The 3 things someone always wants out of a body shop are , Fast , Cheap & Good, well pick 2 , because you won't get all 3.
The shop that did my car is a full on modern production shop. Dropped my car off on a friday , by noon Monday it was gutted and just a body & frame setting there. It was done over the winter time and the shop is big enough it wasn't in there way to get crash work done. They figured the retail price would have been around $7,000.00 , and the body didn't need any panels replaced.
http://public.fotki.com/Maliburacr/i.../2006_updates/
Being a damage appraiser I get to a lot of shops and it seems like you always see shops taking in projects for when it's slow. They always seem to still be there a year or longer.
Anyone ( besides Jeff ) know what a gallon of red pigmented auto paint costs ?