You get three stars!

Sometimes you’re simply compelled to leave a negative Yelp review. It’s not that I had a genuinely horrible experience, but in the saga of trying to get the windshield replaced on my BMW M2, it was not so pleasant dealing with certain vendors. What it boils down to is this: communication. Any store has the right to refuse service to anyone, obviously. However, they should let the customer know this! Instead of stopping all communication without warning.

The first bodyshop I contacted to inquire about the windshield was such an establishment. While they did return my initial call saying they can help me, they never contacted me again with a repair estimate, after promising to do so. I emailed multiple times and never got a response. I realize most of these bodyshops completely ignore their emails, but I think that’s a mistake. Millennials and Gen Z people grew up on emails as a communications tool, and are deafly afraid of making a phone call.

A place of business would be wise to pay attention to incoming emails.

After I successfully got the windshield replaced (hat tip to Weatherford BMW in Berkeley), it was time to post lukewarm Yelp reviews for the shops that ignored my requests. A modicum of revenge for making me wait three weeks to get a simple piece of glass replaced on my car. And honestly, it’s such a relatively simple job! I know it doesn’t bring in the big money like a proper collision repair, but a small-bill customer is still a customer.

So I gave those shops three out of five stars, and wrote a little bit about the utter lack of communication. It would not be fair to give them any less stars because ultimately I did not do business with those places. Three stars is just enough to have my say forcefully, without looking like I’m being a dick about it. Even though I guess I’m trying to be a bit of a dick about it.

View fullsize

All fixed.

How hard can it be?

How difficult is it to replace a broken windshield on a BMW M2? Apparently, quite.

I’m sure the actual work is the same as any windshield on a car, but getting to the process has been a challenge. It’s been two weeks since I broke the windshield, and as of this writing the impact crater is still there. At least it is still water tight! No need for a trash bag of shame taped over it. The M2 remains drivable, though I hesitate to ferry people in the passenger seat - never know if the cracks would disintegrate further suddenly!

Because it is a BMW, I can’t just take the car to SafeLite and call it a day. The service manual calls for more than the windshield piece alone for the replacement procedure. You also have to use a specific kind of adhesive. I’m not sure how true it is, but word on the street is the windshield in the M2 is somewhat structural. Screw it up, and the rigidity is ruined forever. All of these things considered, I want the procedure done only at a BMW certified shop, with BMW genuine parts.

My insurance company would certainly want me to go to cheap SafeLite route instead. In fact, Progressive’s dedicated glass claim number takes you to a portal administered by SafeLite. Thankfully in California, we have the right to choose our own shop.

There’s only two BMW certified collision repair centers in San Francisco. The first one I called absolutely ghosted me. The second one I called say they don’t do windshield replacements, which is weird because invariably, if other parts of the car is wrecked along with the windshield, they'd repair it. My guess is those shops do not want the hassle of dealing with insurance. Turns out, most major auto insurance companies have contracted out their glass claims to SafeLite. And SafeLite completely lowballs.

It wasn’t until I contacted dealerships - BMW of SF and Weatherford BMW - that I got positive responses. Because the understanding there is I would pay up front for the repair, and I would deal with Progressive afterwards. Hopefully this means the windshield will get fixed relatively soon.

View fullsize

Boom!

How good are the typical autobody shops?

On my bus commute to work everyday I pass by an auto-body repair shop that's constantly teeming with cars. I guess it’s always good business in that line of work due to law of large numbers dictating an adequate amount of vehicle accidents (the sheer number of cars in our little 7 by 7 mile peninsula never ceases to amaze). Like a well-oil assembly factory the particular shop takes in mangled metal and repair it to original condition in at most a few week's time. 

This is interesting to me because it brings me back to the last time I had a car accident and had to bring it in to a bodyshop. Thankfully that was almost a decade ago and fortune have since been kind to me in that regard. It wasn’t a particularly bad experience per se but the shop, in an effort to process as many cars a possible, definitely cut some corners in the repair. Outwardly the finished car looked fine, which is the most important part I guess? But the innards behind the repair wasn’t as lovely. 

I don’t suppose people would care about such minutiae as long as the car looks good and it drives straight. Can we rightly expect perfection when pressure is on the shop to perform the repair quickly so that we can get back on the road? Most drivers rely on their vehicles to get to work so after an accident it’s difficult to be without a car for an extended period. I’m sure repair shops get phoned many times from customers inquiring about progress.

Proper auto-body repair takes significant amount of time. Just look at Youtube videos of restoration shops putting in many thousand hours on a single car to get it back to showroom condition. Videos of DIY repair guys buying a body-damaged car and taking months to fix it themselves. No matter the skill-level of the repairer the time required to perform a stellar job is massive. 

Therefor I have no confidence in the typical auto-body shop "factories" where lead-time is measured in weeks and the aim is to get through as many customer cars as possible. I’ve experience with those results and while it may pass for the common driver, it’s utterly substandard for me. 

Think of why a car’s value is decreased after an accident; perhaps it’s tacitly understood the typical repair job won’t be perfect and there will be residual issues during the rest of the vehicle’s useful life. Compared that to say a properly restored vintage Porsche: no one would argue its former decrepit state decreases its value absolutely and permanently. 

If I am unlucky to get into a car accident in the future, I’ll take the car a shop that isn’t about chasing quantity but instead will take the appropriate time to do the job fully and correctly. It’ll likely take a few months for the repair but I can stomach that because my next car will not be a daily-driver so I can afford to let it sit. 

You would not believe your eyes, If ten million fireflies...