Carcoa Quality Body & Paint

They’re amazing and FAST!!! They painted my car and took care of ALL the dents and scratches in about a day and a half! Couldn’t be happier :-) :-) Eddie rocks, so helpful and courteous! Don’t take your car anywhere else!

Eddie painted the brake calipers on my new Jag and they look awesome. He even installed the high temp decals I supplied. All this at a very fair price. Quick 1 day service. Thanks Eddie for a great job!

I took my 1968 Cadillac Deville convertible to Carcoa for body work and a completely new 2 stage paint job. This was part of a restoration that I was doing back in 2012, where I was changing the color of the car from an unsightly seafoam green into a custom black with a subtle red glitter integrated into the paint. The work performed was thorough and in great detail so as to not paint over any trim or chrome bumper. This review is long overdue for the excellent work that was completed by these nice people when they did the full paint job in 2012.
Since then I had to bring the car back in for some more body work due to a hit and run accident where somebody clipped my rear driver side bumper and caused body damage. I have not gotten the work done for this repair, but will review accordingly once the work is complete. I was very pleased with the initial finished product and look forward to the completion of this additional work.

THE WORST EXPERIENCE EVER!!! They had my car for 6 months and it still was not completed. They lied about the chrome being in Mexico for 3 months when, in fact, it never left the subs garage. When I expressed concern about the timeline, Dawn, one of the owners got angry and said she couldn’t work with me. 2 months later and still no progress, I expressed concern and she hung up on me and would not pick up when I called back. Her husband, Jim, who only talks and not listens, told me I upset her. I’m sorry but spending over 9K and that’s how you treat a customer. I had made a payment of $ 4500 on a card in July, it was now October and they wanted me to bring them cash and they would refund my card. They would not release my car! I had to hire and attorney. It was finally the State of CA Dept of Consumer Affairs, Automobile branch that visited them and found countless infractions! These people are liars and cheats. I would stay away from them. The man who recommended me to them now goes elsewhere as does his friends after their bad experiences. HORRIBLE!

I was originally referred to Carcoa by a more expensive body shop in the area that was doing some work for me through my insurance company. I mentioned that my fiancé had an older car that I wanted do paint and they suggested I reach out to them because they do great work & are reasonably priced. Since then, we opened a used-​car dealership & would go to auction & buy cars that needed a bit of work. They’ve done body & paint work for a number of cars for us (including my personal Lexus) and each time we’ve been extremely happy! The prices are super reasonable and on top of that they are such nice people. I love supporting small, local business and this is certainly one of San Diego’s best. I’ve referred a number of friends here too and they’ve all thanked me for the referral. If you want good work at a fair price go to Carcoa!

We took three work cars here for painting and body work. Two were painted completely, and one was painted in segments. Trim, grill, head & tail lights all had over spray and did not appear to have been removed prior to painting (which is what they showed us they would do on someone else’s car). Old paint can still be seen along edges up to those items. On the car that had a few sections painted they sanded down prior to painting but also sanded the edge of adjoining section and never painted over the sanded area. The trunks had over spray inside of them as well as the passenger compartments which required a full detail to clean up.

These guys are the best.
They are honest, hard working, and professional.
I can’t believe how great my car came out for the price.
After getting someone that totally messed up my car, I decided to get a second opinion from Carcoa and after analyzing the bad spots of paint and messy work, they recommended getting the car redone.
It came out AMAZING!!!
Thank you guys for turning my bad experience with someone else into a great one with you.

I just picked up my van (Chester) yep it has a name, from Carcoa last night. It’s an old van that had a lot of dings and everything else a 20+ year van should have. Let me tell you, my ride looks jam! Carcoa you guys are awesome! The best thing is that my wife is happy. I can’t thank you guys enough. AWESOME JOB! Love the color. Love the paint job. Love everything. Thanks for the great job guys!

No, no, no. This is a true example of you get what you pay for. I took my car in and was quoted, time and price, repair work for everything that needed to be done. The actual work did not match the quote. It took several days longer than they said it would. Also, when I went to get my car they said it would cost extra to get (additional wait time) and replace side molding. This was news to me and would bring the price up to the average of other body shops. The icing on the cake was when I got home and discovered that an employee had stolen all the quarters out of my change compartment. I called to complain and they offered to pay me back. The thing is, it’s not about the money, it’s the principle. I’d rather take my car to be repaired at a place where I don’t have to worry about employees stealing from my car.

