2. Wiper blades. The rubber wears out and needs to be replaced every year. We recommend replacing them in the fall right before the rainy, snowy season hits. Cost: about $15 (depends on the car but some are even cheaper)

3. Ice-scraper. Forget the super big ones that get left in the closet or garage and get the cheap, small one that fits in the glove box and is there when you need it. Cost: $3 (we have some for free at our body shop… just stop in and ask)

4. Check your mirrors. When cars have multiple drivers it is easy to just jump in and go without making sure all 3 mirrors are where YOU need them. Well worth the 2 minutes. Cost: FREE

5. Tire tread. We see a lot of cars in our body shop with signs of wear and tear and major tread loss. Coincidence? We think not! Cost: FREE (ask your mechanic at your next service or just stop by any auto repair facility and they can tell you if you’re ready for new tires)

6. Tire pressure. See #5 above.

7. Brakes. This is one of those things that happens slowly over time and pretty soon the brakes are spongy or weak but you just don’t notice it since it happens slowly. When in doubt ask a mechanic!

8. Smart phones are a dumb idea when used in cars. Texting and emailing are obvious no-no’s but even phone calls are a major distraction. At least get an ear piece so your hands can stay on the wheel.

Here’s to safe driving year round!

If we can ever be of help to you for any collision needs please don’t hesitate to call (513.631.2406) or email (cccollision@gmail.com)

Enjoy.

(513) 351-1999

The insurance company appraiser has just informed you that your car could be a “total loss;” that it would cost more to fix than it was worth.

Your mind races with “I need this car to get to work. I can’t afford car payments. But there’s hardly any damage. My late Uncle Sal left me the Civic!”

Center City Collision understands; most auto body shops would rather fix your car than “total” it. Fixing wrecked cars and trucks is what they do…and they’re pretty darn good at it. Sometimes though, there’s no getting around the fact that it’s a “goner;’ that’s it’s not going to be repaired.

There are several factors looked at when an insurance company makes the decision to “total” a car. In previous posts, we talked about the estimate amount, hidden damage possibilities, the pre-accident value, the type of damages and the salvage value. Here are some of the other factors they consider:

• Time to repair. Chances are the insurance company will be paying for a rental car while the repairs are being done. If they determine that repairs will take X amount of weeks, they’ll have a good idea of what a rental car will cost. Just like the amount of the estimate, the rental expense, sometimes thousands of dollars, is part of the overall claim, a number they’re trying to keep as low as possible.

• Diminished value. If your car is repaired, Center City Collision is going to do a great job; don’t worry about that. No one will ever be able to tell that it was in an accident. The auto body shop can fix the damages but they can’t turn back the clock…it was in an accident. Even with perfect repairs, an accident might affect the resell value. A car that’s been in an accident might not be worth as much as one that hasn’t been. The difference in the market value of a previously damaged car versus an undamaged car is called “diminished value.” Knowing that months or even years after a car has been repaired that they might be faced with paying out a “diminished value” settlement, it’s sometimes less “painful” and more cost-effective to total the vehicle, eliminating the possibility of a “diminished value” claim.

• Owner’s desire to repair. When all of the above factors are considered and a vehicle is said to be a “borderline total,” the owner might have a vote on if the car is fixed or not. Claim reps are human too and they will take into consideration the vehicle owner’s desires in the case of a “borderline,” as long as the decision can also be justified up by the dollars. There is a limit though; remember that they have no sentimental attachment to your car and are not likely to authorize $5,000 of repairs on a $2,000 car even if your late Uncle Sal did want you to have it.

If you’re dealing with “it’s a total loss,” call Kevin or Jason at 513.631.2406 or stop and see them at Center City Collision. They’ve been around the block a time or two and could have some good insight and possible options for your vehicle that you hadn’t thought of. And Uncle Sal’s Civic? It might live to see another day…

The last thing you expected from the auto body shop when you went in for the estimate was to hear that your car could be a total loss; that it would cost more to fix than it was worth.

Okay, you see that the trunk sticks up a little, the tail lights are shoved in, the trunk floor under the spare tire is kind of accordion-like and the bumper is resting on the muffler.

The barely moving traffic came to a quick stop and the Buick behind you didn’t. He couldn’t have doing more than five or ten miles an hour so you figured the estimate from Center City Collision wasn’t going to be that bad…but a total loss? And my favorite late Uncle Sal left me that car!

