Hi guys,
I was involved in a fender bender this past weekend. My right headlight is cracked and right bumper needs to be remounted. It's a 2018 RX350 F-Sport with only 2k miles. Ugh!

I'm planning to get the work done at Lexus Route 10 where I bought the car but wanted to hear suggestions from the Club Lexus community if there are better alternatives (cost). I'm in the Weehawken and willing to listen to excellent local body shops. I know some have said going to a Toyota dealership for regular maintenance after the free maintenance are up is an effective cost savings with same quality of work. Is there something similar for body work?

Thanks!

 

It’s a new car and I’m assuming insurance is paying for the repair so the last thing you want to do is try to go the cheapest route with body work. I’m in the area “Bergen County” and years ago my brand new at the time SE Camry which I loved was rear ended by a Sponzili landscaping truck. To cut the story short they were going to pay for the repairs directly to avoid going through there insurance, so the body shop would have an open ticket for repairs. I stupidly assumed that if I went through Toyota Universe they’d do everything by the book, that they’d replace everything down to the nuts and bolts, basically that it would be in as new condition when I got it back. They did over charge the heck out of Sponzili including charging for new suspension parts which were bs charges but the work was horrible. They subbed it out to a body shop in Paterson and only authorized the minimal work to be done. They didn’t replace the trunk lid which they should of. They ended up straightening it out and the fit was horrible it didn’t close right, the trunk rattled over pot holes, I’d get a weird noise from air coming into it. They didn’t blend it in so at night when a cars headlight hit it the trunk and bumper were purple but everything else was metallic blue. The bottom part of the bumper was scraped they never replaced it. In hindsight I should of refused the work but I was 20 and I got heated with the service writer and just stormed out before it got ugly. I ended up trading in the car which was my first new car, had just paid off, and I planned on keeping forever because it pissed me off every time I looked at the imperfections. The moral of the story is don’t assume because it’s the dealer you can assume they’ll do the right thing, definitely don’t let pricing be the deciding factor, do your homework and do your research before you decide who you want to do the work for you.

 

Thanks ellocovg. Unfortunately, insurance will not be involved. I agreed with the other owner of accident car that we would handle our own repairs. Mutually at fault, freak occurrence.

 

If your car is leased, definitely go with the dealer. That way if they have any complaints when the lease is up, you can hold a mirror up to their face.