Columbia Auto Collision Center

Work was ok. Customer service and communication were terrible. They kept a telling me it was going to be ready and I’d show up and it was not. I spent way to much time waiting in the lobby. Also, they never call you to give any updates. It seems like they are just too busy all the time to give any personal attention.

I had my car repaired here several weeks ago and I am extremely happy with the results. I have a red Mazda 6 which is now over 10 years old, but in a pretty good shape. Several years ago, the back bumper was damaged and I ended up with a darker red on the back bumper compared to remainder roof the car. The collision center I used at the time (in Ohio) told me that due to the color of my car, I could never get a perfect match. Fast forward to my most recent incident, the car looks absolutely new! My husband and I are both very detail-​oriented, but could not even find a hint of a mismatch or oversight with their job. I hope I won’t have to, but should I ever need additional repairs I will definitely be going back there.

A little background of my situation: I let my friend drive my 2012 Camry SE on a rainy day and he lost control of the car and hit the curb going roughly 60mph. Just by assessing the damage with your eyes, anyone could see that the front drive train needed to be replaced. The car had to be towed, so I googled repair shops and settled for this place due to their free towing service, and because of their name: …COLLISION center.
I see some positive reviews here for smaller jobs such as cosmetic damages, but if your car requires extensive repairs for more than just the body I would recommend looking elsewhere. I’ll cut right to the chase and express my displeasure with my experience. It took 5 attempts to properly diagnose my vehicle. The first quote came out to be $ 3k, then $ 5k, then $ 7k. The first three times I came to pick it up, I immediately noticed that the car was pulling severely to one side. I’m not a mechanic, but shouldn’t you test drive the vehicle to make sure the job was done properly?! Especially if that car was not properly repaired the first or second time.
After three weeks after I brought in my car, numerous visits, and a total of three times of being told that my car was ready for «pick-​up», the owner explained to me that the pulling was caused by a bent frame, and sub-​frame. This truly upset me because it is common knowledge that a car diagnosed with a bent frame will almost never drive straight again. If I was aware of this sooner, I might have opted to sell the car.
The shop also never calls you back. I never received a proper call informing me of the situation of my vehicle. I have always had to call the shop itself and ask for the owner, which more than half the time I was told by the front desk person that he was on a «lunch break». I found this strange since my calls all varied from 11AM to 5PM. I can’t knock off stars just for inconsistent lunch hours, but out of the 10 times I was told I would be getting a call back I only received 1. And I will gladly knock off stars for that.
About the owner: He talks very fast and indirectly. I can see how most people fall for his charm and friendliness, but I was always skeptic of his work due to his lack of objective answers. He would ramble on and on about a related topic rather than expressing genuine interest in answering my questions and concerns.
After nearly 2 months of my car in and out of the shop, dozens of visit, calls that were never returned, I gave up trying to fix the minor pull my Camry had after all of the repairs. Eddie didn’t have an answer for it, and I had enough of going back to that place for anything.
The only reason I avoided giving it the lowest rating is because Eddie offered to install a header I recently purchased for free due to the inconvenience. A nice gesture, but it does not make up for all of the mentioned above.

Today I went to Columbia Auto Collision Center to have a through evaluation and diagnostic on my car which I had doubts that had been in an accident.
Mr. Eddie is very knowledgable. He had explained everything about my car very throughly and took many pictures on the vehicle which others did not that proved that my newly purchased used car had been in an accident. I highly recommend Columbia Auto Collision Center and will go back for any future services.

I recently had my drivers side mirror damaged and came here to get it replaced. Eddie, the owner, is very friendly and helpful. He gave me a couple different options and educated me about all of them. He is a straight forward guy and wants to make sure the customer is happy. When it comes to car repairs and auto shops this is hard to find. It has been 1 week and my mirror looks as good as new. If you have any body work that needs done in the area I would recommend giving Eddie a chance to fix it.

My boyfriend referred this shop to me to repair some damage to the splash guard under my car and I’m so happy to have taken his suggestion. Not only did Eddie and his team repair the damage to my car but they were also able to do some minor touch-​ups to the rest of the car to make sure that I got it back in top condition. I was only without my car for a few days and Eddie was mindful of the fact that I needed it back quickly to save money on rental car costs. My boyfriend has had more experience with them and has always said that Eddie is willing to step up to bat against the insurance company, if they ever try to repair your car with lower costs and lower quality. If you want a complete job well done, and want to work with an honest owner, this is the place to go. Of note — there is a similar shop with a similar name close by. Pay attention to the address! I have heard that this neighboring shop will not correct your error if you bring your car to them instead by accident.

This is a great neighborhood auto repair shop. The mechanical work I’ve had done here has been great and the owner is genuinely in business to make an honest living and not cheat people out of their hard earned money. The owner does what he can to get the repair done within your budget. Honestly. I trust my 15 year old vehicle to Columbia Auto Collision Center, and would bring my 3-​year old new purchase to this establishment, but for the need/​want to keep it dealer maintained so as to not have warranty issues. I’ve never had body work performed by Columbia Auto Collision, but given the excellent customer service I’ve received over the past four years, I wouldn’t hesitate.
I know my review is way different than previous posters. I think there were some personnel changes (for the better) recently: new office manager, new receptionist/​cashier, and new head mechanic.
I’m glad I found Columbia Auto Collision Center.

Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this car repair center. As it is presently managed, I would definitely not return there. They are very friendly. However, I have various serious complaints based on my recent experience there. The stalling of my car’s engine was attributed to interference by the clutch of my airco system which I agreed to have replaced at the suggestion of the manager. 1500 dollars and 12 days later the engine of my 2003 Saturn L300 runs again but I have no cooling in my car. That could have been prevented if the manager were to adopt my following constructive suggestions.
1^st) When you promise to phone the customer, do so as promised. This was almost never done. One or two other Unilocal reviews also point out this issue. I believe them. I always had to be the one to call first toward the end of the business day to get a status update on an ongoing diagnostic and repair process.
2^nd) When you give an estimate provide it in writing and ask the customer to sign it in advance of any repairs. I never got one. I made the mistake of not asking for it.
3^rd) Avoid creating overly optimistic expectations in describing what is repaired. That should have been documented in writing including what parts were being replaced with what new or used parts. My expectation was that my car’s airco system would be replaced including all refrigerant hoses. My expectation was based on the statement that I would get a new airco system plus that I would get it replaced for 1050 instead of the usual 1500 to 1700 dollars charged over the summer. I could never get an answer to my direct question as to the reason for this discount.
4^th) When you release a car to a customer first do a quality control and do not claim the repair was successful as intended when it is not. Immediately after driving away my airco was not generating cold air. I gave it some time to kick in, but it did not. When I called back to report this problem, I was told that the airco was working when the car was released and that it was not cooling because of a new problem that developed within half an hour of leaving the garage.
5^th) Adopt the 3^rd point above so that the manager does not have to resort to claims that seem very improbable and therefore undermine the confidence of the customer. I was told that new leaks had developed in a third, old, non-​replaced hose of the airco system within 30 minutes after picking up my ‘repaired’ car, even though the airco system supposedly had been replaced and even though I told the manager I noticed this problem almost immediately within minutes of driving away from his facility.
6^th) When offering the customer a loaner car do all of the following
a) Show them the car registration. This was not done.
b) Make sure that the registration is valid. The registration I was ultimately shown after I asked for it had transpired more than 8 months ago the year before.
c) Do not keep police citations for driving without tags with the same registration. I found such a citation.
d) Do not offer the customer a rather old fort pickup that has not separate trunk (e.g,. for storing groceries). There was no trunk.
Issues a to c could have caused me serious problems in case of being pulled over by the police. Of course, I declined this loaner car.
7^th) When telling the customer the day before that the car will be ready the next morning and when the customer calls in the afternoon to pick up the car, have the sales associate confirm that the car is indeed ready for pick up within 10 minutes, especially when the customer states he/​she is at a rental company to return the rental. I was asked to wait for a return call for 20 minutes. The return call did not come.
8^th) When the customer has a question give direct answers. Evasive answers and continuously reassuring the client that he has their best interests at heart is the manager’s norm. Just reassure a few times and then deliver.
9^th). Do a full diagnosis of a broken system (e.g., car airco system) instead of starting a repair and then later claiming to find and proposing to repair new problems in the same system at extra cost to the customer, especially after first releasing the car as supposedly repaired.
10) This is minor. Do a simple exterior wash of the car. It is good business practice. Or do not do it. But don’t say sorry we had not time to do a wash of the car (to release it early to the customer when that release comes after more than 1 week) and then offer to do it next time. It just does not sound convincing, especially after a bad experience.
Hope this helps and future customers won’t have to go through my ordeal with this business.

Fixed back side and bumper of car. Still looks great several months later. Went back for door hinge repair and happy with those results also.

Horrible Horrible Horrible! I purchased a groupon for $ 300 worth of surface scratch repair. I had 3 scratches on my car door. I made an appointment and arrived, however the owner informed me he could not do it that day. Sorry. I rescheduled and dropped my car off. The informed me that they could take out the scratches and it would look like new. It would take 3 hours and they would call me when it was completed. 6 hours later they still did not call me. I called them and they informed me it was completed. I arrived and the scratches were still there. All they did was paint over it. I questioned the owner and he stated «the paint had to settle. It would look better in 2 weeks.» What?! I was not satisfied and the owner stated «I don’t care. That is all I am going to do. Complain to somebody else.»
Do not ever go to this place! The work and the customer service is horrible!

I bought a groupon to this place for a detailing (value over $ 300…yeah RIGHT) and paid about $ 75 for it. It is the worst job I have ever seen in a detailing. They didn’t even open the little compartment to clean in it on my arm rest. The groupon said «finishing with a door jamb cleaning» and they hadn’t even cleaned that area at all. There was crap in all the cup holders. $ 75 was more than this crap was worth. Do not ever ever ever buy a groupon from these people if they offer another one. NOT worth it. Oh, and they were 30 minutes late, so I was almost late for work. Thanks for nothing.

Overall, a good experience. I came in with a groupon for scratch repair which I paid $ 70 for, but my car had many scratches and dings all over, including one deep scratch that had rust buildup, and a few scratches left over from a hit and run accident. Granted, my vehicle is 5 yrs old and I wasn’t expecting perfection, but they did a great job fixing the entire mess for an extra $ 150, except the dings which could care less about because they are not too visible. The vehicle was available when promised, and looked amazing! They did an excellent job on the work requested.

This place is terrible don’t ever go here. I had to go behind them and fix my car myself.

Very professional and courteous. I damaged my front bumper and ended up getting my own after market part. They painted it for me and put it on my car. Sam was very helpful and called me with updates and didn’t do anything without my approval. They did a great job, no complaints! When I came to get my car, it was washed and the dashboard was wiped and polished (!). AND what REALLY impressed me… I had some rumpled beach towels in my back seat and they were folded up nicely prim and proper. If you need a good place to fix up your car, go here.

i was hit by a lady she did not stop at the stop sign i saw it happen in slow motion anyway im glad i could still drive my car away state farm her insurance gave me 2 body shops to choose from in columbia lucky me i called here i spoke with kevin he was very helpful i drove my car over and they were able to start working on it right away it was done when they said it would be and im really happy with the job my car looks better than ever almost brand new they have rentals if you need one