Frequently Asked Questions

Your insur­ance com­pany issues claim num­bers at the time you report your acci­dent. Just jot it down and bring it in with you when you come in to begin the repair process, and we will do the rest.

Absolutely. We gen­er­ally order your vehicle’s parts at the time an esti­mate is writ­ten, and we sched­ule your vehicle for drop-off a couple of days later. However, if your vehi­cle is found unsafe to drive, we would arrange for a rental vehi­cle as soon as pos­si­ble. This enables us to pro­vide quicker turnaround time.

Not nec­es­sar­ily. A car is a ‘total loss’ only when the price of repairs exceeds the insur­ance company’s deter­mined value of your vehi­cle. Most cars are built using uni­body (frame and body as one) con­struc­tion. Most trucks and SUVs have a uni­body over frame. Our highly skilled tech­ni­cians, with the aid of our state-of the-art com­puter mea­sur­ing sys­tem, can return your vehi­cle to its orig­i­nal fac­tory spec­i­fi­ca­tions. If it is deter­mined that the frame section is bent beyond repair, that sec­tion can sim­ply be replaced.

This infor­ma­tion comes from the man­u­fac­turer of your vehi­cle. Our tech­ni­cians and staff are prop­erly trained in the lat­est state-of-the-art equip­ment to repair your vehicle.

Our mod­ern fac­tory fin­ishes incor­po­rate mul­ti­ple lay­ers of highly-specialized paints. We have made a major invest­ment in the finest paint sys­tem avail­able, which con­stantly upgrades its tech­nol­ogy and equip­ment to ensure that each vehicle’s paint matches. We take spe­cial pride in our abil­ity to match fac­tory fin­ishes as the final step in the restora­tion process.

Yes! Just let your advi­sor know what other work you would like done so that he or she can make the nec­es­sary arrangements.

Your advi­sor can give you an ini­tial tar­get date of com­ple­tion. This is not a def­i­nite date. Esti­mates are writ­ten on visual inspec­tion, but vehi­cles are very intri­cate under the sur­face and require intense inspec­tion after tear down. Once tear down is com­pleted and the avail­abil­ity of parts is researched, the tar­get date will be updated.

Yes, we pro­vide a pickup and deliv­ery ser­vice. We want each customer’s visit to be a pos­i­tive expe­ri­ence, and we will work dili­gently towards that goal.

If you need a rental car, we can help you make the nec­es­sary arrange­ments, and we even have rental cars on site. Two major rental com­pa­nies keep cars on our site for our cus­tomers. Insur­ance com­pa­nies will only pay for a rental car if you have that option on your pol­icy or if you are the claimant. Check your pol­icy and/or call your insur­ance com­pany to find out if you have rental cov­er­age and what your spe­cific lim­i­ta­tions are.

You will be noti­fied when your vehi­cle is ready to be picked up. If you leave us your e-mail address, you will be noti­fied auto­mat­i­cally 4 times through­out the process. Feel free to call or e-mail your advi­sor dur­ing the repair process if you have ques­tions or con­cerns, and you may also check this webpage.

Yes. We pro­vide a lim­ited life­time guar­an­tee for all repairs of work­man­ship to your vehi­cle. Parts are sub­ject to the man­u­fac­tur­ers’ lim­ited war­ranties. Paint is backed by a nation­wide lim­ited life­time war­ranty by our Akzo-Nobel net­work of shops.

The amount of deductible that you will be respon­si­ble for is deter­mined by your insur­ance pol­icy. Insur­ance com­pa­nies deter­mine fault through your account of the acci­dent when you make the claim and the acci­dent report filed with the police depart­ment. If you aren’t sure about your deductible, call your agent and he will tell you whether your insur­ance com­pany has waived your deductible or if you will be respon­si­ble for pay­ment when you pick up your vehicle.

It will be your respon­si­bil­ity to pay Dal­ton Col­li­sion when you pick up your vehi­cle if your insur­ance com­pany has not waived your deductible.

The eas­i­est and most con­ve­nient way to pay for your por­tion of the vehi­cle repairs is with a major credit card. We accept Visa, Mas­ter­Card and Dis­cover up to $500.00. Of course, cash and pre-approved checks are always welcome.

Parts that wear out and need replace­ment with time and use (e.g., tires, bat­ter­ies, and sus­pen­sion parts) are com­monly sub­ject to bet­ter­ment charges when they are replaced dur­ing the repair process. These bet­ter­ment charges are deter­mined by your insur­ance com­pany and are pro-rated based on actual miles on your vehicle.

Recommendations And Precautions In The First 30 Days:

DO
· Wash the vehi­cle by hand with cool water and a very mild car wash solu­tion using a soft cloth or sponge.
· Use clean, fresh water.
· Wash your vehi­cle in the shade.

DON’T
· Use a com­mer­cial car wash. Stiff brushes or sponges could mar the fin­ish and dam­age the sur­face.
· “Dry wipe” your vehi­cle. Dry wip­ing can scratch the fin­ish.
· Drive on gravel roads. Chip­ping the fin­ish is eas­ily done in the first 30 days.
· Park under trees and util­ity lines, which are likely to attract birds. Bird drop­pings have a high acid con­ tent and will dam­age a freshly painted sur­face. Also, tree sap can mar or spot a freshly painted sur­face.
· Spill gaso­line, oil, antifreeze, trans­mis­sion fluid or wind­shield sol­vent on the new fin­ish.
· Scrape ice or snow from the newly painted surface.