Cherner Collision Center

I’ve been here on two separate occasions, one about 10 years ago and last week. In both instances I received great customer service. My car was repaired in a few days and they even vacuumed the entire vehicle, seats and all. I didn’t really expect it.

Our car was towed here and we were quoted a two week time for repairs. It was the closest USAA approved spot.
It only need a new door, front bumper and fender. Oh, and a suspension job they didn’t realize until 3.5 weeks after it was towed there!
When I called three weeks after the quoted date to check, no one called me back. I had to call back again and demand to speak to someone. I spoke to Mike and he was rude. He was incredulous I was surprised, condescending (because I was a woman?) and only agreed with me when I asked didn’t he want to get other cars in there to make more money?
At that point, he laughed and said of course and promised our car on Monday by noon. He called back an hour later and my partner and I both missed his call. He didn’t answer when we did call back. He called us Monday morning and explained the suspension was still screwed up and it would take another week.
When I had the car towed there, I said the car kept veering to the left. It was challenging to drive it two blocks home without hitting parked cars. It took them 3 weeks to check the suspension, even after I told them that?! Are you kidding me?
At this point, we called USAA to complain. A neighbor hit me after she stopped at a stop sign and was paying for my rental. It’s unfair she pay for a longer rental period because Cherner couldn’t do work in a timely manner. Additionally, we wanted our car back and this didn’t seem to be any kind of priority for Cherner! After USAA spoke to Cherner, Cherner paid for the last 5 days of our rental — and shockingly, finally got us the car on the third date they promised it (maybe because now they were losing money instead of the poor woman who hit my car?).
We will not do business with them again. They were unprofessional, took twice as long to fix our car from their quote, and didn’t find an obvious problem until the second date they were supposed to return our car. USAA looked into them and reviewed complaints other customers had placed and is going to stop using them for claims. They returned our car with the navigation unhooked and told us they couldn’t fix it — we had to take it to the dealership. What a joke of a business.

I came to cherners as it is the closest usaa approved estimate spot in my area.
The wait to be seen was attrocious even though i had an appointment. My appointment was for 1000, I was seen at 1030 and since so many people were in that day, my «estimator» juggled various appointments. I didn’t end up leaving until 1145.
During this perioud, I sat in the main waiting area where a TV blared Wendy Williams and various geicko and other insurance company adjustors operated.
Mike, the adjustor didn’t bother to pop my trunk to check out the extensive damage which was a result of my rear end collision, he just noted that he’d factor it in…
My estimate came in below what my insurance had estimated.
The wait time, quality of service and location all factor into my rating.

I brought my car here on Geico’s recommendation and was very happy with the service. Dropping off the car was easy and they had the rental car waiting for me. The repairs took a couple days longer than initially estimated but I didn’t mind because we don’t really use the car much during the week. They were good about calling with updates. What made me the happiest with the service is that they fixed another minor issue without any additional cost.

