2002 Chevrolet Blazer - Body repair saga

my son has a 2002 ChevyTrailblazer. In July, he hit a deer on the highway. he has a body shop that was going to do the work but the owner died in a boating accident. My son had paid for the parts to fix the car so now he has the parts but no shop near him will do the body work with those parts unless he signs a contract for $4000 up front… Is this reasonable?

First of all furnishing your own parts is never a good idea plus the shop will not warranty anything .
See if the parts can be returned and just let the shop he chooses do the work.

As for the price , who knows without actually seeing the vehicle .

Body shops typically charge $42-44/hr. for labor so that works out to 90-95 hours’ labor. I’m sure there are other charges factored in and I haven’t seen the damage but that seems fairly high. I could easily be wrong though. https://www.bodyshopbusiness.com/what-is-the-average-cost-per-hour-to-perform-body-work/

That is an 8 year old article so that may not even be close now.

It certainly does not apply in my area.

Even if the rate is double, we’re still talking about 45+ hours’ labor and it still seems unlikely.

When a vehicle with a repaired value of $3,000 needs $4,000 in repairs a signed contract and a deposit should be expected.

A signed contract is necessary to conduct a lien sale should your son abandon the vehicle.

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Would it be possible, even though the owner died, for the original body shop to return the parts and issue a refund? This then becomes a legal question if no one at the original shop has the authority to do that.
I have never had to prepay for parts at a body shop. My shop even returned an OEM body panel to the manufacturer when it was received in less than pristine condition.
Another time I specified a different trim level bumper cover that was slightly more expensive, I stated I would cover the difference, again, no prepayment required for the part.
So, check the contract from the first body shop.

The way I read the original post is that the son has the parts just needs a shop to install them .

If this shop owner had employees they may have been able to return new parts and applied a credit to the shops account, that would reduce the shops debit but it doesn’t help the person with the damaged vehicle.

If these were used parts, they may not be returnable.

This is still an old vehicle of little value that needs a $4000 collision repair.

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There is a 2002 Chevy Blazer worth $4,000?

Does
anyone know a body shop in the Foxlake ,Illinois area that would put the parts together for him?? Any class for body work instructions??

A picture of the damage and a list of the parts you have would be helpful in understanding feasibilty of the repair. I’ve had three Trailblazers and disassembled the front on every one of them.

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You or your son will have call shops to find one that will do that . Also the chance that someone from Foxlake will see this post is almost zero. As for a class , body shop work is not really that simple and just where would you get the tools and space to do that.

Is there a technical school nearby?

These schools have body repair courses where they take your vehicle and repair it for free. But you pay for parts and supplies.

The problem with this is, your vehicle is added to a queue, so turn-around time can be lengthy.

Tester

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Or stop into a couple of the auto parts suppliers like NAPA etc. that sell paint and supplies and ask about someone working out of their home. Usually these are folks that retired or moonlight. It’s not hard to get $3-4000 in repairs from a deer though. If there are frame repairs though, all bets are off.

I find it hard to believe though that a body shop would not have a business continuation provision in the event of the owner’s death. They wouldn’t just leave cars half done in the shop without being completed and paid for. Someone must be executing the shop closing.

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The title clearly mentions a 2002 Blazer

But in the first paragraph, op mentions a 2002 TrailBlazer

completely different trucks

I’d value a Trailblazer over an S-10 Blazer any day of the week

I don’t know about $4000, though . . .

A quick Autotrader.com search for similar TrailBlazers within 300 miles of St. Louis yields prices from $2150 to around $6800. Based on that $4000 seems reasonable. However, if the OP has already paid for the parts, the $4000 is for labor and/or in the event of a lien sale. If the shop actually expects the OP to pay $4000 I’d cut my losses and find something else.

Just off the cuff, I’d go ask the guy at “End of the Line Auto Repair” for a referral. For some reason seems like he would know someone. Don’t go to U-Haul though because the guy doesn’t wear a mask and comes within three feet of you when talking. Some would call that attempted murder. (According to Linda anyway) :grinning:

In a paycheck-to-paycheck industry employees will load their tools and leave in less than 4 hours after the bad news.

When the business is drawing to a close the parts suppliers will stop credit and go to COD only for parts making it difficult to continue business.

Yes!
In my neck of the woods, some of the various counties’ vocational schools have an auto body repair program, and they will do the work gratis, as long as you supply the parts and the paint. Hopefully the OP can find something similar in his area.

Tester provided an excellent suggestion.