Chilton Auto Body

I went there to get an estimate from the Progressive representative. He took forever, I was in the lobby with my 6-​month-​old son for almost 45 minutes. Even though I had a scheduled appointment.
Also, I emailed the representative, named Newman, 4 days ago to request another quote with new OEM parts rather than the used/​recycled parts and he has yet to reply to me. I am still waiting to hear from him.
The only reason that I gave Chilton 2 stars instead of 1 is because Newman, despite making me wait in the lobby and for a response to my email, did seem very knowledgeable about the repairs that need to be done.

I’ve brought two other cars here before and found the work to be excellent. Work was done on time and done well and I got a free loaner car on site. This time, I brought my car in with paint scratches on it –which I got from scraping it while backing out of my garage door. When I talked to the gentleman up front (I think maybe the owner of the company?) he just asked for my keys and said he’d be right back. The next thing I knew he came back with my car, paint scratches removed and said «no charge!» Couldn’t believe it. I offered to pay, but he said no, it was on the house this time. Wow! I’m sure he could have charged a couple of hundred dollars, so needless to say, that made my day!

I came out of a movie theater on New Years Day to find my car window smashed. «Happy New Year!,» I screamed out loud, as I noticed that the falling glass had also chipped away at the paint on my door… My insurance company recommended Chilton Auto Body in San Carlos for the repairs, but made it clear that it is a shop in high demand. I was relieved that Chilton was able to take my car in right away due to the glass breakage (it was rainy!!!). I showed up at the shop the following Monday morning and Sandra checked my car in quickly, politely, and professionally. It turns out that this shop has a small Enterprise office on site, which made it super convenient to transfer my belongings into the rental car. Ken and Irshad from the shop’s estimator team kept me updated while the repairs were going on and let me know when the car was ready to go. When I picked up my car only a few days later it was clear to me that they had washed it thoroughly, and made sure that all the glass bits were cleaned out. The paint was also impeccable (from the looks of the cars on site there they do alot of work on TESLAs, so I’m not surprised!). Hopefully I won’t have to visit a body shop again (crosses fingers), but with all the texting and driving going on and these random acts of vandalism I’ll probably have to at some point… The efforts of the pros at Chilton Auto Body took what started as a lousy kickoff to 2016, and turned it around with their expert service and workmanship. Thank You Chilton!

Don’t come here if you have Progressive Auto Insurance. Demand to go elsewhere. I’m convinced after dealing with this Chilton and Progressive that they are running something here and people are getting scammed. We were charged over $ 700 in tow fees from towing the car to the front and then back to the back of the shop. Total rip-​off and scammers.

My experience with Chilton Auto Body was quick, painless and professional. I brought my car in for an estimate and was scheduled to bring my car in the next week.
On the day of my appt, I dropped my car off at 8:00 am, picked up a rental car right next door, and was on my way. Later that day, I received a call at 2:00 pm that my car was ready to be picked up! They also sent e-​mail updates throughout this process.
I was impressed with the communication and the efficiency of Chilton– I would recommend to anyone and will be a repeat customer if necessary (hoping for no more accidents though!)

Super rude staff. I called three times over the course of a week and Amy never called me back to get our Tesla body work set up. On top of it their receptionist, when I asked her when Amy can call me back, told me to ‘let her finish’. This is not the kind of customer service you expect when one has a choice on where to take their car for expensive body work. I will be taking my business elsewhere in a heartbeat (and you should think about it too). Too bad we own multiple Teslas in the family, as they will lose all of our business.

I am very impressed with Chilton Auto Body. They did a fabulous job fixing my father’s Lexus, and they did it extremely quickly. We had a family emergency, and they bent over backwards to help us out.
I was especially impressed with Kevin. He patiently, pleasantly and professionally helped us every step of the way under the trying times. He even helped make it easy to get a properly sized rental car at a very good rate. I can’t thank Kevin and Chilton enough for all they did!

Very mixed about this review. They are professional in how they deal with the customers but they just didn’t complete the repair correctly and I am not sure why they would have a quality department If they are not going to inspect the car carefully. Anyways, after I was told to pick up the car, I found a very obvious blemish. While the issue is fixable, it makes you wonder what else they missed. I wouldn’t come here again unless it’s for warranty work from this repair. Next time I will only use the shop I trust.

