Collision
Repair Process
Patterson Auto Body strives to make the repair of your collision experience as easy as we can. Listed here are the required steps that make the collision repair process possible. Please understand when using an insurance company to pay for your repair, any necessary additional parts or labor must be inspected and pre-approved by them before continuing with your repair. We are in daily contact with your insurance company about these situations; however, this inspection process could cause delays from a few hours to several days, potentially extending the time of repair by this amount of time.
1) Non-drivable Vehicles: Customers need to sign an Authorization to Repair form. For your convenience this form can be received by fax, online, e-mail attachment, or in person at our office. This allows Patterson Auto Body to begin the collision repair process by authorizing us to tow your vehicle to our shop, estimate the damage, and the perform a partial disassembly to uncover any hidden damage.
2) Drivable Vehicles: After receiving your damage estimate, a repair appointment can be made. At this time an Authorization to Repair form needs to be signed. The estimate price will be an ESTIMATED total price that does not take into consideration any additional hidden damage or missed parts and labor uncovered during the disassembly process. This amount could differ from the amount of our current written estimate. To authorize your insurance company to send any additional payment directly to Patterson Auto Body, a Direction of Payment form must be signed. These forms allow us to legally represent the vehicle owner, and using our experience to negotiate with your insurance company to receive a more complete settlement to repair your vehicle.
3) Parts will be ordered to coincide with your repair appointment date.
4) To help meet your expectations, Patterson Auto Body prefers you make an appointment to drop off your vehicle during business hours so we may review your vehicle’s damage, estimates, estimated pick up date, and discuss any possible delays, due to hidden damage or insurance inspections. This one step avoids many miscommunications that are typical with collision repair. We also inspect the complete exterior of your vehicle pointing out any other non-requests. However, if not possible, we do want you to utilize our after hours system with our full serve gas station attendant from 5AM to 9PM Mon to Fri and 7AM to 9PM Sat & Sun or our night drop box located on the south side of our front building.
5) After your vehicle’s drop off at Patterson Auto Body, one of our technicians disassembles your vehicle to expose any hidden damage that was not evident before.
6) An estimator will update our initial estimate adding any additional parts and labor or part price increases known at this time. You or your insurance company will be immediately notified to review any additional costs.
7) After your approval (or your insurance company’s) all additional parts will be ordered. Additional parts orders will be expedited in an attempt to meet the delivery date. If extensive additional damage is discovered or part issues that will extend repair time, you will be notified of an updated delivery date at this time.
8) When all repairs have been completed every vehicle receives a quality and safety check, and if needed, test driven. Your vehicle is then vacuumed and washed, and a final inspection is performed by one of our supervisors.
9) At the time of delivery, all repair
bills need to be paid in full. This can be done by the following:
a) Cash
b) Money Order
c) Insurance Check (properly endorsed)
d) Personal Check
e) Credit Card (up to $1000.00)
f) Certified Check
g) Bank Check.
Final paperwork for additional costs to be paid by your insurance
company must be received prior to delivery and a signed Direction of
Pay
form must be on file.
10) All retail repairs receive a Lifetime Written Warranty on all repairs by Patterson Auto Body and a Lifetime Warranty for paint by Glasurit.
BEFORE LEAVING YOUR VEHICLE FOR REPAIR, REMEMBER TO:
*Please remove all personal belongings and debris, especially in your trunk area to prevent and to allow our technicians to gain access to your vehicle’s damaged areas.
*Please disable all automotive and audio alarm systems or provide us with the appropriate codes to bypass them during your repair process. You may wish to write down your radio station settings as they may be erased if the battery is disconnected during repairs.
*Please bring all keys with you for locked items such as RADIO CODES, wheel locks, spare tire locks, roof rack locks, etc. We will need more than the valet key to complete most repairs.
*Please bring your estimate information, which should include the name of the responsible insurance carrier, your policy number, claim rep.’s name phone number and your claim number.