There are several factors involved when an insurance company makes the decision to “total” a car. And yes, the “bottom line” is the “bottom line.” They’re looking at what is the most cost-effective way for them to resolve the claim. In other words, how they get out of it the cheapest. Here are some of the factors they consider:

• The estimate amount. The starting point for determining if a car is “totaled” is the original estimate. While estimating the visual damages, computerized estimating systems will often prompt the estimator with a “total loss warning,” meaning that the estimate amount has reached a threshold that is usually around 65-75% of a vehicles market value. This doesn’t mean that the car is necessarily an actual “total loss;” it’s simply a warning that “totaling” it should be considered.

• Possible hidden damage. When an estimate is close to the total loss threshold, the estimator will often have the vehicle “torn down,” that is disassembled, to see all of the possible hidden damages. It all adds to the costs and they certainly want to be very sure before they begin repairs or decide to “total” a car.

• The type of damage. Flood damage, fire damage, rollovers, theft recoveries, extensive or unknown mechanical damage can all be very expensive and very hard to diagnose up-front. You, the shop and the insurance company don’t want to start repairs on a car that may be difficult to warranty when it’s completed, or one that winds up costing far more to repair than originally estimated and takes weeks or months to complete.

• The pre-accident value of the vehicle. Insurance company claim reps do some “homework” to determine how much the vehicle was worth before the accident. They consider the market value, add or deduct for the mileage and the condition, then deduct for what it would cost to repair any previous damage the vehicle may have had. With the market value determined, that tells them how much they can spend repairing the vehicle.

• Salvage value. Part of the “homework” the claim reps do is to contact local salvage yards for bids to buy your wrecked car, as is. If the yards are full of vehicles like yours and the parts demand isn’t high, the salvage won’t be worth much. On the other hand if the car and its parts sell well and are in high demand, the salvage value will be higher. The reason salvage value is important at this stage is that it helps the insurance company partially offset the amount the claim will cost them. Because of that, a high salvage value means less money they’re likely willing to spend on repairs.

• Time to repair. Chances are the insurance company will be paying for a rental car while the repairs are being done. If they determine that repairs will take X amount of weeks, they’ll have a good idea of what a rental car will cost. Just like the amount of the estimate, the rental expense, sometimes thousands of dollars, is part of the overall claim, a number they’re trying to keep as low as possible.

• Diminished value. If your car is repaired, Center City Collision is going to do a great job; don’t worry about that. No one will ever be able to tell that it was in an accident. The auto body shop can fix the damages but they can’t turn back the clock…it was in an accident. Even with perfect repairs, an accident might affect the resell value. A car that’s been in an accident might not be worth as much as one that hasn’t been. The difference in the market value of a previously damaged car versus an undamaged car is called “diminished value.” Knowing that months or even years after a car has been repaired that they might be faced with paying out a “diminished value” settlement, it’s sometimes less “painful” and more cost-effective to total the vehicle, eliminating the possibility of a “diminished value” claim.

• Owner’s desire to repair. When all of the above factors are considered and a vehicle is said to be a “borderline total,” the owner might have a vote on if the car is fixed or not. Claim reps are human too and they will take into consideration the vehicle owner’s desires in the case of a “borderline,” as long as the decision can also be justified up by the dollars. There is a limit though; remember that they have no sentimental attachment to your car and are not likely to authorize $5,000 of repairs on a $2,000 car even if your late Uncle Sal did want you to have it.

When a car is a total loss, nobody wins. You might get stuck with new car payments, the insurance company pays out a lot of money, the claim rep has a ton of paperwork and the auto body shop doesn’t fix the car, something they like doing at Center City Collision by the way.

If you’ve been blindsided with “it’s a total loss,” consider calling Kevin or Jason at 513.631.2406 or stopping by Center City Collision. They might not be able to “untotal” your vehicle but they’ve been around a bit and could have some good insight and possible options that you hadn’t thought of. That’s what Uncle Sal would do anyway.

There’s no way that you’re telling her you stopped by that burger place to wolf down a triple-stack-heart-stopping-everything-on-it-including-the-kitchen-sink burger with a side of chili-cheese fries. As a sprouts and tofu kind-of-woman that might upset her more than the scrape you put on the bumper…her bumper.

The yellow paint from the burger place’s parking lot pole on her shiny new black SUV looks almost as bad as the mustard stain on your new white shirt…the shirt that she bought you.

Face it; you’re dead…a couple of times.

“Hope that stupid burger was worth it! I knew you hated that shirt! Are you happy now?”

Even while you lick the burger juice from your fingers, you’re hearing her words.

Okay Porky, let’s see if we can “save your bacon” here.

Before you go home, swing by Center City Collision and find out if we can perform some auto body shop “magic” on your bumper cover. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Paint that’s been transferred onto your vehicle from something like a pole or garage door opening can often be removed in just a few minutes.

Sometimes the auto body “magicians” at Center City Collision can “wipe” most of it off with lacquer thinner. They’ll follow it up with a little rubbing compound and some polish to make it look smooth, new and shiny…without the pole’s yellow paint.

