Smythe Collision Center

I just had my Mini Cooper repaired and was very happy with the service and work that was done. Jerry kept me updated on the status of my repair and the repair was actually completed before the estimated date.
I am not sure why or what happened with these 1 & 2 stars but I would
definitely take my car back there.

Tried to take my car here because I have a friend that used to work here and recommended it but the estimator Jerry blew me off and said he was too busy. Unprofessional, and clearly does not have the ability to work well with people and keep it about business. I decided to take it to a DPR. And thankful I did because they had better customer service than Smythe. These people are rude and clearly don’t value their jobs.

I have an ML320 and was rear ended, so I thought I take it to the dealer’s body shop, Smythe Collision Center, thinking that they would do an excellent job. BIG MISTAKE!!! I should have checked Unilocal first. They deserve negative stars not just a zero star! Dropped the car off at Smythe European and they then took it to the Collision Center. Called the Collision Center to find out when I can pick up the car. Spoke to Ernesto and said that it will be done after a week. When the day came to pick up the car, I dropped the rental car off that was provided by the other insurance company and drove me to the Collision Center. When I got there, Ernesto wasn’t there and I had to wait 1 hour until he showed up and said that the car wasn’t finish yet and asked me if I can wait a few minutes which I did. Uh, it wasn’t just a few minutes. It took another hour until they parked the car infront. So I did the walk-​through and guess what, the emblem was missing on the back and one of the cover on the bumper was popped out. I was furious, so he told me that they will fix it and have to leave the car there again, because they had to order the emblem. REALLY!!! You would think that they stock emblems right? Anyways, they had to provide the rental car since I already returned the insurance paid rental car.
So another week went by and the car was supposed to be ready. Got there, Ernesto said the they’re finishing the car up and left to check the car. Ernesto didn’t come back until after 2 hours and told me that the shift gear was stuck and won’t shift to Drive, so he took me to the other side of the big parking lot and Ernesto explained to me what was going on. So while they were still trying to fix it, I did another walk-​through and noticed the back side panel was cracked. I told Ernesto and he said that it was like that before. Uh ya right! I told him I want to see the walk-​through paper when I dropped the car off. So I ended up leaving the car again, because they had to do some diagnostics on it.
I didn’t get to pick up the car until 2 days after and they showed me the walk-​through paper with a mark on the part where the crack was, but I know for a fact that it wasn’t there before.

My car BMW 335i 2013 has been dropped at the Smythe collision center, Stevenscreek Blvd, Santa Clara, CA on March 5^th 2013. Initially they said they have placed an order for the required parts whenever I call them. Then 5 weeks later, when I directly went to their (Smythe) representative who sits at BMW mountainview, she said the order placed was incorrect and corrected later after my visit. It has been close to 100 days and they still say that they are waiting for some parts to be received to get the repair done. I didn’t even get an itemized list of what parts they are waiting on and what would the ETA. Something is not right here. Why would it take so long to get the parts when the whole car was built in 6 weeks when I ordered it to buy.
I am paying for the car valued around $ 60k from the past 3 months just to keep it at the collision center. This is causing a lot of frustration to me. And the sad part is I don’t even know when I will get the car back and how long I need to pay for the car to keep at the collision center.
I am fed up following up with them as they dont have any answer other than saying that they are waiting on few parts to arrive.

Beware of the shady practices at this autobody shop. The will refer you to a Enterprise rental car agency that will overcharge your insurance and keep both your deposit and the insurance money. I am going through hell to try to get my money back. How can 7 days rental cost $ 450 for a mid size car. You will not get any help from the body shop. They are quick to get their payment and quick to ignore any future customer service concerns. What a night mare!!!

Ernesto Gonzalez, remember this name :-).
I had a small accident on 680 few weeks back and my insurance company diverted me to this place. I am so glad that I had to come here and meet Ernesto. A true gentleman with passion for cars and above all amazing attention to details.
Not just he got the car fixed but went several extra miles in touching up what was not covered. Kept me informed all the time, finished the job ahead of promised scheduled time and date. My 535i is really happy and so am I.
Rarely in this business you find such honest people so my hats off to you Ernesto, YOU ROCK! Hope we had more people like you in this world and we would be living in Camelot :-)
my gratitude and profound regards

This is a classic case of good news/​bad news. On the one hand the work was very well done — we had had a major front-​end collision with a car that was new to us and it came back in pristine condition. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that it took over six weeks and was fraught with frustration and non-​communication. Our insurance carrier allows four weeks for a rental car. Because this accident took place 200 miles from home, and we live in the mountains, we had to absorb the difference in cost between the insurance company’s allowance and the cost of a 4 WD vehicle, so it was costing us about $ 25 a day. We kept being told it was almost ready, and then they’d «discover» one more thing. The last straw was when they went to reassemble it and «discovered» they needed a bunch of bolts — these bolts would naturally get broken in a collision and they should have known they’d need them. After that it was alignment, then the battery was dead (duh!) and needed replacement at a high cost, etc. In the end, six weeks and about $ 1200 out of pocket.
On the other hand the service reps were great and seemed to be really trying hard, but the service floor was jerking them around. I think these guys are handling too many cars with too few people, and they don’t seem to care about anyone’s timeline but their own.

