Gates Collision Centers

Accidents happen. Sometimes you can be sitting at a stoplight minding your business and someone can hit you from behind. That’s what happened to me and, as an authorized center through my insurance, I went to Gates for the repair.
As a surprise to no one, having to deal with an accident is no fun but the staff at Gates definitely helped make the process as smooth and easy as possible. I was able to get in for an estimate and schedule repair in about a week and I appreciated how they kept me updated.
I have an Audi Q5 and was surprised to find out that the liftgate is aluminum which warrants a clean room to do the repairs in. I guess that not every repair center has such a room but lucky enough, Gates does.
Accidents happen. Hopefully I wont have another. In the event something does happen, I will definitely bring it to Gates.

The work Gates Auto Body did on my car was fine, but they use a third party customer satisfaction survey company that harassed me for over a week with several calls per day from a blocked phone number.
After I picked up my car, I started receiving several calls per day from a blocked phone number. Every time they called me, they’d either hang up before I could answer, or if I did manage to answer the call, I was met with silence and then hung up on.
Finally after over a week of this, I answered one of these calls and was actually connected with a person, who told me they were conducting a customer satisfaction survey for Gates Auto Body. I asked if their company had been trying to contact me for a while now and this person said yes. I refused to answer the survey and insisted on being removed from their call list.
At no point in any of my interactions with Gates Auto Body did any of their employees tell me to expect a call from a blocked number and that it would be a survey. I literally had no idea why I was receiving several calls every day that I had no way to connect with a person before being hung up on. To say this experience was frustrating is an understatement.
When I shared my experience with my friends, I received the following responses:
Friend #1 had his vehicle repaired at Gates around the same time as me, and has also been receiving constant phone calls from a blocked number where he is unable to speak to anyone.
Friend #2 took his vehicle to Gates for an estimate, never had it worked on by them, and received an overwhelming number of emails nagging him to complete a survey.
Friend #3 is a former Gates employee and was completely unsurprised that I had this experience with the mass quantities of harassing phone calls.
It is quite clear to me that this survey nonsense is business as usual for Gates Auto Body.
So, to prospective Gates Auto Body customers: if you take your car to be worked on at Gates Auto Body, be prepared to be harassed to take a survey.
To Gates Auto Body: if you really care about these survey results, you should use a survey company that doesn’t harass the crap out of people with mass quantities of calls from a blocked number because they can’t be bothered to use a properly functioning auto dialer. You should also probably inform your customers that they will be contacted for a survey, and give them the opportunity to opt out BEFORE they get harassed.

Truly awful.
My car was vandalized during a theft, and significant damage was done to the body. I have Progressive insurance, which has a partnership with Gates in the Madison area, so I was required to take my car to Gates.
I dropped my car off at Gates on Thurs., and was told I would be quoted a completion date in 1 – 2 days. The first estimate was that my car would be finished the following Fri. When they called to give me an update on the status of the repair early the next week, another Gates employee said the repair would be done Thurs. (sweet — a day early) but a follow-​up call from my ins. rep. returned the date to Fri. (boo — not early.)
When I went to pick the car up on Fri., I immediately noticed several issues with the repair — the front passenger door was shifted farther forward than the front driver door; a piece of the front grill was not installed correctly, so it was not flush with the side of the car, stuck out, and had a certain amount of give when pressed; there was also bubbling/​dimpling to the paint along the front of one door.
I could not leave my car at Gates all weekend, so I noted these issues to a Gates employee, who took pictures and promised to document the complaint.
She also told me that the paint bubbling would «settle» over time (this strange claim was later repeated by a mechanic, who said what the «paint» on the door edge is really a sticker that will flatten «when the sun shines on it» — what?!)
I informed Progressive of the unresolved issues, and they arranged a new appointment at Gates, along with a Gates loaner for the repair of the repair. When I went to drop my car off the second time I was told that I could not get a loaner without presenting a physical copy of my drivers license, which I did not have because it was stolen when my car was vandalized. I offered to show a copy of my temporary license, but the employee declined to look at it, and said it didn’t qualify as a license. (I understand this policy, and am not particularly irritated by it, but I mention it because it led to other issues later and was pretty wretchedly inconvenient at the time.) I left Gates without dropping off my car because without a loaner I needed it to drive to/​from work.
That Friday, I called Gates to ask about dropping my car off on Saturday morning. Gates keeps Sat. hours, and this seemed like the most convenient way to give them a head start, hopefully decreasing the amount of time during the work week that I would be without a car.
At this time, I was told by a Gates employee that Gates only does «warranty work» Mon-​Thurs. It seems to me that if Gates broke it, Gates should fix it, no matter what day of the week it is. Gates should focus on the customers they already have before seeking out new ones, at least until they learn how to get a job right on the first try. I told the employee that it was unacceptable that they would put limits on the time available for «warranty work,» and that I really needed this issue resolved ASAP. The Gates employee said they would check with their boss and call me back.
When the Gates rep called back, they said that the earliest anyone could look at my car would be Mon. morning. I restated my concerns about being without a car during the week, and reminded the employee that I could not get a loaner, because my new license had not arrived. At this point, the employee told me that Gates could arrange, and compensate me for rides to and from work.
I then arranged to drop off my car at 7:30 a.m. Mon. morning; Gates asked me what time I wanted to be at work, and said they would have a cab waiting for me at 7:30.
When I arrived at Gates to drop off my car, there was no ride readily available. The employee who checked in my car called a coworker to ask if they could give me a ride; they could not. She then left the desk to go ask in the back of the shop; no one was available. Only at this point did Gates call a cab, which arrived at the shop at around 8 a.m.
On Tues. morning, I called Gates to find out their procedure for comping me a cab ride to work. My first call went unanswered. My second call was answered by the receptionist, who listened to my request, put on me on «hold,» and transferred me to a mechanic without explaining the situation. That mechanic told me that it is not Gates’s policy to comp rides anywhere except to/​from the shop, under any circumstances. I told him what the other employee said, but he just repeated that it isn’t their policy, and he would not honor the other employee’s word, though he could drop the car off at my work after the last part he needed for the repair was delivered, at some mysterious time later in the day (not super helpful, since I had no ride to work to take delivery of my car.)
My experience with Gates has been so unremittingly awful that I am leaving Progressive (whom I like) just to make sure I never have to experience Gates’s shoddy work and terrible customer service ever again. Avoid.