My 2015 Subaru was thoroughly battered by a very large buck (easily over 300 lbs). The folks at Chilton (Ken and crew) worked with my insurance company and got all the damage (a lot!) repaired and looking like new. Top notch body work, and Ken kept me informed of the progress all along the way. Thanks!

So far, not so good.
Never called me back with insurance estimate– took me 3 calls to track it down. They finally ordered parts; when I arrived to drop off the car (at the date and time they told me), they are still not ready to serve me.
My insurance recommended these guys.
I don’t.

REMINDER: Insurance companies are prohibited by law from requiring that repairs be done at a specific auto repair dealer. This company is totally set up for insurance companies, not for customers, and not for great service. Don’t be deceived by their initially professional, efficient communications. Their managers are assigned by insurance company, not by type of car, or type of customer. Their exterior is so plastered with the signs of the insurance companies they work with that I had a little trouble actually figuring out where they were or which door was theirs.
Another driver opened the door of their parked car into the side of my Tesla as I was driving at about 25 mph near my home. What seemed like a fairly simple repair took nearly a month to get back. And this wasn’t due to problems with the other driver or their insurance company but rather with Chilton. Their service was the opposite of what I strive for as a business person, which is «under-​promise, over-​deliver.» They pushed out the date of when my car would be ready 9 times. A rental car was provided, and if they’d given me an accurate estimate in the first place, I would have gone somewhere else. Or at least if they’d been proactive about the repeatedly delays, but they didn’t actually bother telling me when the next promised deadline was not going to be met– I had to continually call and email them each time to find out that my car wouldn’t be ready after all.
Ultimately the work was done properly, but the amount of time and stress created by their failure to communicate and to meet deadlines made an unfortunate but manageable accident into a huge time sink. Plus because I was out of town for a weekend trip on the day they finally managed to complete the work (the date of which they knew all along), I didn’t return the rental car until after the trip (having paid approx $ 200 in gas that I wouldn’t have had to with the Tesla BTWO). This meant the insurance company initially denied part of the rental car cost, which required another time-​consumiung and stressful exchange of multiple lengthy emails explaining to the insurance company why I returned the rental car after my car was ready to be picked up. They did reverse the charges in the end, as the delay was Chilton’s fault, which was well documented.
But save yourself the headache and find an auto body shop that is highly rated on Unilocal,no matter who your insurance company (or that of the person who hit you) recommends!

It was a very simple bumper dent that should have been repaired in 2 days.
They initially said it will take 2 – 3 days, but it took 4 to complete.
I had to pick up the car on a Friday, in the middle of the day. It was really hard for me to do it and I had to pay for an extra day of rental. I had actually told them repeatedly about it and asking them to try and expedite the repair, but they did not care.
On top of that, they told me they initially received the wrong part. Supposedly that is why the repair took so long. If that was the case, why should I pay for their negligence?
To add insult to injury, everyday I would get these stupid automatic e-​mails telling me how happy my car was in their shop and how good it would be to pick it up on Friday at 4PM.

AMAZING! What a way to start the week– son’s car in tow yard in San Francisco, other driver was rude and mean, calls to insurance, not enough coffee… I called Chilton and spoke to Roberta, she’s a ROCKSTAR! Roberta gave me a list of things to do and helped me get the car towed to their shop, explained the process and the possible scenarios. She was kind and gracious to a crazy tired mom who needed help.
I’ve never used Chilton San Carlos but had a recent experience with another repair shop that made me wonder why they’re still in business. Well, it looks like our car may be a total loss but I will not hesitate to refer people to Chiltons AND Roberta! Ron, give that lady a raise!
Thank you for turning my crummy Monday into good day. Excellent customer service is the key. I can deal with slow repairs but I get a hitch in my giddy up with bad customer service. Thank you Roberta for excellent service. LL

