Should I be honest about a repair time estimate or just pad it?

I had a bumper repair on a 2018 Civic last Tuesday that I thought would take 3 hours tops. It ended up taking me almost 8 hours because the paint match was way off and I had to blend into two adjacent panels. I quoted the customer a half day and they were ticked when I had to keep their car overnight. On one hand, I don't want to lose jobs by giving big estimates, but on the other, surprises like this make everyone mad. How do you guys handle the balance between being honest with time and not scaring people off? Has anyone else had a simple job balloon on them this bad?

2 comments

2 Comments

abbyg1426d ago

Don't you think it's better to upset someone upfront than when their car's already torn apart? I'd rather lose a job than lose trust. Just tell people you're adding a buffer for paint surprises and move on. Most folks will respect the honesty even if they don't like the number.

vera30826d ago

Oh man, that's rough. I mean, I get why you'd want to lowball the estimate to not scare people off, but that paint matching stuff is a nightmare. How do you usually figure out if a repair is gonna have hidden issues like that before you even start? Like, do you do any kind of deeper inspection upfront that might catch those blend problems or is it just luck of the draw? I'd be curious if there's a way to pad the estimate without sounding like you're just fishing for extra money. Maybe just build in a little buffer for the unknown and explain it's for paint surprises, not just laziness.