Our Locations
Solid Relationships
Hours of Operation
Member BBB 
GPAB on Facebook
|
14540 Grover Street Omaha, NE 68144 Phone: (402) 334-7100 Fax: (402) 334-7272 | |
|
1328 35th Ave. Council Bluffs, IA 51501 Phone: (712) 256-8100 Fax: (712) 256-8118 |
Repair Process
Follow this guide to see the process your vehicle will go through at Great Plains Auto Body, from estimate to delivery.
| Prepare Estimate Our Estimator will inspect your vehicle and begin to document the damage caused by the collision in the form of an estimate. In some cases you may already have a preliminary estimate of this damage prepared by your insurance company. In any event, this step must be accomplished prior to beginning the repair process. |
|
| Repair Authorization Before any work can begin, you must first sign a repair authorization allowing us to repair your vehicle. At this time it is not unusual for our Estimator to request another signature in advance to cover any additional damage that may be found once the repair is underway. |
|
| Insurance Approval The insurance company that is involved must also approve the repair estimate before we can begin work. |
|
| Parts Ordered Upon receiving approvals from you and the insurance company, we will begin the process of locating and ordering the parts necessary to repair your vehicle. |
|
| Parts Received Once all of the parts are received and accounted for, we can schedule your vehicle for repair. |
|
| Scheduled For Repairs We can now contact you to schedule a convenient time for your vehicle to be repaired. In some cases your vehicle may already be at our Repair Center, in which case it will be available for immediate repair. |
|
| Dissembled and Re-inspected As your vehicle’s outer panels are removed and the physical structure of the vehicle is revealed, often additional or “hidden damage” is discovered. This additional damage is difficult to diagnose at the time of the original estimate as it cannot be seen or predicted until we perform this thorough inspection. Please note that any additional damage may alter your vehicle completion date. |
|
| Damage Report This report is written to cover any additional or “hidden” damage that may be discovered once your vehicle’s outer panels are removed and the physical structure of your vehicle is revealed. This is referred to as Supplement Damage in insurance terms. |
|
| Supplement Approved The insurance company must authorize this additional damage before we can continue the repair. |
|
| Additional Parts Ordered Should we find additional damage, we will need to repeat steps 2, 3 & 4. For this reason, our Estimator may have asked you to sign an authorization document in advancer to cover these additional repairs. Please note that this additional damage may alter your vehicle’s completion date. |
|
| Unibody Repair Your vehicle was manufactured in compliance with tight structural standards. Exact location and fit of integral parts are critical to the operation and appearance of your vehicle. In this process we measure your vehicle against published factory specification and return your vehicle to within the manufacture’s prescribed tolerance to ensure proper operation, location and fit of body and structural parts. |
|
| Structural and Body Repairs Our Repair Technicians will now undertake structural and body repairs. |
|
| NewPanels Installed All collision-related repairs require some degree of cosmetic repair and often require replacement of factory panels. We will check for proper fit here and ensure your vehicle’s parts look, fit and align the way they should. |
|
| Corrosion Protection Most of today’s vehicles incorporate some of corrosion protection applied by the original manufacturer. We will reapply this protection to ensure that your vehicle conforms to the original manufacturer’s standards. |
|
| Metal Work Done It is at this point in the repair that we begin to check systems for proper functioning and perform quality control of the repair work. An example of a systems check would be the resetting of your safety systems, involving your passive restraint or air bag system. |
|
| Prepped, Primed and Blocked Our technicians will begin the refinish process by applying a primer. A surface filler is sprayed on to ensure a quality, uniform and smooth surface. Block sending is the method of further preparing the surface of your vehicle for paint. |
|
| Paint Booth To ensure that the highest quality standards are met, we carefully mask your vehicle to protect it from overspray during the refinish process. Only the area that needs to be refinished is left uncovered. We then place your vehicle in a controlled atmosphere called a paint booth, where paint material is applied. |
|
| New Panels Installed All collision-related repairs require some degree of cosmetic repair and often require replacement of factory panels. We will check for proper fit here and ensure your vehicle’s parts look, fit and align the way they should. |
|
| Corrosion Protection Most of today’s vehicles incorporate some of corrosion protection applied by the original manufacturer. We will reapply this protection to ensure that your vehicle conforms to the original manufacturer’s standards. |
|
| Final Inspection/Test Drive Once your vehicle has gone through the refinish process we then reattach the other parts such as mirrors, moldings, and other hardware. Should you repair require a wheel alignment or services such as air conditioning repair, we will perform them at this time. Your car will undergo a thorough cleaning, test drive and quality inspection prior to being returned to you. |