I could not say enough good things about this body shop. They were extremely well priced which first of all is great. But, their loaner car policy is a life saver for someone with no other options! But, when I received my car, which needed a new hood after I re-​ended a bigger car, the car look amazing. It looked brand new. Plus, inside was amazing. They vacuumed and cleaned the car superbly. Some dirty spots on the inside of my car I couldn’t get out were gone! I could tell they took there time and put love in my car. All this took unbelievable fast timing! I could not be happier and would recommend this car to absolutely anyone! Especially if you don’t know anything about cars they take great care of you! Thank you Gates!

Think of the most nightmarish auto body shop possible – that is Gate’s Auto Body. I do not even know where to begin about how truly awful, incompetent, and sketchy this business is.
For starters, none of their employees seem to have any awareness of customer service or competence. They lost my appointment several times and it took ages to get in. Various receptionists gave me false information on how to schedule the estimates and repairs.
I complained, and in retaliation, they completely botched my repair. They painted my car the completely wrong color, did not fix the mechanical issues as a result of the crash, charged my insurance an absurdly high rate, kept the rental car I had for personal use after I returned it and charged my insurance for extra days. After I confronted them that they did not actually fix my car after the accident (instead, they made it worse!) they started harassing me for weeks.
Through Gate’s own incompetence, there was a dispute about payment. I was told by my insurance company not to pay Gates under any circumstances. Instead of contacting my insurance company to resolve this, Gates instead threatened to file for collections against me! Again, this was all in retaliation after I complained.
The people working here are awful and you never should trust them with your money or your car.

Man, I’ve been here way too many times. I better start driving more carefully. But until then, Gates is my go-​to for collision damage. They’re great to work with, work quickly, and return the car clean… really clean. I thinking, «did they detail this thing? Wow»