Very impressed with the honesty, speed and detailed work of Carcoa. Ray is THE MAN. He is a good person and it bothers me that some have not had the same experience as we had. But then again, I know that some people are just never happy. The paint job has a 3 year warranty. That is fantastic.
Thank you. We are very happy customers.

Like another reviewer below, I took a chance and came here based off the positive reviews on Unilocal and because Carcoa had a less expensive quote. My car was involved in a hit and run, so I was paying out of pocket, looking for great work at a lower price than the premium shops. THIS IS NOT THE PLACE! I wonder where some of these 5 star ratings came from? Here’s my experience:
My car is a show car and Jim assured me they «work on show cars all the time, they’ll take special care of my car». What a joke. The new paint looked like it had been hand spray painted on and had all the signs of a bad paint job — uneven paint, mottling, overspray and paint cracking. Very… Sloppy… Work. When I picked up the car and pointed out some overspray on the door trim to Dawn, she flat out told me «that was there from work done previously, not us». Really? So like evidence in a court trial, I had to show her a picture from before I brought the car in to prove it wasn’t there prior to Carcoa and Dawn had to remove the overspray. Not a good first sign because I ended up taking my car back 3 times for them to fix their other mistakes. The new paint was darker and did not blend in with old paint, not a match! Also, I had a «shadow» on the driver door where they blended the new paint to the factory paint in the middle of the door and it was very noticeable, especially when the sun hit it, which in San Diego is every day! I had «spider web» looking lines under the new paint from the poor sanding job they did. Rear passenger door sill, they left a white film under the clear coat (see pic). When I took it back to have it fixed, Jim pulled out sandpaper and tried to hand sand it out in front of me. Really? When it wouldn’t come out, they pulled out an airbrush and spray painted over it, leaving drip marks. Bush league! What a joke! They put the door kick guard sticker on incorrectly and in the wrong location (couldn’t you just look at the passenger side to figure out where it goes?). They should catch all these mistakes and errors, not me! Actually, if they were a «quality» shop, they wouldn’t have made these mistakes in the first place. Jim would feed me lines like «no job is going to be perfect, it’s an illusion, to fool the eye». Well, I’m not expecting perfect, but I expect the paint to be applied clean and even and match the factory paint. I could have gone to a Tijuana chop shop and spent a quarter of the price if I wanted a job done like this.
The one positive of my visits to Carcoa, I also had them paint my front and back brake calipers and they did an excellent job (+1 star). Smooth and even and 3 months later, the paint still looks brand new. I would recommend them if you want your calipers painted but definitely not for car paint.
Jim — you seem like a nice guy and all, the kind of guy I’d have a beer with, but your shop did a bad job on my car. I shouldn’t have had to come back 3 times for you to fix your work! Even then, the poor paint job was unacceptable. I even gave you a chance to fix the mistakes and blend the paint better and you wanted to charge me another $ 1200 to do what should have been done right the first time. Unacceptable! I ended up going to a more expensive shop because I was afraid you would mess my car up even more. And you know what? The other shop did a fantastic job — the paint matches the bumper and factory paint and I only had to take it to them 1 time.
So if you’re reading this, save yourself the headache, spend a little more money and have it done right at one of the better rated shops on Unilocal.DO NOT GO TO CARCOA.

