Hello,

My Camaro has bin at the body shop going on 12 months. i am getting Frustrated on how long it is taking is this a normal time frame i was told it would take 6 to 9 months to complete. Just womdering Joel

I think that is way to long, try and find someone else!

It depends on what all you are having done, and what kind of deal the body shop is giving you. If you are having a lot of work done, and the shop is trying to cut you a break on price and using your car as filler work between collision repairs and the like, more than a year isn't unheard of. A lot of times estimating bodywork on these old cars is a ballpark guess, with extra time required as additional areas the need to be addressed are found. Now if you paid cash up front and they are just farming the work, that's a different story. I can understand your frustration, but without more detail no one here can pass judgement. If your car was a basket case and is having every panel replaced, it takes time to do that correctly. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.

I am not a big fan of yanking a car partially completed from one shop and taking it somewhere else except under the most extreme circumstances. Because it is difficult for folks who don't do bodywork to track the time spent and tasks actually completed, you may end up paying for things that the new shop will say haven't been done or need to be redone.

Again, it depends on what you're having done and what the situation is, but I would try to discuss your concerns with the manager/owner. If you tel him that you understand that doing insurance work/colision repair is more profitable, but you'd really like to see your car completed soon, and be polite and professional about it, maybe they'll speed things up.

Bodyshop work is no fun, and a large majority of customers can be difficult to deal with. Try being one of the few that is a pleasure to work with/for, and see if that helps.

Resto shop Owner here, 12 months is not a long time for a Body shop. But it's a long time for a resto shop. Point being that most Body shops will put the gravy work first and yours in the Corner.