Steve 96C4S

With great trepidation and cause for concern I brought my 96 C4S to Euro Pros Body shop in Gaithersburg Md as they were what I considered the lesser of a few evils for body shop repair. I was rear ended a month ago and was referred by a couple of people to try them, even though one gent on this board had a hellish experience w/ them. I ended up bringing it there and begged them to fix it right! The back end was pushed in a bit and the bumper and tips were messed up. Progressive insurance only put $423 on the repair (WTF?), but it ended up costing $2661 to fix.

Euro pros really bent over backyards to do the job correctly, even when Progressive Insurance was battling hard with them to just fix the old bumper instead of replace it. It really needed replacing! They won that battle, and they even fought to get me new exhaust tips ($312) as one of them was scuffed up in the accident. I didn't EXPECT them to secure new Fabspeed tips. I just figured they'd do their best to polish up the scuff marks as it would have been much cheaper to do so and I bought them used for $100 anyway. I called them about the tips towards the end of the 2 week wait, and they asked me for the website for the manufacturer. 2 days later they were ON the car! Now that's service. They incorrectly ordered a 996 bumper at one point in this 2 week process but got it right and got Progressive to pay for the speedier delivery of the correct 993 rear bumper. The weird thing is, the 996 bumper is $1232 while our 993 bumper is $1466! You just gotta love our cars - built to last... or just more expensive because they didn't make as many?

Everytime I called, Greg was as helpful as could be, but the real star here was Jack. He REALLY knows Porsches. He was involved in every aspect of the work itself. The best part of the whole experience was meeting him today when I picked it up and he went over every last bit of the process with me, showing me this and that, and even told me that he worried that my oil was really low. I told him that I JUST put a bunch in a while back and actually OVERFILLED it a few months ago and it's still burning off while driving into embarrassing white smoke. I doubted his oil guage knowledge, till I got halfway home and noticed the oil guage WAS in the red and staying there at idle. My dipstick is basically worthless but I trusted the gauge and put in a half quart with the engine running (how counter intuitive is that - I've never had another car where you put oil in while it's running - OK, rant over) then a whole quart, until the needle left the red. He was dead on correct. I just figured the gauge was messed up because the dipstick seemed like it was full. Lame a$$ curly cue dipsticks. You can never tell if it's full, or if a little residual oil is clinging to the dipstick making you THINK it's full. I'm thankful for that gauge. Honestly, stupid me - I've never used it before to tell if I'm low on oil <doh on me, I know>.

Jack even had my car waxed and they wanted to know precisely when I was coming in today so they could clean it one last time. They even filled in some of the paintchips that needed attending to in the front, and polished out a scratch mark so it looks a bit less noticeable.

I made mention of the fact that an aquaintenance from Rennlist had a nightmare's worth of problem's with his car there, and that it had taken months for him to get it back, making me nervous about using them. They assured me that this was an unusual situation and that I would be taken care of, and I was. They really do aim to please. They said that 1 out of 10 Porsche owners won't be happy with paintwork after picking it up, or something like that. It's probably true.

I was looking at the rear bumper today, in the spot that has had a substantial crease mark since I bought it 17 months ago. I always wished someone would hit me from behind so it would be fixed. I'm so grateful that day is here, as it truly looks brand new now... except for the wheels! They seem to have chip marks on them that really make the car look substandard, to me - the perfectionist. I mentioned this to Jack and he said for $150 a wheel (or possibly a little less if I get all 4 done at the same time) they could repaint the wheels and fix the chips/light scuffs. I mentioned that I'm sure Wheel Works or Ye Old Wheel Shop probably does a better job as that is ALL they do. He disagreed and said he could match the paint better and I'd be happier using them! I think I might take them up on this when the wheels get a little worse, or after I scrape them on a curve. They're probably not bad to most people, but these chips make me cringe.

I've VERY happy with the overall experience. 2 weeks was a long time to wait for the car, but I got a free rental car (Pontiac Grand Am) to drive for the period with only 100 miles on it and I TOTALLY enjoyed having this new car! What a trip it is to drive it in the rain, mud, etc and not worry about cleaning it. I ate in it, let my stepdaughter eat ANYTHING she wanted in it including really messy things, and my wife was happy as a lark when she spilled a whole cup of highly staining tea on the passenger floor and I didn't even break a sweat. They both know to never eat in my cars, so it was fun for them too.

When I got home tonight, I noticed in the sunlight that there are 2 light scratches on the bottom of the rear bumper on the driver side. They are really fine, and normally I would have been pissed, but I'm confident that they will help me with this or anything else in the future. They're really a great shop from what I experienced and I'd use them again in a second. They had a new, red Ferrari Modena sitting there when I first dropped it off that had some paint work done to it and today they had a 97 yellow Ferrari Berlinetta. Must be nice to drive crazy hot cars like those.

Here are the repaired pics on page six of my Cardomain site if anyone's interested... http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/317361

Before:

After:


Thanks to all of you that gave me advice! My car is better now than when I bought it. I waited for 3 weeks to bring it into Euro Pros while we were in Switzerland and Italy this past month. I hardly saw any Porsches at all there, except for Zurich. Here are some trip pics! Just click on the link.
http://img78.photobucket.com/albums/v287/stever500/
(you might need to take off pop-up blocker to access this site!)

Peace,
Steve
(PS - as usual, no affiliation w/ Euro Pros other than a happy new customer)

BobbyB

All Right Steve!!! I'm very glad everything went well and that Euro Pro exceeded your expectations. No one can ask any more than that. Safe driving

Steve 96C4S

Thanks Bobby.
Steve

nman413

Looks nice Steve. Although you should have gotten the Euro bumper

Steve 96C4S

Icerbofh: Thanks for the response. Euro bumper? Ughhhh. I didn't even think of it. I was so wrapped up in just getting the car repaired correctly that mods didn't even come to my mind. Not sure the insurance company would have even let it sneak by. They were watching these guys like hawks in every step of the process and even required them to cut out part of my old bumper and give it to them so they couldn't reuse it on another car!!! Do you have pics of the difference between the two rear bumpers?

I'm not sure why I'd want to see them though, as it's too late Maybe so I could kick myself?

Steve

Mark in Baltimore

Steve,

Congrats on getting your car back! I'm glad your experience was positive. You're up for the next run, right?

I thought you had posted that you liked the protection the US bumpers provided over the Euro ones?

TYNUSKT

Congrats on getting the car back Steve and thanks for posting your experience with Euro Pros. Always good information for the rest of us to have on hand.

Steve 96C4S

Thanks Mark and Mark. I am definitely up for the next Meet and Drive. Has it been announced yet? If I'm not climbing the tallest mountain in a certain state (Mt Whitney Aug 18th in California) or have to work I'll be there!!!

Steve

nman413

Steve, I dont have a pic but just imagine the two rear bumper warts gone.

Steve 96C4S

Thanks Jauder. Now I get what the euro bumper looks like. I actually prefer our clunky American 993 bumpers with those adorable little bumperettes!

Different strokes I guess. I used to have a 74 2002 and people would say how ugly the accordion bumper was, yet I loved that look.


Steve