Many customers contact us for auto body and collision work estimates for their cars, and we always emphasize the auto body and collision estimates based on pictures are rough estimates because we can’t properly estimate the amount of labor and parts for the car to be 100% repaired.
We recently had a perfect example of this, when we had a 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan come in that had gotten re-rendered. The customer had requested an estimate from some pictures they sent us via our website at tolimas-auto.com. We gave the customer a rough estimate based on the pictures of the damage.
When we asked how hard was the impact, the customer had stated that the impact was very light and that the damage seemed to only be cosmetic. We always emphasize that when we give online bodywork estimates based on pictures that they are only rough estimates because we cannot see the damages to the substructures that might have been deformed or broken by the accident.
And in this incident, this was exactly the case! Once we removed the bumper, we saw that there was actual damage to the inner structure of the car, beneath the bumper skin.
Here, you can see that the bumper support sheet metal is bent and that the hatch wasn’t actually closing properly . This damage was not clearly visible at all from the pictures!
This is why online estimates given through pictures are very tricky because we cannot fully inspect the car and see if there’s any kind of underlying damage in the substructures.
Also, people have different sensibilities to describing an accident’s impact or harshness. For one customer, an accident might feel like a slight bump, but for another customer, that same exact accident might feel like some major damage. So it’s difficult to gauge based on customers’ recollection of the impact of the accident.
Once we found the extra damage, we informed the customer and the customer authorized the work and we got to straightening out the sheet metal. So the rear hatch closes perfectly with a new bumper and trims making this Volkswagen Tiguan look good as new. If you have a European, Asian, or domestic car in need of bodywork, paint, or collision repair, feel free to reach out to us at Tolima’s Auto Center. We also work with insurances for your accident claims and we’ll help you through the process.
If you’d like to see the video version of this blog post you can see it here!
