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We regularly survey area CHECKBOOK and Consumer Reports subscribers for their feedback on services they have used. For our survey on auto body shops, we asked consumers to rate their experiences with shops they had most recently used "inferior," "adequate," or "superior" on several aspects of service, including "doing service properly on the first try," "starting and completing service promptly," "letting you know cost early," "advice on service options and costs," and "overall performance." Our Ratings Tables show the percent of each shop's surveyed customers who rated it "superior" (as opposed to "inferior" or "adequate") on each question. Our Ratings Tables also show the percent of each shop's surveyed customers who rated it "superior" or "adequate" (as opposed to "inferior") for "overall performance."
We have included on our Ratings Tables all of the shops for which we received at least 10 ratings on our customer surveys. If a shop is not listed on our Ratings Tables, it simply means we did not receive at least 10 ratings for it.
Since many firms were rated by rather small numbers of raters, small differences between two firms in the percentage of raters who gave a particular rating (say, "superior") should be ignored. The table below gives a rough guide to minimum differences you should look for in deciding on one firm over another.
When using these survey data, remember that the questions are to some degree subjective and that the differences among firms might be explained by differences in the personalities, backgrounds, critical standards, and other characteristics of the raters or by biases these raters might have.
For firms that were evaluated in our last full, published report, our Ratings Tables show, for each shop that is located in Pennsylvania or Delaware, the number of complaints on file with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) Serving Eastern Pennsylvania or the BBB of Delaware for a recent three-year period. We asked the BBB of New Jersey to allow us to report complaint information for shops located there, but we had not yet been able to secure permission to do so when we went to print with this issue.
For shops located in New Jersey, our Ratings Tables report counts of complaints on file for each listed shop with the New Jersey Office of Consumer Protection for a recent two-year period.
For the counts of complaints we have reported for the New Jersey Office of Consumer Protection, we have attempted to include only complaints that relate to auto body repair work (as opposed to complaints that relate to mechanical repairs, the sale of a new or used car, etc.).
For the counts of complaints we have reported for the BBB, we were unable to be as selective. The BBB does categorize complaints it receives into 10 broad categories; for all of the shops on our Ratings Tables, we have included those complaints that fell into categories that accounted for the most complaints filed against shops that do not sell new or used cars. These categories were repairs, customer service, and service issues; we did not count complaints that were categorized as relating to advertising, credit, delivery, product quality, warranty, refund, selling, or contract issues.
Where we were able to, we have also reported on our Ratings Tables a complaint rate, calculated by dividing the number of complaints by our measure of the number of full-time-equivalent mechanics that work for the firms. The complaint rate is intended as a rough way to take into account volume of work and the fact that firms that do more work are exposed to a greater risk of incurring complaints.
When using the complaint information, keep in mind that complaints are not always justified; sometimes the customer is unreasonable. Also, be aware that some firms may be at greater risk than others of incurring complaints because of the specific types of business they do. And remember that the measure of business volume we use in calculating complaint rates (the number of full-time-equivalent mechanics working for the shops) is at best a very rough indicator.
We always recommend that you look for substantial differences in complaint counts and rates. We also advise giving little weight to complaint counts if the total count against a firm is less than three or four.
Information reported on our Ratings Tables regarding shops' labor rates came directly from the shops' representatives. We called each shop to complete a survey over the phone and then followed up with a mailed verification form.
To compare prices, our shoppers made a number of calls to each of the shops included in our last full, published report and, without revealing their affiliation with CHECKBOOK, obtained prices for three hypothetical auto body repair jobs.
To compute our price index scores, we calculated an average price for each job or item for all the shops that quoted on that job or item. Next we compared each shop's price to the average. One shop might come in at 120 percent of the multi-shop average for a particular job, and another shop might come in at 90 percent. We took each shop's percentage score on each job or item, standardized it, and assigned a weight to each job or item, based on our judgment. We then averaged the standardized, weighted percentage scores to find how the shop compared to other shop overall. Finally, we multiplied this overall percentage score by a flat dollar amount, say, $100.
The price index score, then, is intended to indicate the relative prices we found for the shops, adjusted to the base of this flat dollar amount. These index scores are imperfect for various reasons: for instance, the jobs or items checked may not be representative; the weighting of various jobs or items in the index may not accurately reflect typical expenditure patterns; and the number of jobs or items is small.
All of the data must be interpreted in view of timeliness. Our customer survey data are from surveys conducted from January 2003 to August 2009. Survey respondents were asked to report on experiences in the preceding year. Our data on complaints for the BBBs are for a three-year period dating back from a date in March, April, or May 2009. Our data on complaints for the New Jersey Office of Consumer Protection are for a two-year period between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2008. The data from our survey of firms were collected from May to July 2009. Our price data were collected from January 2009 to May 2009.
For the most part, our tables include firms for which we collected 10 or more ratings on our customer survey during the customer survey period mentioned above, but we do not report data for periods prior to firms' changes of name and ownership. As a result, some large firms are not listed at all. If only name or ownership changed, we do report the data. Changes subsequent to the dates listed above may not be taken into account.
We give checkmarks to firms that score highest on a scoring system that we devise for each service field. Our scoring systems weight the various data in our tables and text based on our subjective judgment of their importance. Since the scores are based entirely on information presented, you can apply your own subjective judgments, and decide whether you prefer firms we have not given checkmarks. Where we do not have important data on a firm, we cannot give our checkmark.
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