Unfortunate start to my resto

[R/T hedkace]

 Well I was beyond amped up   
 Now it's more like   
I took my R/T shell to American-classic.com a few weeks ago to do the bodywork that I am not capable of doing at this time. The deal was to bring the car out, he will look it over, give me a rough estimate. If i'm happy with that THEN they will rotisserie it, mediablast, then give me sencond estimate. If i'm happy proceed. Did not go down like that   
Two days, yes 2 days after I dropped my Chally off there I went back out to drop off the front/rear valances. My car already had the suspension/rear end dropped. Front/rear windows out, up on the rotiserrie with a kid scraping the remainder of the undercoating off with a tiny scraper. WITHOUT that initial quote we agreed on. I mentioned about not getting a quote yet. I received an email saying I owe for 12.5 hrs at $75 hr. already. All new sheetmetal is ordered, and my initial quote (after the fact) he said is going to be $22.300 WITHOUT/NOT INCLUDING second prime, fit, wet sanding, painting, supplies, color sanding and assembly. Long story short, trust was broken, I got some body dollys, and am getting my car the F  K out of there Monday. Back to square one 

[Steve]

You are doing the right thing, for sure!

Legally, I'm not sure that a judge would make you pay that money! In my state, repairs of $100 (I believe it's 100) requires a written estimate and customer approval prior to making the repairs. Problem is, to get your car "out", you'll probably have to pay. You might want to check into this!

[crcarch]

I've been where you are and I feel your pain!

I'm not a predjudiced person nor do I typically stereotype but I am convinced that body shop owners come from Dante's 7th ring of hell! There are exceptions to be sure, but by and large they are unsavory, untrustworthy scum who think nothing of bending any poor sap over and screwing us out every last $$$ they can with as little effort as possible. I'll step off the soap-box now.

IMO, I think Oldschool's found the only one that's reputable.

[JCWCuda]

R/T that really sucks!!! I don't blame you for yanking it right out . I just hope when you get it the shop owner outta spite doesn't do anything to it or conviently Lose Parts. Keep us posted as to how you make out

[Killer_Mopar]

Legally, I'm not sure that a judge would make you pay that money! In my state, repairs of $100 (I believe it's 100) requires a written estimate and customer approval prior to making the repairs. Problem is, to get your car "out", you'll probably have to pay. You might want to check into this!

I would check into this option too and if you dont have to pay then have an officer escort you while you pick up your car.

[cudacharlie]

Well, I guess American-Classic is one more resto/body shop to check off the list as being the same breed of scammer as the rest.  God what a story!  What, did they expect you'd just be like, "Okay, fine, how much did you say?  $22,300?  Okay, let me get my checkbook.  Oh, you say that does NOT include paint?  Well, I better add a few more zeroes on to this number, don't you think?"

Is American-Classic located in Nigeria by any chance?  Sheesh.  I feel for ya man?

[Steve]

We've seen lots of threads go this way.

For all of those just getting started or thinking of getting started on a car, the NUMBER 1 RULE when hiring someone to do bodywork or restoration work is to GET A CONTRACT IN WRITING, complete with contingency clauses. Be specific about who will supply the parts, hourly rates, completion data, etc.

Let me also say this, depending on the shape of the car you take to the shop and the level of restoration you want, $25K is in the ballpark. I know that is tough to swallow, but the time and effort involved in stripping down a car, doing all of the metal and bodywork to get it right, and putting it all back together in the proper sequence is just plain staggering. I've been on my 2 years and I'm just now doing body work! In the best of all words, if the planets are aligned, you have good Kharma, and your Chakras are aligned, you will get what you pay for!

[Oldschool]

What a bummer!  Sometimes it seems as if NOTHING goes like it should on these restos.  Very few times do you hear of someone saying that everything went perfect and it was finished up on time and under budget.  With that said, it should have been common sense for that body shop guy to have given you an estimate prior to beginning the work, especially when you asked for that to be done.  I guess next time you will have to write out a contract with explicit details on what is expected of both parties.  It's a shame that the world has come to this and a person's word stands for nothing.  Good luck getting it finished up..........

P.S.  The folks doing the body work on the Beast are longtime friends of mine and the Beast work was agreed upon by a handshake.   THAT is how things should be.  So far, the Beast is right on the price point that we agreed on and the work has been awesome.  Can't beat that with any contract.  I guess I am just very fortunate.  . Oldschool

[chevyconvert]

 
pay to get it out then take him to small claims court..no lawyers.

[Street_Challenged73]

I'm sorry to hear that, R/T.  I guess I was never exposed to this as my bodyman only does what you ask for, or even better exceeds my expectations for the price.  Hopefully you can get your car out of there and still have money left in your checkbook.  It's really sad that some feel they should go ahead and go spending your money on parts and work prior to sitting down with the client to discuss what exactly is going to be done.  I know a couple times when my bodyman had been working on other people's cars, ran into a small hurdle that required more time, but didn't charge extra because he held to what he had agreed on with the client.  Too bad they all don't work like that.   (I'm not projecting this blame to all bodymen, just the ones who don't thoroughly discuss a restoration/semi restoration with their clients. )

[4Cruizn]

I would be pissed!!     I too would pay the money and take him to court.   

[RusTy/SE]

R/T your honesty is being hijacked  ; let us know how things go monday...your way i hope

Russ

[Mopar73340]

Hey R/T, sorry to hear about your problems. I agree with the rest of the guys. $75.00/hr sounds high on top of everything else. I have had 2 cars done over the last 10 yrs without a contract, but was lucky I guess, I knew other people who recommended the shops and had seen their work. Hope everything works out ok.

[moparnut]

I've been where you are and I feel your pain!

I'm not a predjudiced person nor do I typically stereotype but I am convinced that body shop owners come from Dante's 7th ring of hell! There are exceptions to be sure, but by and large they are unsavory, untrustworthy scum who think nothing of bending any poor sap over and screwing us out every last $$$ they can with as little effort as possible. I'll step off the soap-box now.

IMO, I think Oldschool's found the only one that's reputable.

Please tell us how you really feel,lol

[OzCuda]

I had the exact same thing happen to me here.  Panel shop owner gave a verbal quote of $7000 for panel and paint.  Now considering the car was stripped down but not yet dipped, i expected some variation but heel most of it was obvious to me and I am a layman so I thought it was fair enough that he could make a professional assessment.  Well once the car got into the shop and I pushed them for a written quote it came out at $17000 + tax, only a slight increase, which ended up around the $21000 mark as they decided there was extra work in getting the hood right.  So this is a professional body-shop owner whose own quote tripled - now he is either extremely incompetent or ripping me off, I vote the latter.  Now I knew that $7000 was too good to be true but the end quote was way outside my budget, which I repeatedly discussed with him hoping for options of cutting some corners, but to no avail.  His loss as I pulled the car after $3700 worth of work.  Car is now with another guy and I have a written quote for $10000 firm to finish it.  Fingers crossed...