Normally I try a place three times before reviewing them on Unilocal.However I don’t really see myself dropping $ 2000+ on auto paint jobs two more times in the near future so I’m gonna go ahead and review Carcoa now. I had my truck re-​painted there about a month ago. It is a 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 (HEMI baby!) quad cab. The truck needed paint badly, clear coat was peeling on the hood, and it had several small dings that needed to be corrected before paint. I’m not going to post the exact price I paid for the work as it is probably not nice to Carcoa but it was a decent price for how much work was needed (thought I kept hte color the same which makes it easier). Long story short, the paint job looks good but they missed some details that bother me. When going into a big job like this, I try to do my best to be a good customer (pay cash, provide them a clean truck to start with, be thorough during the estimate) because I believe that putting some effort in on my part will come back in the quality of the work. Unfortunately this didn’t really happen when I did business with Carcoa. Onto my format!
The Good:
Prices are competitive with other «mid-​grade» paint shops. The staff was very friendly and I like that this is a family owned business. The location was great for me as it’s about 2 miles from our house. The paint itself, for teh most part, looks great. The owner (his name slips my mind) was insistent that I get the better quality paint and clear coat and I’m glad I did. In general, the truck looks new from 10 feet away.
The Bad
Sloppy detail (–½ a star) after they painted the truck. among other things, it looked like the guy used an oily rag on the windshield. So I had to spend time windexing and recleaning the windshield as soon as I got home. The chrome rims also had a film on them and were dirtier than when I borught the truck in (I washed it first to save them time).
Re-​estimation. (–½ a star) When i got the iniital estimate, the owner went over the truck with me and I pointed out all the little dings etc I wanted fixed. He didn’t write anything down but I was OK with that because I figured either he would remember or his guys would notice them when prepping for paint. When I dropped off the truck the following monday (three days later), the owner’s wife was there and I had to go over the truck again with her to show her the same things I had shown him. Problem is, I wasn’t as thorough the second time through with her because I had to go to work. I think this contributed to the crew missing some things that are pretty obvious.
Missed body work (–1 star) Since this isn’t the first car I’ve had painted, I figured it would be a good idea to stop by the shop two days after I dropped the truck off to check on it and see if there were any problems etc. I took some pictures of the prepped body and talked to the guy working on it. He said «it’s ready for primer» and I pointed out some small dings on the dirvers side door that hadn’t been repaired and asked if they were taking out the bedliner (this is what the owner told me they were doing and I said that’s cool you can just throw it away). He replied «oh yeah… we’ll take care of that.» When I picked up the truck two days later, the bedliner was still in it and the dings on the drivers side door were still there. Except now they are showing up much better under that nice new clear coat. /​sigh
Sloppy Paint (–½ a star). I didn’t expect the paint to be perfect with an on-​body paint job, but there is some orange peal effect and some dripping. especially on the drivers side rear quarter panel. I didn’t expect it to be perfect but it looks like someone gota little overzealous with teh paint gun n that part of the truck and then didn’t take the time to fix their mistake.
Missing grill (–½ a star). My truck has a small grill that is intergrated into the bottom part of the front bumper. I didn’t notice it was missing until about a week after I got the truck, but now I notice it all the time I’m sure that part was there before they painted the truck.
The Ugly: Well usually my Unilocal reviews try to be funny and that was a lot of unfunny bad stuff! I guess the Ugly would be the guys that were here the first time I got the estimate. They were trying to get a perfectly good looking red RSX «whited out». Ugh dumbasses. If you want a white car, go buy a white car. Don’t repaint a factory paint job…
When I drove my truck to work the week after Carcoa painted it I invited all the guys on my team (some of them are car guys) to check it out and point out detials Carcoa and I missed. There were a lot of them. One guy I work with is looking to get his Corvair painted at a place like Carcoa and he said «It’s not too bad for the money. I mean, it’s not like you got ripped off, but I’m not gonna take my corvair there.» I agree with his assessment.

I took my car back twice, and I am still not happy with their work! I took a gamble on the positive reviews, but I am just not happy with the quality of work!!! I should not have to go behind and recheck your work! You are supposed to do that! I gave you guys a chance, and both times you get two stars. The quality of work was below average!

I RECENTLY HAD AN EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCE in making a poor battered & majorly scraped up Lexus look like new again. Jim (the owner) is honest, trustworthy, fair and a straight-​shooter– & impassioned about restoring cars (& took me on a fun tour of his on-​site projects). His shop is very professional & impressive & he instilled immediate confidence in this usually skeptical shopper. He had my husband’s car (note: I did NOT do the damage!) done in a week as promised, and he went the extra mile in many ways to produce a SPECTACULAR RESULT through careful color-​matching, polishing and attention to detail. I didn’t even recognize the car– it was shiny, perfect, and absolutely looked like new… unbelievable! They even coordinated getting a rental car to me for a reasonable price (they have a relationship with a nearby Hertz – futher making the experience painless and convenient). I WOULD DEFINITELY REFER MY FRIENDS & FAMILY TO JIM AND CORCOA KEARNY MESA without hesitation. This is a SAN DIEGO GEM to have as a trusted resource when your car needs body work and/​or repainting.