Haven’t even received my final estimate and I know I will NOT be working with them. I went in for an estimate through my insurance. I was told I can just drop my car off for the estimate and come back. I get there and try to fill out the paperwork and leave my keys and some man asked me why on earth I would do that like I was some kind of idiot.
I was there because I need a tire rim, tire, and to have the entire underneath of my car inspected. I also decided I would get an estimate for a broken mirror piece. (I checked online, it’s $ 52 for the part) I waited about 15 minutes, the man looked at the outside and gave me the estimate. I then explained 2 more times the estimate is for UNDERNEATH my car and the man told me I get to come back for that after they call me… So I wasted my time coming to begin with. This was three days ago, they still haven’t followed up with me so I can get the estimate completed.
What really bothered me most besides them being incompetent was that they wanted to to charge me $ 650+ to replace the plastic on my drivers side mirror that covers the blinker light. Again, the part is $ 52.00 online… so with installation I can’t imagine it being over $ 200-​$ 300. They also included a $ 5 «Hazardous Waste Removal» fee for the mirror even though there was nothing for them to remove.
Last time my father went through them with his insurance they quoted replacing a side door panel as a week long job and he finally got his car back a month later.
I would recommend going somewhere else unless you want to get ripped off.

Just months into owning a Telsa, I found a small unsightly paint chip on the right side of my car. This prompted me to check Tesla’s on-​line store, but it did not have the deep blue metallic color for touch-​up paint yet. Then called Tesla’s Palo Alto store and the service guy suggested that I tried my luck at Chilton. I have never heard of Chilton, yet I didn’t have much choice. So I called Chilton… and my experience with them turned out to be five stars!
Stan Kirkland provided excellent service to help me with obtaining a deep blue metallic touch-​up paint. First he explained to me on how to get to the store from 101 very patiently on the phone, as I have not been that part of the San Carlos. Once I got there, he took care of the chip and also offered a free bottle of the touch-​up paint. I understand not all body shop would do this. For instance, I called one in Santa Clara. They did not even bother to call me back. Perhaps they thought my business was too small for them. In contrast, Chilton provided a red-​carpet service for such a small project! They really know how to treat their customers right. Their waiting room was well stocked with drinks. Polite, uniformed service personnel constantly checking on me to ensure I was taken care of while waiting.
For the professionalism and the go-​extra-​mile customer service, I gave Chilton the five stars!

Speedy service, friendly employees. I was very satisfied.

Had a very good experience with Chilton. Took a little while to get the car back but the work was done perfectly and their customer service especially Roberta was great. Called back promptly to let me know about various issues with my car like the shade of touch up paint needed. Not cheap but worth it if you want a great job done and good customer service.

In April I went by Cilton to get an estimate and spoke with Irshad a gentleman working there, for minor scratches on the front end of my BMW 335. I have been going there for 10 years I told him that he gave me an estimate of $ 1500.00, I got a second estimate for $ 150.00 so if you want to through your money away go there…

I got the rear bumper hit by someone while my car is parked. So I called Tesla Motors for referral and they told me Chilton is their approved auto-​body repair company. I wanted to make sure I bring my car to someone who worked on a lot of Tesla cars whose familiar with EVs and aluminum body structure. I was also happy to find that Chilton is also on AAA’s direct repair network which make things easier and the work is guaranteed by AAA as well.
I dropped off my car on Monday, the process was very easy and the staff was extremely friendly. Special shout out to Bob and Roberta who really took great care of me. (They’re really awesome people.) The next day (Tuesday) I got an update call from Bob on the status, he said he’s confident the car will be ready before end of week. That same afternoon, he called me again and the car is done and ready to be picked up! That’s the most amazing speed given I saw they have so many cars to work on. When I picked up my car Bob took the time to walk me through the car and explained the repair that they’ve done. My rear bumper is looking brand new, perfect job. He also assured me the repair is under lifetime warranty as long as I own the car. So I walked away very impressed.
I would recommend Chilton not just for EVs but for any car. It’s so refreshing to see there’s an auto-​body shop that truly cares about customer satisfaction and quality of work.

I highly recommend Chilton Auto Body. I’ve had rear end and front fender damage on my previous Bimmers that Ron from Chilton have assisted me to my satisfaction. So, it was natural for me to go back to Ron when I hit my side mirror on a gate for repairs. Ron never charged me… he assessed the damage, verified what parts are needed from BMW and gave me an estimate to make repairs. Damage is small to warrant repairs. Without any pressure, he suggested that I think it over and decide if I want to have it repaired. I must say, most people would give me a quote and have me go forward with repairs.
Thanks Ron~you’re a good guy who always looks out for the consumers interest.
Best,
Carmen