The “magic” will only go so far though. Scratches, tears, dents and gouges will probably still be there and any of your paint that’s been scraped off will still be…scraped off.

That type of damage requires “real” body and paint work at a good auto body shop like…oh…I don’t know…Wait! How about Center City Collision!

A word of warning here; don’t try to do this yourself. If you don’t know what you’re doing you could make it far worse that it actually is. The body shop has the expertise and the materials to take care of it; you probably don’t. Put the scouring pad and cleanser down and back away from the car.

Just stop in at Center City Collision and let Kevin or Jason take a look. You could call them at 513.631.2406 or email them at cccollision@gmail.com, but really, fixing cars over the phone and the internet can be a bit tricky. (They’re good, but not that good)

You can finish your burger now…but you’re on your own with the shirt. And will you please use a napkin. Geez!

Uncle Charlie was hilarious on his hands and knees swinging his rear end around, but frame damage on your car isn’t something to laugh at. However that doesn’t mean that it’s a total loss either.

“If the frame’s bent, it’s a total” is an “old wives’ tale,” as long as your auto body shop has the know-how and equipment, like the experts at Cincinnati’s Center City Collision.

Things have changed since Uncle Charlie’s accident; both the cars and the auto body repair shops.

Your car probably doesn’t have an actual “frame.” Full-framed cars were phased out in the 1980’s and replaced by “unibody” vehicles. On older cars, the body was bolted down to a heavy, rigid, steel-rail structure, similar in appearance to a ladder. That was the car’s “frame.”

For many of the old shops, frames were difficult to repair and admittedly, sometimes the results weren’t pretty. They’d heat on it and beat on it to at least give the appearance it was fixed. They’d chain it down and then push, pull, sweat and swear until the body parts appeared to fit.

If it “eye-balled” okay and was “close enough” with a tape measure, they called it “good.” But sometimes the rear end wanted to go southwest while the front of the car would go south. That’s “dog tracking,” and that’s one sign that a frame might not be repaired properly.

In defense of the old body men, they did the best they could with the technology at the time. Think of it like doctors using only leeches and hot water. There’s only so much you could do.

With today’s “unibody” construction, heavy frame rails have been replaced with multiple layers of sheet metal built into the car’s body. The lighter weight design also incorporates “crumple zones” that absorb an impact instead of transferring it to the car’s occupants.

Modern auto body repair shops use state-of-the-art, computerized laser measurement systems that compare the specs of a damaged car to those of an undamaged car, showing the exact location and extent of the damage. The days of fixing cars using only tape measures and “eye balling” are long gone

A well-equipped auto body shop can repair unibody and frame damage to not only have the same appearance, but more importantly, the same structural integrity as it had before. In another accident, every part needs to do exactly what it was designed to do; your car needs to be safe.

A straight frame and unibody is the starting point for you car’s drivability as well. With the suspension, steering, drive train and other systems attached or directly related to the unibody, it has to be straight. It has to be right.

Be careful of any shop that can’t provide you with a “before & after” print-out of your car’s measurements. It could mean that they’re under-equipped and probably under-trained. You could have a “dog tracking” story of your own to tell.

As always, if there’s anything we can do for you or your car, please give Kevin or Jason a call at Center City Collision at 513-631-2406, or email us at cccollision@gmail.com.

(Really, you’ve got to admit; Uncle Charlie’s glass eye thing was pretty cool. Huh?)

You swing by your favorite auto body shop (You guessed it: Center City Collision!) and get an estimate. The bottom line of the estimate prompts you to start going through your pockets looking for nitroglycerine pills…and you’ve never even taken nitroglycerine pills.

Here are a few reasons the estimate is so much higher than you thought it would be;

• More Damages – It does need a new fender. But the estimator also saw that your bumper cover was torn, the headlamp is cracked, the fender liner is squashed and your wheel is scraped. Experienced, professional estimators look beyond the obvious and attempt to access all of the damage. They know what to look for and what it will take to put your car back together before the pole got it.

• Blend Panels – Chances are that if the shop installed and painted just the new fender, it would stick out like a “sore thumb.” Their goal is to repair the car in a way that it won’t look like it’s been repaired. A shiny, newly-painted fender adjacent to the five year old paint on the door or the hood is a dead giveaway. To get around that, the shop will often estimate blending the paint into the adjacent panels to lessen the appearance of new paint next to old paint.

• R&Is – “R&I” stands for “remove and install.” Sometimes the shop will have to remove a part or parts to do the job properly. You’ll often see it on estimates where blending the paint is needed. On a door, the mirror, handle, lock cylinder, trim panel and other pieces should come off before blending. Very few parts can be “masked off” without leaving ugly tape edges that could eventually peel.