Researched and researched then just took a gamble from the reviews. They did an EXCELLENT job on my Honda Del Sol. There was a caved in fender, a couple kinda deep dings and a few scratches that are invisible now. Everyone says my car looks new. It looks amazing. Picked a Porsche gray which was a bonus that I could pick off the standard choices. They were exceptionally patient and helpful. All this for &750.00!!!
Go to them. You will be glad you did.

Two years ago I came to this shop where they did a good job on a paint job. I’m using them again for a medium sized dent from the passenger side. And I must say WOW. Its like they used a magic wand to fix it because there is no evidence of if being repaired.
And Dawn who I dealt with before, took customer service to the next level. She used her own car to drive me back to my work after I dropped off my damaged car. Just don’t be scared of a couple of dogs in her office. haha

I was completely happy with the work they did. I have never had to get body work done on a car before. And after shopping around for quotes, I was astonished by how expensive a little work would be. And I do mean a little work. Someone nicked my bumper, and everyone was quoting me over $ 800. Then someone recommended I check out Carcoa. They quoted me less than half the price of everyone else. It was such a good deal that I asked them to quote me a price for some other damage I had done.
So when I brought it in they did a fantastic job. Price was spot on, plus they waxed my entire car and buffed out some other scratches I never asked about. They are super friendly, even when I kept calling to check on my car. I will always go to them from now on.

I had same experience with other reviewer here. I went to Chapparone first and refered to Carcoa. I almost bought a new car instead of paining old one because Chapparone quoted for $ 5k.
I love Carcoa’s work in all aspect.
First of all, when you get an estimate, they will never push you to do extra stuff. You can just say that you want full body paint. They will give you a quote. I wanted my bumper replaced, so I asked for that as well.
Second of all, they are fast. I dropped off my car on Saturday. They were done on next Friday.
Third, they respond to my questions quickly on the phone.
Lastly, beautiful job with best price!!!
I will definitely come back and recommend to my friends as well. I am glad that I have a nice car again without monthly car payment :)

I signed up for a Unilocal account for this. This is how good this place gets!
I picked up my 2001 discolored and rusted Honda accord today and I am 200% satisfied with the result. I first got referred to Carcoa by Chapparone Auto Body & Painting. Chapparone is like one of the most high-​end shops you can find in the area and they quoted me $ 4k+ to do a full body paint on the car. Given that the car only cost me $ 3K, I guess there’s no way I will spend $ 4k there. They immediately referred me to Carcoa, where quality paint does not cost an arm and a leg.
So what’s the trick? Chapparone does it the manufacturer way… they take apart the car and paint them piece by piece, so the labor hours add up. Carcoa, on the other hand, properly tape all over the car and paint only the pieces you want to be painted. I was a little hesitant because I visited Maaco and saw how cars got painted all over the windshield and trims using that method.
Carcoa guaranteed that it’s not gonna be like that for them. They will remove trims when possible and they tape the parts that are not removable properly with proper 3M tapes. When I picked up the car, I inspected it and yes! everything that needs to be painted were painted and everything that doesnt need so did not. (see pictures!)
In addition to the full body paint, I replaced the rear bumper, restored the headlights, fixed some dents and adjusted the front bumper. They even matched the factory nighthawk black (black with blue pearls) at no extra cost. The whole thing comes with a 3-​year warranty and it costs me less than ¹⁄₃ of what I’d have spent in Chapparone.
I’d totally come back for the regular maintenance (details and stuff), love their excellent customer service (they actually remember customer’s names and cars)!

I just picked up my ’93 Dodge Dakota from Carcoa over the weekend. I highly recommend them and would go back there again for any other vehicles if I needed to. Devon and Dawn are professional and attentive. They honored a coupon I presented from their website. The work is excellent and price is outstanding compared to most competitors. It’s a family run business that’s been around since the 1970’s so they must be doing something right. (I’ve had vehicles reprinted elsewhere in the past and they were just shady with poor quality-​All Pro, now out of business.)
I was going to just give them a 4 because I was told my truck would be done by Wednesday (it was ready on Friday), but looking at it it was worth the wait. They even vacuumed the inside and put dressing on the tires. It looked sleek and brand new. Keep up the excellent work!