I just picked up the long-term 2007 Camry from the body shop attached to Paige Toyota in Southfield, Michigan and the car feels soft and comfy like an old leather glove. And now, after $1236.67 and six days at the shop, it has fewer wrinkles. The Camry has a new driver's side mirror housing, left front fender and a bunch of new metallic gray paint. And actually the car was ready in about three-and-a-half days, but we were unable to pick it up before last weekend...
Pretty quick service, we'd say. Only problem was when we'd finished paying for collision repair, the tech pulled the car around for us and parked it in the only sunny patch that Southeastern Michigan has seen in several months. We glanced out the glass door at it while the guy behind the desk handed us our receipt and there dancing across the newly painted driver's door were swirls. We went outside with the man who allegedly painted the car and he told us that was simply dust we were looking at. Sure, because many times in our lives we've seen dust look exactly like a badly polished paint job. Dust is a tricky bastard that way. When I looked dubious, the man with the ventilation mask around his neck said, "I'll take it back in and blow it off with the air hose." When he pulled the car around--stop the presses!--the door looked exactly the same, except that it didn't have any dust on it.
Eventually--possibly when they realized I wasn't leaving--they decided to take the car back in and re-polish the door. Fifteen minutes later they brought the keys back to me and apologized for the delay. The finish was much improved. But was that gap between the door and fender unusually wide? I decided I was probably being paranoid and took delivery of the thing, happy that all the body parts appeared to be in their correct shape again. I'm even happier that the dealer washed the thing for the first time in an embarrassingly long while.
I'm going to give the repaired area a careful once-over again before I call it a success. --Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit at 12,580 miles
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