I dropped my car off here after an accident that damaged my rear bumper. I have USAA and they made the claims process super easy and time saving. I was excited when they told me I could drop the car off almost walking distance from my house. Reviews were so-​so, but I figured a simple repair wouldn’t take too much time or energy. I came to the shop and a guy yelled at me for parking in the wrong spot. Okay? I figured he was just having a shitty day and wrote it off. Happens to the best of us. I go in and the office is rowdy, but the enterprise rental lady was super sweet. I decide to deal with the noise and stay. It’s a body shop, not an office after all.
I wish I wouldn’t have dealt.
A week later my car is ready to get picked up. My girlfriend dropped off my rental car and picked up my actual car. Two things to note here A– Her father owns a body shop, but I was too lazy to drive all the way to SE to get my car looked at. B– USAA waived my deductible because they’re awesome. I informed the receptionist when I dropped the car off and showed her the paperwork proving that I was free and clear and that USAA waived everything. Cherner Collision refuses to give her the car because they insist I owe them $ 500. She tells them to call USAA because I do not. They argue with her. She tells them again to call USAA because they waived my deductible. Cherner Collision makes her sit their for an hour while they verified information I’d given them previously.
Night begins to fall and they finally clear her todo a walk through and take the car. At dusk. In the dark. None of the mechanics could be bothered to walk her around the car and point everything they fixed out, however. Thankfully she has a background with cars and could evaluate everything and determine the car was good to go. Everything’s perfect until she gets home and realize they didn’t put my damn license plate on my damn car.
I call Cherner Collision Center in a panic and ask them where the hell my plates are. He tells me they’re DEFINITELY in the drivers side door. Or the glove compartment. Or the trunk. Or the rear window. Or the back seat. They then tell me to just put the front plate in the back; I have GA plates so I only have one plate. The one back plate is gone. I again call today and sit on hold for 20 minutes while the guys calls the mechanic who works on my car. They both have a million excuses and agree to «look around I guess.» I guess? I want my damn plates!
To add insult to injury, they replaced the bottom lip of my the bumper on my shiny ass dark gray car with a dull matte black part. The paint job is also off and my bumper is now a darker color then the rest of my car. My car has been a garage kept 2013 with absolutely no fading. Now it has ¹⁄₈^th of a terrible paint job. When I brought this up I was offered a half hearted «well bring it back then.» Dude. You’ve got to be kidding me.
I am pissed at Cherner Collision and could possibly have been appeased if their customer service wasn’t so «your problem not mine» about everything. But now I’m pissed that I have to send my car back to a shitty shop to have what shouldve been an easy fix fixed again.
UPDATE– They never found my plates. My car sat in a lot for a MONTH AND A HALF while I waited for replacement tags from the GA DMV. They also scratched the hell out of my paint job. I have chips everywhere that no one noticed at dusk and now have to pay out of pocket to get my car repainted. I try to support neighborhood businesses, but never again in hell. I’ll youtube it before I ever let them touch my baby again.

Superb repair/​paint job on my 2004 Mercury Marauder. Owners of this vehicle, such as myself, are particularly finicky and reluctant to have any un-​vetted folk come anywhere near it.
Someone gashed my bumper in a parking lot. This is a Geico-​recommended shop (i.e. Geico Express Center); after reading some other Unilocal reviews about this outfit and considering other locations, decided to take the plunge with Chener.
Not only did they repair the damaged area, they also touched up other parts of the bumper. Definitely didn’t have to do that.
Courteous, friendly staff. Highly recommended.

This is a Geico Express Center, and a great place to have your car repaired following an accident. I caused some major damage to the front of my Benz ($ 9,186 worth), so I fully understood when they told me 3 weeks to repair, however I had it back in less than 2 weeks. The staff is very friendly, and if you have Geico it is one stop shopping for repair, and car rental. The quality of the repair was up to Benz standards, and the car looks brand new. I would highly recommend this shop for anyones body work needs.

An insurance company instructed me to bring my car here for repairs after I was rear-​ended.
–They kept the car for a month and did not communicate with me about why or how long it would take. They kept pushing back the date I would have it back, to the detriment of my plans.
–When I got the car back the driver-​side door had several dents. The shop manager said they had been there when I brought the car in originally. They were not.
If I had a choice, I wouldn’t bring my car here.

These guys are straightforward and easy to work with. They don’t try to fleece you, and overall, I’ve had great experiences with them during not-​so-​great experiences. They were timely and helpful. The place is a little rough around the edges as far as experience, but I tend to trust USAA recommendations, and this was no exception.
My roomie did have an issue with them being way late for an appointment during their initial assessment. That said, they also were willing to stay late so she could pick up her car after her flight back into town, so I say it evened out in the end.

This is a good auto collision center. They do the work that they say they will and are partners with many of the major respectable insurance companies. USAA recommended them after an accident and since it was near my home I took it down. Although the car took longer than I had expected, customer service was always great and I got daily updates on the status of my car. Most of the time waiting was spent waiting for parts from the dealership. I would recommend taking your car here if you live in the DC Metro area and they are a recommended collision center from your insurance company.

