**** man. Sorry to hear.

I've never had repairs performed at a dealership before, they've always been at auto-body repair places. Check your local laws, see if you can dictate where you can take it. I know some states it's entirely up to the owner where the vehicle gets repaired.

 

That blows..I agree with @gravitywell, if you can have a reputable auto body repair shop do the work, you're likely further ahead to go that route...Unless your dealership is also known for great body work, but most aren't. Good luck

 

I typically avoid dealerships... especially since most of them farm out their jobs

 

I agree, usually dealerships do not have their own 'in house' body shop. I recommend going to a good reputable one yourself, certainly be open to the one the dealership uses if it is a good one.

I will say if the damage is mostly cosmetic in nature, a good bodyshop can repair as good as new. I have seen some extremely good repairs with no way one can tell before/after.

 

I'd suggest trying to get in touch with guys and gals from your local area's various car clubs. They usually know who does the best work.
Around here we also have Angie's List, Consumer Checkbook and of course Yelp and Google. In my area you can access Consumer Checkbook at the local library for free. (it's a quarterly publication and an on-line version too.) With Google and Yelp, you have to wonder about the accuracy of some of the reviews there....toss the best one and the worst one, the real story is somewhere in between. Your local BBB office might have records of complaints about various issues you could review on-line too. You could also call your local auto parts store and ask for recommendations. Put all this together and the top body shop will be apparent I'd guess.

 

Luckily the damage is the size of a grape fruit right above the driver side rear wheel. The wheel has a deep scratch as well and will probably need replaced. I have State Farm and they claim my dealership is their preferred bodyshop. Ill do some research on my local area and see what the great people of the internet think about them. I appreciate all of the input.

 

So sad to hear. Best wishes in getting it back to normal. For body work, I avoid the dealerships. I go to a local body shop near my work. I use the dealers mainly for mechanical repair work.

 

It might also depend on your/their insurance company.

 

As you can see in the image, the damaged area isn't too big. My insurance gave me a few options and the body shop at the dealership was the closest to me in State Farms preferred network(meaning I get the free rental car) and the damage was just under $1,500. They will be replacing the wheel as well. Dropping it off tuesday and should be picking it up by thursday.

A piece of information I learned through this process is that any damage under $1,500 is not reported to DMV meaning it will not show up on CarFax.