Kelly’s Automotive

So. Thursday morning, November 12^th at 6:30 in the morning your company van gets on the freeway westbound I90 doing what, 85 mph? I watch the van shoot across all lanes of traffic into the fast lane and tailgate (bumper to bumper) all cars until the drivers get so scared they move right. Then the van speeds up to 85 or 90 mph until it reaches more cars and then repeats tailgating again. My wife was in another car, further up I90 and called me and asked if I saw that Kelly’s van? Yes. Yes I did.

SO Friendly! Dena over there is super nice and very accomodating when it comes to helping you out (I was in an accident and overwhelmed with it all). Turns out my car was totaled and they couldnt work on it — but they took care of everything for me… Thank you Dena and Kellys Auto :)

So, I’ve never rated a business prior to their completion of a service… however, there is always a first time. When we brought our new car to Kelly’s Collision 1, we were impressed by their perceived professionalism. They quoted us a price and a two day turn around on repairs. As they were busy at the time, they set a date a week out. No problem! After the second day, they said it would be another day… on day three, it was another day… so this afternoon, I called and was told how crazy busy they are, and, get this, that two of their painters were on vacation! Now, it seems to me that a manager (or estimator in this case) would know this before he quoted a two day turn around. Or perhaps, Kelly’s has an attitude that once they have your car, you are at their mercy, a captive audience. So, I’ve made it very clear to them that it isn’t acceptable for my wife and I to go through the weekend without the car. Yea, right! I’m afraid that telling a customer what they want to hear is the order of the day at Kelly’s. Cautionary tale…

Apparently they don’t work for the customer but for the insurance company. And if there is no customer service why does a business exist?

Had my car hit in a parking lot… no note etc…$ 500.00 deductible. Liberty Mutual is my insurance company Kelly’s was on their recommended list. Have been to Kelly’s for previous body work and was very satisfied so going back wasn’t an issue. I had no problem with being acknowledged, had the estimate with Tom McCune. told to bring the car on a Wednesday and I’d get it back on Friday, delivered as promised. They washed, buffed, dressed the tires the car looked like new. The bodywork was incredible, I was thrilled at the personal service and the work done on the car… I’m a customer for life. JA

I made an appointment over the phone for an estimate and was scheduled to be there at 10:30am. I walked into the establishment at 10:25am and it was not until 10:33am that anyone even acknowledge that I was standing there. That has to be one of my BIGGEST pet peeves. A simple «we’ll be with you in a second» or «Hi have a seat and someone will help you shortly»…not a thing. So when my appointment was all said and done I used this type of interaction as a reason why I did not chose to take my business there… petty I know. Although the lady who did the estimate was quick and prompt and emailed very quickly it had left a really bad taste in my mouth. I hope in the future they acknowledge that customers have a choice in where they take their vehicles and making someone feel welcomed and less on edge about having to deal with car issues they would at least extend a hello.

To best paint a picture regarding the poor quality of service and repair Kelly’s Auto Body has done, i have decided to attach the original complaint letter below. The letter below will best paint the picture of how distraught i was when i FINALLY picked up my car on Friday August 22^nd, 2014
*******Original Letter of Complaint to Owner****
Al Kelly
Kelly’s Auto Body Bellevue
1500 130^th NE
Bellevue, 98 005
August 17, 2014
Dear Mr. Kelly:
I am writing to you to complain about the poor service & handling of car repair I received from your shop from August 4 to August 22.
I am not at all satisfied and very unhappy with the work your shop has done on my brand new Lexus 2014 IS 250 °F. Listed below are my complaints.
**rear bumper was keyed in at the time of repair, those noticeable scratches were not present when i dropped off my car back in August 4^th.
**multiple car paint scratches found on my car and scratched noticeably
** uneven and poorly done exterior and interior detail job
**passenger interior door panel was scratched.
**missing wheel valve stem cap
I paid you in full to have my car repaired only to discover new damages caused by sheer negligence of your repair staff.
Not to mention the unnecessary 18 days repair was a ridiculous timeline.
I entrusted your company in the care, custody and control of my Lexus repair and left your body shop dissatisfied, unhappy and stressed.
Is this the way you want to do business?
I would like you to either redo the work, or else refund my $ 2,000 deductible so I can go to another shop.
Mr. Kelly, your shop’s advertising guarantees 100% satisfaction and an advertising slogan of «Autobody like it never happened.»
I am sure you will be willing to live up to your claims. I look forward to hearing from you within the next couple of days.
Sincerely,
JJ Paz

I have had my car in for a good number of repairs throughout the years and Kelly’s has always done a great job. The most recent repair experience was exceptional and they went well above and beyond their call of duty. I am very happy with their operation. Although I did notice the receptionist had ugg slippers on which I didn’t think was very professional. Still great service and an even better outcome with the repairs.

