A1 Auto Body....and contemporary

[DarkDream]

Hi i was just wondering about the service and the pricing....... Pretty much i want to know if this place does a good job and for the pricing are they charging you resonably for what they are doing or do they jack up the prices.....

[7thgenvic]

A1 forsure, my car just came back from them after being broken into, and they offered a free car to drive while mine was in their shop, didn't overcharge at all for the replacement parts, they gave the exact price that honda gave! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[GSR Zero]

Contemporary is a great shop and has great quality in their work but they are expensive. Some insurance companies don't like going through them because of this.

I've heard good and bad things about A-1. Great courtesy cars. I've known people who had problems with them though. One guy was supposed to get his front bumper replaced but when he checked after he got his car back, it was his old bumper fixed up. All this under insurance. I've never had a problem with A-1 but I haven't gone back in a long time now.

If you have the cash or the if insurance is willing to go with them, check out Contemporary Coachworks. An alternative I would suggest is Maranello. Great quality, good prices and an overall great shop with nice people.

[C4S]

They both seem OK, saw some cars fixed by them.

As GSR Zero said, Maranello is awesome! "fair" price, (for their qulity) and very good service as well, the only concern is, they are always fully booked ! :) It took me few weeks to book for power polish ... but they are the best !

[gtp]

Don't use A-1, they tried to fix my car for two months and still could not get it done well. I am now at a different shop because A-1 was so poor.

[Roadrage]

I've had work done at Contemporary Coachworks and I found them to be very good. I know Stampede Lexus/Toyota takes there banged up cars there (saw an IS300 a year or so ago that flipped on a test drive).

[Mckenzie]

I think what everyone is saying is correct.

Contemporary is expensive but does great work.

A-1 is not as reputable but they are expensive as well. A firends car was fixed there and it was not done properly.

[heavyD]

*****DO NOT USE A1 Autobody*****
The only good thing about A1 autobody is that they do alot of Hondas. This is good because when you are looking for a used Honda it is very easy to tell is the car has been re-painted or in an accident. They are a large shop that gets cars in and out as fast as possible as they need a high volume due to higher adminitsrative costs for larger businesses. Don't expect proper prep-work. I and some friends learned the hard way with our Honda's but you don't have to.

Contemporary Coachworks is definately a better shop than A1. I have heard more good than bad about their work.

[Altezza]

A1 is low in my books. Amongst my complaints:

- They indicate and charge for new replacement parts, but they just fix your old ones. In my cases, it was a bumper, wheel well liners, and wheel covers.

- My car came out 4-6 different shades of white after a major accident. Each part painted was a different shade of white.

- Body panels did not correctly line up

- Paint overspray extremely noticable

- Paint/contrast lines are crooked and not straight for some plastic areas

- They have this GIANT bump/hill in the back of their shop. If your car is lowered, you're screwed. They scrapped my old car pretty bad while they were driving (I was sitting in the passenger seat)

- Took them 2-3 tries before getting an alignment correct (toe only)

[Xtrema]

Contemporary: good

A1: bad

Price isn't that much different.

[Drew]

Contemporary does some really good work, they used to fix my families cars cause somehow they kept getting fucked up. I've only been to A-1 once for an estimate i had to get for the insurence company but while i was there i walked around the bay and man o fucking man do NOT EVER take your car there. I used to work at exotic so i know whats goin on and those jackasses were fuckin around with almost everything. This lady who worked there couldnt get this door shut so she decided to kick it till it closed, needless to say she ended up fucking up the side skirts that were still in primetime condition. I took my car to exotic and they do extremely good work. Same price range as contemporary who also do good work but they really did a fucking good job. Matched my paint perfectly, every thing lines up as tho it was factory even on my aftermarket stuff plus they popped out somes dents for me that i didn't even know were there.

[ZorroAMG]

Contemporary did a HORRID job on my dad's MB and I would never go there nor will he. The best work, if you have patience, is Exotic Cars International...they book up really fast and take a touch longer to get the work done, but it is FLAWLESS. In fact they do all the MB work for any brand new cars that get damaged during shipping....

[GSR Zero]

Originally posted by Altezza
A1 is low in my books. Amongst my complaints:

- They indicate and charge for new replacement parts, but they just fix your old ones. In my cases, it was a bumper, wheel well liners, and wheel covers.

- My car came out 4-6 different shades of white after a major accident. Each part painted was a different shade of white.

- Body panels did not correctly line up

- Paint overspray extremely noticable


This sounds familiar ... White Accord? This Ed?

Also, hope people are getting Contemporary Coachworks and Calgary Coachworks mixed up ...

[cloud7]

I know an insurance friend and he told me that A1 has been taken off of their preferred body shop list because of irregularities.

[Stratus_Power]

we have had experience with both.. since we own a lexus we had work done by Contemporary ( Lexus doesnt have their own body shop, they send everything to Contemporary), and their service was Fast and great, but yes it is on the expensive.


As for the A-1 though, we had our Dodge stratus sent there after getting T-boned, and man did they do a SHITTY job, they quoted us something like 9k to replace one of the door which was completely damaged and dumper and paint and stuff,, and after being in the shop for over 2 months :eek: the door still doesnt closes properly and requires ALOT of strength just to open and close it.., and the paint already started to fall off 3 months after the "fix".

We went back later to try to get them to re-fix the door and we received poor poor service.. basically they just ignored us.... after 2 weeks of going back and forth they finally agreed to look at it.. 2 weeks later we get the car back and nothing changed....

:guns: :guns: A-1


on the other hand i know a friend who took his Honda there and had nothing but praise.. so i guess they are only good w/ hondas

[Altezza]

Originally posted by GSR Zero


This sounds familiar ... White Accord? This Ed?



Yup, that's me. Sold that car over 2 years ago. '94 GSR...hmm...you're one of 5 people I can think of... PM me