on a side note they most probably used Rage Gold which has better properties than Bondo. it has better shrink resistence, easier to sand, and higher heat resistence which helps with many things other than the shrink issue.

 

Look who's "twisting" words around. Body filler. Happy now? But since we were told it was bondo by the individual that worked there, how can you dispute the brand anyway. Geeze...... Who cares why he left. If the fender was to be replaced, why would there be any "BODY FILLER" there? If you like getting screwed over by shops, that's your business. If the invoice states new oem fender, and they used non oem or "BODY FILLER" that is fraud. Most shops are registered with a D-U-N-S number and with the CCR (http://www.ccr.gov/). Both of which we monitor very closely with the vendors we use nationwide. But we have to, since we are the only federal office that leases vehicles to federal and state agencies throughout the US and overseas. With vehicles numbering in the hundreds of thousands worldwide. We report a fraud case and it gets investigated.

 

post the invoice and let me decide

 

If that was for me, I hope that was meant as a joke, cause it definatley was .

 

SOLMAN98 brings up a very good point, which I failed to discuss.

it is NOTORIOUS PRACTICE for a body shop to "order" the factory panels.
It is common practice for the insurance companies to pay for those factory panels.
But it is almost as common practice for the body shop to RETURN those factory panels after the repaired vehicle has left their shop.


what's that tell ya?

ask any wholesale parts dept. clerk at a dealer what their number #1 complaint is about body shops.

returns.

 

It really depends on the Insurance company. State Farm is OEM parts only. But Progressive and most others allow Aftermarket parts. I own a salvage yard and deal with this all the time..

 

That is correct. Smoke Wagon hit that nail right on the HEAD! They return more parts then you could ever imagine!

I think each state is different. In Texas, State Farm will try to have a bodyshop locate an LKQ part, and if it's not available they will okay OEM. FYI; LKQ stands for Like Kind Quality, which is fancy words for a salvaged part.

 

BTW - "Bondo" has become kind of a generic term, much like "give me a coke", you won't always get a Coca-Cola!

As for the bodywork ??'s, you'll probably never know which parts are new used or repaired! The industry is in such a mess right now, they're trying to make money any way they can!!

 

My 2 cents ... referrals are the best bet. Talk to people you know and work with, ask a lot questions about what body shops they've used, were they happy with the work, etc. Then talk to the body shop. Ask them a lot of questions. And ask for a tour of their body shop. I've done this and learned a lot by seeing what they were working on, what parts were in the shop and what their "repairs in progress" looked like.