I think your experience here will really depend on the agent you end up working with. I worked with Ernesto (located at BMW Mountain View), and he was absolutely great! I’m actually not even sure if he’s part of BMW MV or Smythe Collisions, but I turned my car into him, it was fixed at Smythe, and he gave the car back to me… so it should still count.
I just had a minor scrape at the front of my car, so it wasn’t a huge repair job. It took Smythe a week to get my car in front of me again, including the transportation and the repair — I’d say not too bad :) The repair itself also looks great so far, they painted the whole front area to ensure unity and no discoloration, and Ernesto even asked a technician to check out a totally unrelated issue free of charge just because I was wondering.
They also dealt very well with my insurance, AAA, figured out the details and costs, sent the photos on time, got the approval, and didn’t need me to interject in any step of the way.
Hopefully I won’t be back anytime soon — but I definitely recommend Ernesto!

Smythe’s follow up and work on my car were great. It seems like so much «customer service» is being outsourced these days, and I appreciate having local businesses and local people available to help solve my problems. I would use Smythe again without reservation.

This review is for particulars at Smythe Collision! I have read past reviews and was skeptic about bringing my 2008 tsx (lowered dropped!) after a rear end collision. But i was referred by Acura and was ensure they had a Certified Acura Collision Technician. And which the end result proved to be true! I am a car enthusiast so i am sure to check over all the details; and i couldn’t be more pleasantly happy. So between checking and getting the call back stating it was ready was about a little more than a week, with approval from the second party’s insurance and so fourth! Wasn’t bad at all besides the ford rental :(No big deal! But little things that threw it over the top to me was my representative from the collision center; Lina Tran! she was over the top courteous, professional, and personable. She made what would normally be a frustrating process, to a more comfortable and easy going, talk me through it, always updated me via e-​mail (my choice of contact) daily, At the end she even introduce me to the technician working on my car! wow. Well, the whole thing is i would have giving this 3 stars… but the added service provided by Mrs. Tran what was what took it over the top and i am not the type to exaggerate! Although they’re bad reviews here, i advise anyone to contact Lina Tran at Smythe Collision Center! She will change your mind and you will want to right a review like me! (which they have to be really impressive to me) Thanks Lina if you see this for your great service, and fallow up call!

Afraid I thought the good reviews in 2011 meant this place had turned around, but it has been a complete nightmare. Shoddy work the first time led to a return to the shop and now waiting, promises, dropped balls, new people, waiting, waiting, and of course no car and no straight story. Why does BMW Mountain View recommend this place — it reflects terribly on them. I wish I could just take my car back and start over somewhere else.

On March 22 I put my car in for Collision repair. At that time Smythe Replaced (along with other damage) the Radiator. Jerry Write agreed to pay 8 days of my rental for good customer service. Which they did, on April 6^th 2011 I picked up my car, and on April 7^th all the water ran out of the radiator. I had it towed back into Smythe where they were extremely apologetic and Jerry agreed to cover my entire rental. I was told they didn’t realize they needed to replace a thermostat or some such. at the same time as the radiator. I returned the rental on the 14^th of May. The Manager of the shop, Shawn is now saying he is not paying any of it. As of last Thursday August 18^th, 2011. First of all how can they promise to pay, then what, change there mind? Every time I have spoken with this Shawn person he just plain tells a different story.
Because of this I would never recommend Smythe to anyone.
Linda Kingsbury

I have nothing but great things to say about my experience at Smythe Collision. It’s never great to have your brand new car damaged by the parking valet but Jerry Wright and the team at Smythe were a pleasure to work with and they repaired the bumper flawlessly.
We have taken our car there twice and will not go anywhere else. They are always professional, helpful, and calm. Jerry always returned my calls promptly and I never had to ‘chase’ him for answers or time-​lines. They were always one step ahead!

I just called today to find out their business hours. The lady who picked up the call was quite rude. I asked for their hours and she told me 7:30 — 5:30 Monday — Friday. Since Saturday would work better for my schedule, I wanted to confirm whether they would open on Saturdays, so I asked. But that lady repeated «7:30−5:30 Monday — Friday» VERY IMPATIENTLY, and didn’t answer my question directly.
This kind of «customer service» (if she ever provided any) is a big turn off, I would need to re-​consider whether I would take my car there at all.

