Sampson Auto Body

In the fall of 2008, my wife was rear-​ended in her 2005 VW Jetta. The impact was on the left quarter, and the damage looked minimal to my untrained eye. Sampson took the time to explain the extent of the damage and even showed me the buckled frame in the trunk. The insurance adjuster said he (Sampson) could pull it straight; he disagreed but tried anyway. He ended up pulling it at 2 tons of pressure (?) and also used a torch to heat the metal to assist the pull but it didn’t work (I’m not a mechanic, but this process took 2 weeks, and I called every couple of days for a status update). Sampson was unsurprised when the adjuster told him to pull it again. He refused — he didn’t want to put his good name on something that wouldn’t meet his standards (or the state standards). We ended up having to take the car to another shop (insurance covered the flatbed tow), and in the end the car was totaled (which ended up being a nightmare finding/​buying another car, but that’s for another Unilocal…). I give this small business owner a lot of credit; he could have continued to soak the insurance company for more money for another week or two, but didn’t want to waste his name or reputation on an unsatisfactory/​unsafe final product (he had the room in his shop). I’d definitely use him again, but hope I don’t have to (no offense!).