This review is as much for Geico as for Cherner Collision. I got into a minor accident with major damage with my Toyota Corolla. I rear ended an SUV, went underneath and smashed my fender, grill, light, hood and side panel. Geico was amazingly easy to deal with, and I got an appointment the next morning at Cherner. I was there for no more than 20 mins, walked out with a really nice loaner (they have an Enterprise on-​site). My car was ready almost 4 days earlier (about a week total) than they expected and the work has been perfect. I did not have any mechanical damage however, just body work and I think they had to replace entire panels, so there was no problem with the paint matching or peeling or anything. Very pleasantly happy with the car, and a truly hassle-​free experience with Geico. Yet to see if my premiums jump significantly, but they came through when I really needed it.

Quick follow-​up: it was even worse than I thought! After realizing that they hadn’t even replaced the dashboard, let alone checked the airbags (which ultimately had to be replaced), and with the information about the damaged suspension (I had to get that checked out on my own), USAA authorized another shop. That place found that not only had they ordered and installed THE WRONG DASHBOARD, instead of recognizing their mistake, they glued, yes GLUED pieces together to make the thing hold together when screws and clips didn’t line up properly. When they tried to figure out what had been done by the first shop, these guys, clearly suspected some under-​the-​table activities, since they couldn’t track the dash the way you’re supposed to be able to. Wires were never reconnected, pieces were broken off and lost, it was a shitshow under there that took weeks and thousands of dollars to repair. I hope USAA learned their lesson and never sends anyone here again!
Oh, and one more thing: when they finally did replace the dash, they forgot to switch-​out the VIN plate, which caused the DC DMV to accuse me of fraud when the VIN on the car didn’t match the VIN on my title. Fortunately, I had the repair paperwork with me and I was able to convince a supervisor to believe the VIN sticker in the door. How lucky was I that I went directly from the shop to the DMV; if I’d still had a valid registration, my dashboard might have been LONG gone before I realized their mistake!

Cherner handled my Honda CR-​V perfectly, which may be due to the shop’s great service, or perhaps is additionally due to the fact that I have Geico as my insurance carrier (Cherner in DC is a Geico Automotive Repair Xpress [ARX] selected shop). I had hit a relatively small deer on a road trip back from Pennsylvania and needed a new hood, bumper, grill, and the ancillary bits n’ pieces that go along with that kind of replacement. The front office staff were friendly and helpful. My on-​site Geico claims adjuster explained everything that needed to be done, and let me know within the same day of the additional issues they found under the hood once they began the take-​down and supplemental inspection. And as a Geico ARX shop, Cherner has an on-​site Enterprise Rent-​A-​Car outlet, where I was able to easily secure a rental. I dropped the car off on a Friday morning, and picked it up the next Thursday, which was really only a 4-​business day turn-​around, since the shop is closed on the weekends. My damage was relatively minor, in the grand scheme of things, and my biggest concern was the PAINT, because my CR-​V has one of the pearlescent paint jobs (Honda’s ‘Tango Red Pearl’). The color system Cherner uses simply keys in your vehicle’s VIN, and the computers do the rest to match the color and coating. My car is only a 2008, so there’s no problem with faded paint elsewhere on the vehicle, so it was probably an even easier color-​matching job. All-​in-​all, my experience with Cherner was great, and if ever anything like this happens again, I know where I’m going. In addition to Geico, they are also a preferred site for Traveler’s insurance, so if you have that carrier, you’ll probably also see similar great results (I hope).

If I could give a business zero stars on a Unilocal review, that’s what Cherner would get. A Geico preferred shop through their Xpress Repair program, but I could have had it done faster and better myself. I had to go back three times, pointing out areas they completely missed or chose to ignore. Paint and scratch repair work looks terrible and tried to return the car to me with a dirty interior and only cleaned it when I complained. They also seemed to break two of my taillights during the repair, but left them for me to discover on my own. Still trying to resolve it with Geico and I ended up paying Honda to fix one of them myself for safety reasons. They never apologized and weren’t helpful regarding the problems, so I’ll also be filing a complaint with the BBB. By the way, when I was looking at their business card to write this review, I saw they misspelled «collision» (missed the «i» in the last syllable) on their business cards. Wish I had noticed this before I let them touch my car, because it conveys a definite message regarding their standards of quality.