Car body shop in Chicago?

December 15, 2018 5:33 PM

I scraped the left rear side of my hatchback (not too bad, mostly around the wheel area), and I reckon I should get it fixed before it gets super snowy. I'm in Lincoln Park / Old town. I'm willing to drive a bit to get it fixed somewhere good. Oh, and it would be nice if they could replace my (separate incident) bent -- but driveable -- wheel rim. Any recommendations?

I found a guy in Bucktown (on Damen) who quoted me $1000 for the body repair, but I'm wondering if I'd be paying a premium for the location.

And, yes, I feel ridiculous having a car in this town, but I'm still acquiring furniture and stuff so it's been helpful.

posted by amtho to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

This is a pretty lousy first answer, but my parents both trusted Dave at Imports Unlimited up in Highland Park (for not-Jaguars) if you want to phone and see if they have a body shop recommendation in the city (or can suggest a mechanic in the city to call for a recommendation).
posted by hoyland at 5:58 PM on December 15, 2018

We just had some serious damage repaired after an accident by Leitherer Body Shop in Skokie. Family run for 60 years, they have a shop dog, and our car looks perfect.
posted by hwyengr at 6:37 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: For the rim, I recommend Ashland Tire and Auto. I recommend them for anything wheel/tire/alignment.
posted by hwyengr at 6:38 PM on December 15, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I highly recommend L&L Auto Repair for pretty much anything. They're on Western up close to Lincoln Square, so shouldn't be too far. When we lived in Chicago they worked on our random assortment of cars (Volvo wagon, Mazda hatchback, and super old ford F250) and always had fair prices and good communication. We used them for 5-10 years and never had a single complaint.
posted by true at 7:07 AM on December 16, 2018

Best answer: I've used Tiger's Body Shop on Lincoln Ave many years ago for a few different issues (one was a pretty major 4-figure collision repair, the other was a quick replacement of a broken grill from a parking incident) and they were great. Looks like they still get great reviews on Yelp.
posted by misskaz at 8:00 AM on December 16, 2018

Tigers is good - we've used them several times. They are not a very big shop, so things can sometimes take a long time. We have also had good experiences with B&L. +1 to Ashland Tire for everything not body-related.
posted by Mid at 7:20 AM on December 17, 2018