[JSHarvey]

Hi,

My 65 convert is in the shop being repaired for an accident that messed up much of the front. I am having the whole car redone and just paying the "extra". What is a reasonable estimate (# of hours) for having the entire car blocked? There will be new fenders, one door (or possible a skin), quarter panels, trunk lid, the tail light panel, head lamp areas, and the lower valences put on. The hood, other door, and a few other little pieces will be reused. The insurance part of the bid does not cantian any blocking. So the blocking estimate has to be for the entire car.

Thanks.

John Harvey

 

[CAponyboy]

Let's start by asking YOU....how much the body shop wants for their job WITHOUT the blocking.

It almost sounds like someone is trying to take you for a ride.

A good body shop will actually do a basic block job before they shoot the prepped and primered car.

Basic blocking entails good bodywork, and a thicker layer of "filler" primer and a light "guide coat" that is sanded with a long board to highlight low or high spots on the panels.

If this shop doesn't do this as part of their prep job....then they should only call themselves a paint shop.....

Blocking is part of "body work" and should be covered by your insurance. This is done to restore the straightness of the body
just as it was before the claim or accident.

some people like to block their car 3-4 times.....and this is done to show quality cars.....

single blocking takes about a good 40-50 hours of labor.

Don't haggle with the body shop.......

Contact your insurance agent and tell him that you want the car as straight as it was before the accident and that it should be covered by the claim.

If they reneg I would threaten to contact an attorney....

by the way....I have never had any problems with AAA

Farmers tends to reneg on people giving them a hard time....
ALLstate is a little better

good luck and let me know how it goes.

regards
Roberto

 

[CAponyboy]

John,

after re-reading your post......here is what I came up with.....

for blocking the entire car to a ripleless mirror straight body it would take approx 80 hours plus or minus 10 hours(depending on how straight the rest of the body is already). This is blocking the trunklid, hood, front panels, doors and rear 1/4 panels.

It costs more but the results are astounding.

 

[JSHarvey]

Thanks for the information. The shop did include blocking as part of their bid for my part it was just lumped in with the rest of the paint labor though. I was just trying to get an idea as to whether the amount they included was reasonable. It sounds as if they may be a bit low. I will chat with my agent about getting part of the blocking covered by the claim. Overall the shop and insurance company (Allstate) have been pretty reasonable so far. (Problem is the car wasn't all that straight or rust free to begin with - it looks much better in the pictures below then it really was.)

Thanks again for providing your info. Access to that type of info makes it much easier to determine if people are treating me as they should. The VMF community is great!

John Harvey