I had the absolute worst experience at this collision center, my car was stuck here for more than 6 weeks for simple low speed collision with no body frame damage. I was given the run around for more than 4 weeks and in the end an absolute shoddy job, they had to take it back. to fix it again but of course no apology, they almost made it sound like they were doing me a favor. The manager here is rude, does not care about customer satisfaction and will never come on the phone to talk with you. If you ever get your car repaired here make sure you inspect it really well before taking it home. I wish I could give negative stars, I am surprised some people have had a good experience here, makes me feel like they went the extra mile to make my life miserable while they probably treat some of their customers well. In any case if you are in a fix and need more info on how to deal with them you can contact me, I went through a month of hell dealing with them.

I read the reviews while trying to decide where to take my car and was very skeptical of Smythe in the beginning. Regardless, it was one of the closest places to where I live so I tried it out anyway. I just picked my car up today and had the complete opposite experience to all the 1 & 2 star reviews. Smythe Collision was quick, kept me up to date, and did an amazing job on my car. I was extremely pleased by their work and their professionalism. Will definitely be taking my car back there for anything else that happens.

I find it quite intriguing, the day after I posted my review, three reviews were posted all with 5 stars and one of them gave 5 stars to two different collision centers on the very same day. If they have improved good for everyone cause who knows I may have to go back to them as I need a BMW approved center, I just hope these are not just fake posts misleading people

One of the biggest mistakes I did was not to check them out on Unilocal after BMW of mountain view recommended them! I got into an accident on October 11^th, 2010 and was told it would take 3 to 4 weeks to repair. Well I did not get my car back the next month or the month after that but the next YEAR! Yes, you read right I managed to get it back on January 3^rd 2011.
DO NOT GO THERE, the 2 other reviewers are correct, for about 2 months I have been just a few days away from getting my car back. Even on December 20^th I got a call telling me that my car was going to be ready in an hour or 2. I told them I could not get it that day and to call me the next day to schedule delivery. They did not call I called a few times in the following week and finally they called on the 28^th to say that it was ready. I could not do it then so I had to get there on the 3^rd. When I tryied to get the roof going it would not (it’s a hard top convertible) we opened the trunk to lower the partition, the stuff in the trunk was not finished assembling!!!
I have nooooo idea why BMW would recommend them, they even have an office on the BMW site.
Also I must say that BMW of Mountain is not blameless neither is Farmers Insurance.
I have a lot more to say and might at a later date. I still feel wrong to give them 1 star as they deserve ZERO star!
I need to add an update as now I am finding out that on top them having taken soooooo much time to repair my car the work was not even done properly! A week ago I switched to manual mode, changed the gears with the stick without problems but I soon as I squeezed the paddle on the stirring wheel the car switched back into regular automatic. Now I can’t even go into sporty mode and therefore go into manual! Looks to me like they screwed up when they changed the airbag. Now the question is, if I have another accident will my new airbag even work? And what else did they mess up? The roof makes a nasty noise when it closes and it was not doing this before.
Smythe collision called me up very upset as soon as I posted this review and tried to offer me something so I wouldn’t be sooo unhappy anymore (read change this review). So they offered me 6 detailing of my car which lasts 6 hours. Yeah right, I can see it, I come into work in the morning, they pick up my car and in the evening of course it would not be ready and I am stranded. I leave over 30 miles from work! Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Oh, and of course when he called the first time I was busy so I gave him a time to call me back. He was late calling back and made me late for a meeting with my boss, which was really not good for me.
I WILL NEVER LET ANY OF MY CARS TO SET TIRE IN THAT SHOP AGAIN AND I AM TELLING ALL MY FRIENDS TO AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE.
On another note when I was waiting at BMW to pick my car in January and realized it wasn’t even ready yet, I told the other customers what I thought of Smythe collision and one of these customers told me that he took one of his there after an accident and when he saw they had not done anything yet after a week he took it to another shop and got it fixed promptly. Smart guy, I wish I had followed my gut instinct on this but they are recommended by BMW of Mountain View. Why? Well I really don’t know. Most likely it is for other reasons than quality and timeliness of repairs!!!
So here is another update, yes Smythe Collision messed up when they replaced the airbar. I had BMW look at it at the next service and sure enough some part was not pluged in properly and this is why my car got out manual mode as soon as I used the paddle shifter. Now I wonder what else they did not put in back properly!?! Really, don’t go there not worth the risk and the aggravation.

Wish I would have read the reviews before I dropped my car off here. It’s past the deadline they promised, and it’s been over a month. My car wasn’t even totaled and it’s been over a month.
Trust the reviews people. Don’t give these fools your business.

Never go here. I repeat, do not ever try to get your car fixed here.
1. They never keep their deadlines on when the car is going to be ready.
2. Even if they give you a rental for the time being, it is generally a horrible car that can definitely not hold a family.
3. They think the clients are dumb. They tell you something just for you to shut your mouth but they never do what they tell you they are going to do.
4. They never do all the work you asked them to do.
5. Appart from the lady at the reception they are all horribly rude, selfish and could not care less for the client.
I am so sorry I ever ended up here. If I had known that the reviews here were so bad, I would have never come. HORRIBLE PLACE!