This may be a little unconventional, but the main reason I like Kelly’s Automotive is: no hair gel here. This is the oldest auto body repair shop on 130^th Ave NE — I think there are four shops there right next to each other. It’s a traditional place with little league sponsorship pictures on the wall, etc. I see things like this as indicative of a trustworthy business that has been successful over the long term.
They always have cookies in the waiting area.
I think there are two things other reviewers may not understand: 1) You should make an appointment for a repair appraisal. It isn’t that hard. You call in advance and get on the schedule — in and out in 15 minutes. I don’t think you should just walk in and expect people to immediately drop what they’re doing to give you an appraisal, necessarily. If you can just accept how it works, you will be fine. Secondly, when you are getting a claim paid with insurance, the repair shop is using the insurance company’s contract rates, so price is not really an issue.
Anyway, I like these guys a lot. I have been there once as the hittee and once as the hitter (fortunately both were parking lot or driveway scrapes). I will always go back to them, but hopefully not too often!

Dena was awesome. They did great work and in a timely manner. Super professional, friendly and fair. Thanks!

I needed some minor bumper repairs done on my BMW. Kelly’s quickly took me in and had the car done by the next day. Their attention to detail and care with my car was excellent. Pricing was reasonable also. Plus all the staff there are very friendly!

Came here the first time on my insurance agent’s recommendation after I was rear ended. I was happy with the service, and my car looked good. Naturally, the next time my car got into a scrape, I came here first to get an estimate. When I walked in the door, five employees were huddled together chatting, and they all looked up at me. Then they all went immediately back to chatting! I should have left at that point, and the lack of any other customers should have said something to me. But it didn’t, and I stayed. A couple minutes later some man (not sure he even gave me his name) came over and asked what I needed. I told him I wanted to get an estimate to get my car fixed, and then he went on about some rant that he was very busy today and all booked up… But he could spare me a couple minutes to look.
I’m sorry, but their website says they do drop in estimates anytime, and he didn’t look busy to me! At this point I knew I wouldn’t be doing business here. There are too many other car shops in the area to waste your time here.

Yes, the other guy’s insurance footed the bill. BUT all things being equal, I have to give these guys at least three stars for making the effort.
Communication: Very good. The manager /​owner was pretty good about getting in touch with me via email. If I had a question about the repair, (IE, time), then he would either get back to me by the end of the day or by early next morning.
Cost: I really can’t say. I had a pretty bad fender bender that Maaco quoted at 2k +/​-​. Kelly’s came in pretty close, give or take a few dollars.
Timeliness: This is where they got dinged in quite a bit. It was supposed to be a 10 day repair, but it took a little over 2 weeks to wrap it up. It was good that the manager kept me posted (Pre-​emptive phone calls to let me know my car wouldn’t be ready…)
Quality: I can’t tell the paint difference. No major problems yet. Everything works pretty well.
Give them a shot if you need to get a quote. But if you’re tight on time, (IE, rental car costs, etc), then you might want to consider the pro’s and cons.

I visited Kelly’s to get an estimate on my 2006 Japanese car. I had a minor scratch on 2 railings on the side of my
door, but other than that there was no damage on the actual door or anything else.
The man at Kelly’s came back to me with an estimate of almost $ 400 ($ 394.76 to be exact) which I thought was
pretty pricy for what seemed like a simple job of replacing two railings. I read through the sheets to make sure that
the feeling of getting ripped off wasn’t a false feeling.
There was $ 173.24 on the materials, ok…
There 5 hours of labor at $ 56 to have the railings re-​painted. He also said I had to leave my car with them for 2 days
because it involved paint job. At that moment I started to get a little bit uneasy… something didn’t seem right.
Next day I actually called them to ask for a better estimate. I had still hopes to do business with them… after all they
were nearest to my work. They brought the price down to $ 350.
I’ve decided to try one more body shop before I settle. I went to another body shop within 2miles to Kelly’s and
found out that the railings (that they quoted needed 5hours plus 2days to get done) could’ve been purchased pre–
painted for $ 100 for both!!!
Even with labor at around similar rate, the other body shop gave me an estimate that was half the price of Kelly’s
($ 204 to be exact). Also it wasn’t a 2day job even if they had to paint the railings for any possible reason. Even if
they had to paint the railings it wasn’t nearly close to 5hour job!
Reading through other people’s review I guess people had mixed experience at Kelly’s. Maybe it was just that one
guy who gave me the quote. But it’s hard to believe I wasn’t intended. He must’ve known that he could’ve ordered
the pre-​painted railings for a 2006 car… he’s in that business.
Regardless of what anyone else says I wouldn’t recommend Kelly’s to anyone…