Repair Timelines: How Long Will My Repair Take?

If your car needs to be in the shop for repairs, you might be wondering how long it will be out for. Your car is your gateway to getting things done, and you need it back as quickly as possible. Whether it's running errands, getting to work, or enjoying leisurely travel, you are stuck without your vehicle, and hope that the auto body repair shop understands your need to have it back sooner rather than later. Today we will discuss repair timelines and how long it will take to have your car returned back to you. 

​The big question here is, how severe is the damage? Are we talking about small cosmetic damage, like some scratches or a small dent, or major denting and multiple broken items? How about the extent of the damage? Is the damage isolated to just one panel, or are multiple panels affected? What about the car's different systems (e.g. the body, the mechanical components, the electrical components, etc.)? Is it just body and paint work that we're talking about, or will the repair be more involved than that, including engine work, suspension work, airbags, and electrical/programming work?  Lastly, will parts needs to be replaced? If so, are the parts readily available? These are the questions that will dictate the overall turnaround time of the repair. 

First, we want to discuss the overall severity of the damage. Small cosmetic damage usually does not require much time to repair. A simple scratch in the paint, or a golf ball-sized dent in a panel, will take about 4-5 days (for the first panel, and 1-2 days extra per additional damaged panel), from dropping your car off to picking it back up, to fix. This might seem like a lot of time, but let's break it down to truly understand the process:

• ​Day 1: The vehicle is disassembled to fully identify all existing damage. The repair estimate is finalized. 
• Day 2-3: The dents are straightened and scratches removed from the body. Broken items are replaced.
• Day 3-4: The affected panels are painted and let to heat-cure.
• Day 4-5: The vehicle is reassembled and detailed. Final quality checks are made.

What if the damage involves more than just cosmetic dents and scratches? What if the damage involves the frame, suspension, engine/transmission, airbags, or other components that are occasionally, but not commonly, damaged.  

• Frame damage: if the frame has been affected in any way, at the very least a thorough measurement must be taken to devise a plan for repair. The measurement process involves clamping the vehicle down on a designated frame measuring machine, and a laser-verification system is used to produce the complete dimensions of the vehicle and how far the car has deviated from where it should be. The measurement process alone will add 1 additional day, and if corrections to the frame need to be made, a second day will be required to do so. 
• Suspension/brake/steering damage: If any of these components are damaged, there is no repairing them, they must be replaced with new parts. This portion of the repair does not take long, typically 1 day, but procuring the parts may take anywhere between 1 day to 1 week, depending on the year, make, and model of the car.
• Engine/transmission: typically these items are not damaged in a collision, but if they are, will likely be the most involved portion of the repair and can take anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks to repair. Don't be afraid, very rarely are the engine or transmission damaged during a collision and this will likely not apply to your repair.
• Airbags/electrical: See suspension/brake/steering section. The same conditions appliy to this section.

Next, we consider the extent of the damage. For each additional panel that is damaged, a safe bet is to add another day to the process. Example: damage to one door will take about 4-5 days to repair, but damage to two doors will take about 6-7 days. If the whole side of a car needs to be repaired and repainted, 2 weeks is a safe bet. The big question here is, how much of the car has been damaged? The answer to this will dictate the overall repair timeline.

Lastly, we must consider damaged parts that need replacement. This part of the repair can occasionally cause a logjam, where the vehicle is otherwise ready to be repaired, but the parts are not immediately available. Depending on the car, the manufacturer may or may not have the parts on hand and this can extend the repair timeline. Typically, parts that are not immediately available the same day can be procured by the following day, thus a 1-2 day waiting period is common until all the parts have arrived.  To ensure a faster repair, we can arrange for parts to be ordered ahead of you dropping off your vehicle for repair, which will shorten the time until you get your car back by at least one day.

If you're wondering how long your repair will take, a 5 minute consultation with our staff will answer all the questions you have, but we hope this guide is a good starting point. 

​Thanks for reading, cheers!

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