To be clear, this review is for the Progressive arm that operates out of Gatest Auto Body (west), not the quality of service that Gates themselves provides; however, as Gates and Progressive are partnered in the Madison area, this review is still relevant. About a week and a half ago our fairly nice car received a heavy dose of rain (torrential downpour) through an open sunroof. Luckily no electronic gizmos were ruined, but the headliner soaked up a great deal of water, and the seats, center armrest, and floorboards retained a lot of water. In fact, the seats and armrest were still damp a week after the incident. I called several reputable detailing shops in the area to assess what I could do myself, and how much it would cost, and was quoted right around the $ 150 range.
Now, time frame is important here. I filed my comprehensive claim with Progressive, and was found not at fault due to weather damage, but they were unable to schedule me in for the damage estimate at Gates Auto Body for approximately a week. Now, obviously with water damage, a lot of the residual water will no longer be visible, but of course still exists and damages the unseen areas (seat cushions, armrest cushion machined sewn into the leather, floor padding, etc). Despite the car having the distinct damp smell, and despite my explanation of when the damage occurred and how pervasive it was in the upholstery, seating, headliner, etc, they only gave me a quote for an $ 80 detail. Coincidentally (sarcasm there), my deductible was $ 100. I was told that this was due to damage not being visible. Well no shit genius, it’s water damage, and over a week has passed. Which means essentially they were unwilling to do anything substantial that needed to be done, such as replace the center armrest (since the padding holds moisture and can’t be extracted out), or entertain the idea of new seat padding. Never-​mind the fact that the actual quality detailing that needs to be done to ensure no odor or residuals are left in an otherwise-​beautiful interior far exceeds the $ 80 quote.
Essentially, the estimator for Progressive at Gates Auto is absolutely worthless, and operates exactly like you’d expect an insurance rep to operate: finds every reason not to pay for something, or only pays for the cheapest, crappiest work possible. Which of course raises the question that’s always raised when these insurance issues surface: why the hell are you paying for a good, low-​deductible insurance policy in the first place?

This is the third time in 15 years we have had to use Gates, and I have to say their service has gone from great to horrible. The staff was disorganized and uncommunicative, which ultimately caused a 9 week delay in repairs to my vehicle. I have decided to do those repairs at another shop, life is to short to deal with businesses who treat you like they are doing you a favor. Details below
Started with giving me an appointment, that when I arrived early for telling me my appointment was not for another 2 hrs. After some wrangling, requiring me to prove the error was theirs, they got me in. The estimator was neither friendly nor rude, although he seemed put out by my presence. After doing the estimate he walked me around the car, and I pointed out that the bumper now looked worse than when I brought it in. He told me that was because he had to move it look at the damage underneath. On the way back to the office, a piece of my bumper dislodged and starting rubbing against the tire.
The Gates employee failed to send the insurance company, USAA, the estimate and told the insurance company I did not show up for the appointment. The insurance company closed out the claim because of inactivity. After several phone calls the insurance company confirmed with Gates that I indeed had obtained an estimate and done my part. I told my insurance company that I would prefer not to use Gates, and to send me the check for the repairs that I would go somewhere else.
Only then did the estimator from Gates call me, 8 weeks after my initial appointment and 9 weeks after my accident. The estimator claimed that he attempted to call me earlier but that the insurance company gave them the wrong phone number. He lied, I pulled up my account access details while he was on the phone, and could see that all the information was up to date. The number he claimed the insurance company gave him was a number they had for me the last time I used them to repair my vehicle from a hit and run, 8 years prior. I double checked by having the insurance company send me a copy of the paperwork they had sent to Gates.
My advice to Gates. If you really want my business own your mistakes. I’m sorry goes a long way with customers, after all none of us are perfect.

Ok an update!
Jesse the manager from Gates has gone out of his way to fix the problems. Everything now has been fixed on my car with a 100% promise that their work is up to par!
As a «I’m sorry» I even received a gift card to Red Robin, dinner on Gates, showing me that they cared for me as a customer.
The shotty collision repairs were not excusable, and since I had to be the one to point them out, this was not acceptable.
I will still say my time was wasted fighting with Gates and Progressive about this, and it still was a horrible experience. But, thank you Gates Auto for making things right in the end result on your buck!

The good: the staff was helpful when I needed to get my car fixed, and the repairs were done in 36 hours, rather than the 4 days they quoted me. I got a rental for that time.
The bad: I ran into problems when they did not file my claim correctly. Eventually insurance paid for the repair but no one, not even «free loaner» Gates, wanted to pay for my loaner, so I got stuck with the rental bill. I was eventually reimbursed, but it took 10 weeks.
They also damaged the locking mechanism on one of my doors when they had to take the panel off. For a while it wouldn’t lock at all, and I took it in and they jiggered something. Now the button doesn’t move, but it locks 90% of the time. I’d like a door that locks all the time, but I now live out of state and will probably have to pay to get it fixed.

I unfortunately had to use their service recently and was very please with their work. The job was done timely and it looked perfect except for one flaw which I pointed out and they immediately corrected it. I had to wait an extra half hour for the correction and I was on my way.
They provided a good car rental from Enterprise and had my car for about a week.
The estimate was quite a bit lower than the final price which I was a little disappointed with. I really think it should have been much closer to the actual cost. It was all covered by insurance though so that was good.
Everyone was very friendly and helpful.