2 Ways You Might Save Money When Having Autobody Work Done

If you need to take your vehicle to an auto body shop because of the damages that have been done to it, you might find yourself starting to worry about the cost. Since damage to the body of your vehicle can negatively impact its value and therefore make it harder to sell in the future, this is not repair work that you want to skip out on. However, you can try to make the collision repair shop bill as affordable as possible by making use of the following two suggestions:

Find Some Replacement Parts On Your Own

A good thing to do is to have the auto body shop examine the extent of the damage and make a list of all the replacement parts that will need to be purchased. Before allowing the shop to contact the one company they usually do business with for replacement parts, you might want to see about getting them on your own. You might be able to find the fenders or bumper that fits your car at a local salvage yard. Even if they are a different color, that's fine, as most of the time the auto body shop will give the entire car a new paint job. The thing is, the used parts from the salvage yard are going to cost less than the new parts through a big name retailer of auto body parts. You can then take those parts to the auto body shop and request that those are used.

Ask For Them To Skip The Paint Job

Once all the replacement parts are on and issues with the vehicle are worked out, many auto body shops will then paint the vehicle. This is to make sure that all the replacement parts blend in well with the rest of the vehicle. The goal is to make it look as though there has never been any damage to your vehicle. If you find that you are a little tight on money, you can ask that they skip the paint job. It is not needed in order for the vehicle to operate properly. Of course, you will eventually want it to be painted, as that will improve its value. However, this is something that you can take the vehicle back to the auto body shop for later when you have more money, or you can even paint it yourself. You should be able to buy or rent the paint sprayer and after watching a few tutorials online, you should have no problem getting the job done.

Go ahead and ask your local auto body shop owner if they have any additional suggestions regarding ways you can save money while getting the body of your vehicle repaired.