Keep in mind the possibility of hidden damages. It’s not unusual that after damaged parts are removed, additional damage is discovered. Even the best estimators can only really estimate what they can see. That is, until we hire estimators with X-ray vision. We’re looking for that person so if you know anyone with that superpower send them our way.

As always, if there’s ever anything we can do for you, please give Kevin or Jason a call at 513.631.2406 or email cccollision@gmail.com

After admitting that she looked down for a moment, she was terribly embarrassed and very apologetic. She doesn’t want to go through her insurance company because “they might still be upset about that expensive ‘fender bender’ last year.”

And your bumper doesn’t look THAT bad.

She asked that you get an estimate from your favorite auto body shop (what a surprise! Center City Collision!) She assured you that she would gladly pay the amount of the estimate.

Sounds easy enough; quick, no hassles, no insurance paperwork, your car gets fixed and Mrs. Hanson’s insurance company won’t raise her premiums.

A word of warning: BE CAREFUL.

We know that Mrs. Hanson wants to “make it right” after the accident and you don’t want to “stick her” with higher premiums. You just want your car fixed, right?

What we DON’T KNOW though is how much it’ll cost to fix your car when all is said and done.

An “estimate” is often only a starting point. Even experienced estimators like those at Center City Collision can only “estimate” what they can see. They might suspect more damage underneath, but won’t know for sure until all the damaged parts are removed to reveal what’s going on inside. Body shops call this part of the process the “tear down.”

Let’s look at your bumper assembly; it includes the painted cover, usually the only part that is visible, as well as absorbers, reinforcements, assorted brackets, guides, clips, retainers and more.

With all those hidden parts, it’s not unusual to discover a bent bracket, broken clip or something else. Additional damages mean additional money.

So if Mrs. Hanson gave you a check for $700, the amount of the shop’s original estimate, and now the shop has called to tell you that they discovered another $350 in “hidden damages,” things could get a little “sticky” with Mrs. Hanson.

Had an insurance company been involved from the beginning, it’d be a different story. They realize that you can’t estimate what you can’t see and that it’s not unusual to discover additional damaged items. They know that often the “Final Bill” is different from the “Original Estimate.”

Depending on the type of working relationship between the body shop and the insurance company, an adjuster will often authorize additional repairs over the phone or email and the shop then completes the work.

One more word of caution; be wary of a shop that offers to write a “worst case” estimate. If they’re willing to “fudge” the estimate, what would they be willing to do to your car?

At Center City Collision we understand the repair process and are happy to explain your options to you. Stop by any time with your car and even another shop’s estimate and we’ll go over them with you.

We can make the process a bit less painful for both you and Mrs. Hanson.

At Center City Collision we offer free estimates and you’re welcome to stop in any time during normal working hours or make an appointment by calling us at 513.631.2406 or emailing cccollision@gmail.com We also have an online estimate option but be sure to include pictures and a 17 digit VIN number that is a mixture of numbers and letters and found on the dash board, driver’s side. It’s also on the car’s title and registration. With that info we can usually get in the ball park on what you can expect in terms of cost and how long it will take to do the repairs.

We’re also happy to work off of an insurance company’s or even another auto body shop’s repair estimate. We can always match and typically even beat our competitor’s estimates

We’d like the opportunity to earn your business so please stop in any time and let’s see what we can do to get you back on the road safely and looking good.

“How’s it going? I’m Kevin and I was just stopping in to say Hi to a fellow shop owner. I work on the other side of town but live here in Norwood and just wanted to meet another shop owner.”

“Nice to meet you Kevin. You want another one?” as the owner, Larry, reaches into his pocket and pulls out the keys to his shop. Half jokingly.

“Excuse me?”

“Well, I’ve been at it almost 40 years and I’m ready to get out. Would you like to own another one?”

…and thus began a journey that led me to buy Center City Collision a few months later.

I owe a lot to Larry. He developed a really strong local business and had great relationships in the community with residents and also with Northland VW, a neighboring dealership who ended up being a major source for referrals for us since they do not have a body shop in house.

And I have loved being a part of the neighborhood living and working just a few blocks apart. It is an old school concept of a “mom & pop” store embedded in a neighborhood. That sense of being part of a neighborhood is often lost in our highly mobile, internet driven world. And that is probably a large part of Center City Collision’s charm is the scale. We’re big enough to have good relationships with insurance companies and dealerships along with the most modern equipment and computerized technology… but we’re small enough to be known by our neighbors and have a real stake in the life of the neighborhoods around us including Norwood, Oakley and Hyde Park.

So, I can truly say that life is good in the neighborhood…