Athens Collision Center — Local services in Athens-Clarke County Unified Government

Not Recommended - Disappointing Experience with Serious Flaws

I feel obligated to share my disappointing experience with this body shop, where I encountered a mix of satisfactory work overshadowed by serious issues. My 2004 350z, previously in good condition, was subjected to practices that left me frustrated and compelled to advise others to proceed with caution.

Main Concerns:

Misleading Information to Insurance: The shop lied to the insurance company about parts orders being placed, complicating the process unnecessarily right from the start.

Unjustified High Quotes: Initially, the insurance assessment of $2,000 seemed reasonable. However, the shop demanded an additional $4,000 for excessive and, in my view, unnecessary procedures, risking the total loss of a vehicle over a minor accident.

Specifically, they requested 2k more to remove my entire interior and check my harness mounting points?!? For a crash that likely happened at less than 10 mph in a parking lot?!? RIDICULOUS. My car is over 20 years old. This was going to total it. For a minor fender bender. The adjuster for the person who hit called me and explained and without him I would have lost my car. They also agreed on a call for me to "sign a waiver" to not do the work, which I never had to sign. Proving their BS.

Inconsistent Quality of Work: While some repairs were done well (area of the hit), the decision to clear-coat over noticeable paint chips on my hood was completely unacceptable work. I can understand not painting the entire hood even though they were paid more than enough to, but to not even make some simple paint corrections in other areas when they were paid more than enough to make it right is ridiculous! See the pictures. The paint chips are clear coated over!

Also, the headlight not involved in the crash was redone subpar. On walkthrough, their guy told me they buffed it down but didn’t clear coat the headlight or treat it to stop future corrosion. This means it will look cloudy in two months. Again, just wow.

This experience was a mix of the okay, bad, and frankly unacceptable. It's disheartening to see skilled work in some areas negated by serious lapses in others. Practices such as misleading insurance claims and choosing the easy route over quality work paint a picture of a business more concerned with profit than customer satisfaction or vehicle safety.

This incident has led me to advise against using this shop, especially for owners of older vehicles who might be particularly vulnerable to these practices. Don’t let them total your older car! There are likely better options available that balance quality, honesty, and value, ensuring both your vehicle and trust are well cared for.

Edit: a couple of months later my older headlight looks like trash....

I never write reviews because I understand negative reviews can affect one's business. However, this specific center warrants feedback and hopefully, correction.

I brought my car in for a rear end bumper repair. Throughout negotiations with the insurance company at fault, we obtained what the body shop asked for. My attorney along with the adjuster was on the phone with the body shop. I wanted to move forward with repairs at this body shop so I wouldn't have to pay storage fees as negotiated. A few days later and I ask on any updates. I'm told they're on hold and they want another supplement in case of extra fees. To be honest, I'm not mad that they're afraid of extra costs coming out of their pockets, it's a business and I understand. What I don't understand is why was no one notified that repairs were on hold? My storage fee was accruing without my knowledge where I thought we were moving forward with repairs. At first it was $1600 charges, then it became $2300. So, in the end, my car was not fixed, my storage fees kept adding up, and I had to go elsewhere to get it fixed, on top of paying the fees. They wouldn't even allow me to drive the car back because the bumper was off, so I asked can I pay to have the bumper put back on? I live extremely close so why not rather drive it back than tow it right? Nope, they refused to do any repairs because the car itself is classified as "total loss," Funny, I hold a clean title on the car, the insurance company did not ask for my title. Are they even in their legal limits to say it's a "total loss" car?

Nevertheless, I brought in a car that was driving well despite an accident, to getting it back worse than when I brought it in.

This takes the cake though, I call to confirm because nowadays you have to confirm things, "All the things, bumper and all, will be towed and brought to my home with the car correct?"

Lady: Pauses as though I just asked the dumbest question, "I mean... yeah of course."

The car came back with no bumper in. I had to drive back to the store to grab the bumper myself. Oh and the guys in the back didn't even know I was coming to pick up a bumper. Imagine I'm some random guy grabbing something that's supposedly not mine.

TLDR: The entire business lack communication both internally and externally. Most 1 star reviews on this business is about their parking lot and storage fees, wherein they aim to extend your fees until they've obtained enough money. It's TRUE. So, if you're longing the feeling of the 08 crash, this is the perfect place to put...

It is unfortunate but this shop's customer service skills or lack thereof overshadow their work. When I had an initial estimate done, they had said it should take about a week to get the car repaired. Based on what damage I could see, I was fine with that and had even had a couple day leeway built in terms of when I was expecting to get it back.

Trouble is that after six days, they came back and said it would be longer because they needed some parts they didn't expect to need. When telling me, the shop acted like it was not a big deal. They would ultimately tell me a couple days that the car would then be ready the week after I expected it back.

The following week, they told me that it should be ready by the end of that week which was over two weeks after I had dropped it off (it was ultimately the following Tuesday before I got my car back, 20 days after I had dropped it off). Well, at that point something just didn't seem right. Therefore, I decided to look into this further. Upon doing so, I discovered that they had filled a supplemental estimate with my insurance company that was for over triple the original estimate without ever telling me. Once I discovered that, there was no way that I could even consider giving them a five star.

Had the shop communicated with me in regards to the supplemental estimate when they did it especially due to how large it was, I would have known to expect at least another week in terms of when it would be ready. In that case, I would still have been frustrated because I need my car when it comes to doing my second job. However, I would have still been able to give them a better rating because it would have meant that they had been transparent.

Going forward, until I can be confident that there is improvement when it comes to customer service, there is no way that I would consider using this shop. Yes they actually did some good work but it is very hard to look past the customer service experience when it needs major...