Erik_In_Carlsbad

Greetings...

I was wondering if anybody could recommend a body & paint shop in N. San Diego county (Oceanside, Carlsbad, etc.). My C6 got hit on Saturday and my insurance is giving me authorization to take it to take it to the shop of my choice for repairs. Needless to say, I want the work done right by someone familiar with Vettes, and I'll gladly pay for quality work, as it's the moron who hit me who's footing the bill.

Rant on mode...
OK... now as to the moron who hit me, it was a tow truck driver with Rancho del Oro towing, who managed to slam the vehicle he was towing into my Vette and two other parked cars. Apparently this mental giant, fearful that the owner of the car that he was stealing (impounding, etc.) from a public parking lot was going to catch him in the act, failed to secure his towed vehicle properly. Luckily for him, he only had to deal with me and the Carlsbad Police, and not the owner of the Tahoe that he was stealing, nor the owner of the Lexus SUV that he really wrecked.
... Off rant.

Thanks for your help... it's been a while since I've contributed to this forum & I hate it that we have to meet up again under these circumstances!

-Erik

C6-er

You can park yours next to mine at Henson & Son in Escondido. Their shop is top rated and does excellent work. When Courtesy Chevrolet decided to not do body work they sold a lot of their equipment to Henson and some of there body guys when over there. Also they have people that have gone through the GM Corvette training program. 760-743-5363.

Erik_In_Carlsbad

Thanks! I take it that yours is getting repaired there now? And how is that going?

-Erik

C6-er

Very slow because of parts availability. They say don't look for it before January.

AORoads

email sent.

kpflynn

Holy Crap, I hate Rancho Del Oro towing with the burning passion of 1000 suns. They once towed MY car from MY parking spot at MY home (condo complex). Then charged me $300 to get it back! Unfreakingreal.

JC7

Lake Buick, Pontiac -31400 Auto Center Drive Lake Elsinore CA 92530 951-253-4600, Great body shop! Part of Lake Chevy!

HummelS

The only personal experience with body work in North County was with Caliber Collision in Carlsbad -

The first time, someone backed into my '93 in a parking lot & broke the driver doorjamb & spidered the rear fender. The repair was done to my satisfaction & still looked good five years later.

Couple of years later, a woman backed into me as I was driving through a parking lot in Encinitas. The spare tire carrier on her SUV put a nasty looking scuff on my MagRed coupe. She asked me to get a couple of quotes to avoid going through her insurance. (It was one of the Ecke family members, so I knew she was good for it.)

I went to Quality Chev in Escondido: $900 to repaint. I went to Caliber for another quote. He looked at the scuff, told one of his guys to go get a buffer & some polish. Five minutes later, no scuff. And no charge!

Erik_In_Carlsbad

I'm trusting that this episode will cost Rancho Del Oro towing more than $300, and some jackass his job. I can't see that any of the owners of the four damaged vehicles are going to have much sympathy for someone who lives off of other people's misery. I'm not feeling it.

And thank you to everyone for the recommendations!! I have at least three that are within a few miles of here. As soon as the authorization comes in and the repair is done, I'll let y'all know how it went.

-Erik

Savage C6

Did your crash happen at Valley Parkway and Escondido Blvd?

As far as RDO Towing goes, they're nothing more than a criminal enterprise posing as a legit tow company.

El Puto

I ate at the Coyote this Sunday and there was a Rancho del Oro tow truck there getting ready to tow a Volvo - he had the car lifted. The driver was talkng to a security guard. I was with my family and said hey, check this out. I then told my wife about this story while I was looking at these guys - trying to talk semi-loudly that a car was stolen in this lot by a tow truck and hit a vette. They seemed to get a bit nervous.

Well, we go on our way and when I came back the Volvo was still there and the tow truck gone. I wonder why they changed their minds???

BTW - we went there in our Tahoe

Erik_In_Carlsbad

.... Nice!

WadeH

This question is a bit off the topic of Corvettes, but...

Why is your insurance company authorizing anything? It sounds like there is no question that it's the towing company's fault. Shouldn't they be paying for all of this without you having to make a claim on your own insurance for their negligence?

Erik_In_Carlsbad

Hi Wade -

Good question. It's more for my own convenience. My insurance agent got to deal with tracking down and collecting from the tow company's insurance company. That got me a check more quickly and left me more time to do other things with my life (like heckling the Carlsbad tow truck drivers, reading CorvetteForum, etc.)

By the way, I've had great experiences with my insurance company, Century National. Although I picked them 10 years ago 'cuz they're really cheap, they've come through quickly in the 4 claims I've had with them, including replacing the cracked windshield on my C5 with the $2,500 GM part, and without argument. Plus, I easily get to real live people when I call and they don't try to steer me to their favorite cheap repair shops.

-E