could drive in the meantime and didn’t need a rental.

[Bc2005]

I think the biggest problem for many folks is the long repair times combined with the limit on rental car coverage. My insurance company (USAA) has a $900 max on rental car coverage, and that would only cover about 2-3 weeks at today’s rates.

My car was drivable after a recent accident so they ordered parts first and I started the rental car the day I dropped off the car for a 5-6 week repair job. Total rental car bill was almost $1900, but the other guy’s company paid it all since he was at fault. The days of renting a car for $30-$40/ day are long gone for major rental car companies.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by Bc2005

I think the biggest problem for many folks is the long repair times combined with the limit on rental car coverage. My insurance company (USAA) has a $900 max on rental car coverage, and that would only cover about 2-3 weeks at today’s rates.

My car was drivable after a recent accident so they ordered parts first and I started the rental car the day I dropped off the car for a 5-6 week repair job. Total rental car bill was almost $1900, but the other guy’s company paid it all since he was at fault. The days of renting a car for $30-$40/ day are long gone for major rental car companies.

The problem is many times more damage is discovered after the car is torn down. A body shop isn't going to tear down your car to make sure they capture all the parts needing repair and then put it back together so you can drive it while parts are on order. But maybe they should in light of what is going on with supply chain and bill the insurance companies. But I also doubt the insurance companies are going to pay for the additional labor too.

That was my situation. The initial parts were shown to be in stock and then not in stock. When my car was in for repairs, the body shop found additional parts needing to be replaced. My car was also drivable after hitting the rat with antlers. Except the body shop said technically my car was not considered drivable by State Farm because of the one headlight being out.

[unluky]

I bet it is. The AC in my X5 went out this summer and I tracked it down to 98% sure it was the clutch/compressor. at 140K it's never been in the shop before - I have done everything myself. I called 2 Indy's in my hometown and both told me they were 6-8 MONTHS backed up. MONTHS! I finally had to break down and take it to the stealership. Very nice experience, but for the bill - it better have been.

I could not believe those places were that backed up. If I worked for a dealership and heard that - I'd have my own shop up and running in a heartbeat.

[aa2033]

Originally Posted by Bc2005

I think the biggest problem for many folks is the long repair times combined with the limit on rental car coverage. My insurance company (USAA) has a $900 max on rental car coverage, and that would only cover about 2-3 weeks at today’s rates.

My car was drivable after a recent accident so they ordered parts first and I started the rental car the day I dropped off the car for a 5-6 week repair job. Total rental car bill was almost $1900, but the other guy’s company paid it all since he was at fault. The days of renting a car for $30-$40/ day are long gone for major rental car companies.

You're absolutely right. I remember when it was the peak of covid and rental car companies (i wont name them) couldn't get any more cars, they were charging ~85-115 / day for out of pocket rates on purpose to sway people from not renting a car so they had more for the insurance companies. Those contracts are extremely important to them. It's better now, but it's still difficult.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by unluky

I bet it is. The AC in my X5 went out this summer and I tracked it down to 98% sure it was the clutch/compressor. at 140K it's never been in the shop before - I have done everything myself. I called 2 Indy's in my hometown and both told me they were 6-8 MONTHS backed up. MONTHS! I finally had to break down and take it to the stealership. Very nice experience, but for the bill - it better have been.

I could not believe those places were that backed up. If I worked for a dealership and heard that - I'd have my own shop up and running in a heartbeat.

That's what happened to a couple of techs that used to work at my BMW dealership. They left and started their own repair garage. Granted this was well before Covid. But they've since moved from their previous location to a much larger facility. I've seen CarMax drop off BMWs for them to repair. I don't remember when they moved but I think it was right around when Covid hit. I've used them to mount tires on my wheels and they seem very busy. They've even branched out to selling their own certified used cars.

As an aside, I had to put my S1000RR into the shop for a factory recall for the timing chain tensioner. When I was waiting for the dealership to open, I saw a small puddle under my bike. Turns out the water/oil pump is bad. This was last Friday. Checked with the dealer yesterday on status. Service writer said the part they need is only showing in Germany and I'm looking at end of the month for them to receive the part. Then who knows how long it'll take for the actual repair as the oil pan, radiator, exhaust, etc etc has to come down.

[Theruleslawyer]

With the shortage of vehicles a lot more cars are getting fixed instead of replaced. Shortages of parts doesn't help as it drives up shop time. Heck, getting a loaner out of the local bmw for warranty work requires a several week wait.

[zx10guy]

The parts shortages are also driving up prices. There's a Youtuber called the Car Care Nut. He's a Toyota tech that opened up his own shop. He did an episode on the parts shortage. He profiled an OEM part that no Toyota dealership shows in stock. As a result, the pricing for the aftermarket equivalent more than doubled the OEM part's price. His take away was if you can get the part and need it now, expect to pay.

[chassis]

Just got scheduled for December 14. What a pain. What takes 5-6 weeks for a repair? How about ordering the parts and scheduling the repair when the parts arrive in hand?

[Theruleslawyer]

Originally Posted by chassis

Just got scheduled for December 14. What a pain. What takes 5-6 weeks for a repair? How about ordering the parts and scheduling the repair when the parts arrive in hand?

Ikr. My car was at the dealer for 2 weeks for what should have been a few hours of work. Most of that was waiting for parts. If its going to take awhile, order it and let me know when you have the part.