Tennessee Collision Repair in Alcoa, TN. Champions itself as a “state of the art” facility, and indeed, when you visit you will see plaques of excellence on the walls, and high-end sports cars in the bays. Must be a top of the line repair shop.. right? Allow a car guy, who knows a lot about cars, to dispel the notion of “excellence” that Tennessee Collision Repair so desperately wants to perpetuate.

I have been attempting to have my 2002 Corvette repaired after a minor collision for over a year now. I have returned the car to Tennessee Collision Repair over a half a dozen times, at this point I’ve honestly lost hope that my car will ever be repaired properly.

Before writing this complaint, I (for one last time) called and e-mailed Tennessee Collision Repair stating that although there are still scores of things half-repaired, shoddily-repaired, and ignored concerning the car, I only at this time wanted the passenger window trim repaired correctly, bad paint places on the roof repaired, and the hood and doors aligned properly. I was again, ignored.

But to the beginning:

When I went to pick it up for the first time a year ago, they didn't blend the front bumper paint into the hood/quarter panels. The car was obviously two different shades of yellow. They admitted it “looked horrible” and had “no idea what happened” and agreed to do it over correctly. There was also overspray everywhere, underneath the car, on the engine, on trim pieces, etc. Some of the overspray was halfway cleaned up, most of it was ignored.

When I went to get it the second time, the paint was blended/feathered correctly, but the panels were mis-aligned, and there was evidence of shoddy prepwork (taping) all over the roof. Also, they hadn't pressure steamed the undercarriage they charged my insurance company $300 for. There was still gobs of grass and dirt from the accident crammed into the crevices of the undercarriage. They again had “no idea how that could have happened”, and agreed to fix it. In addition, the car was missing and throwing a code for the only mechanical part they replaced, which was the A.I.R. pump.

When I went to get it the third time, most of the above complaints were again ignored, plus they said they couldn't get it to re-throw the code.. but never fear friends, because it popped up again on the drive home. So, back it goes for the forth time.

Eventually they (actually the Cadillac dealer in Maryville) discovered that water had somehow gotten into the A.I.R. pump and ruined it. Why there are thousands of 2002 Corvettes running around without “flooded A.I.R. pumps” is a question that will remain for the ages.

Other problems that have been pointed out to Tennessee Collision Repair over and over.. and have been either made worse, or ignored.. over and over:

1. The drivers side window “hangs up” on the window guide (improper door alignment)

2. The passenger side door trim wasn’t replaced with proper GM trim to keep water out of the car, in substitution for this $20 part, they jammed black sealant into the crack instead. It looks horrible, and leaks. (lack of proper trim)

3. In order to keep the above situation with the passenger side door from leaking water into the car, they aligned the door ½” in to close to the centerline of the car, making (in their mind) a “tighter seal” in order to disguise the fact that the proper weatherstripping trim is missing. The doors false alignment looks horrible.

4. They attempted to re-align the doors and hood in one of the visits above after I complained. They actually made it worse, the hood and doors are even more mis-aligned. All that is required to fix this is a wrench and someone to hold the door/hood steady while wrenching.

5. There are examples of poor masking-techniques all over the car. Instead of taking a few minutes to mask the car properly prior to painting, they hurried and “cut corners”, meaning that in several places on the roof and elsewhere, there are streaks, dull areas, off-color areas, etc. One one of the above visits, I actually took a pencil and circled these areas so that they could be properly repaired. They were for the most part ignored.

6. Interior trim pieces were broken and not replaced.

There are many other smaller examples of shoddy workmanship, the above are just the major ones I encountered with Tennessee Collision Repair. I advise anyone considering taking their car to this body shop, to come and take a look at my once pristine vehicle looks like now.. and seriously reconsider.

I have been a car mechanic and enthusiast for 25 years now, and have had many cars repaired and painted by body shops all over Virginia and Tennessee. Tennessee Collision Repair is three times the price, and 1/3 the quality of all of the others.

Horrible.

Absolutely horrible.