Tinking of moving to california

Hi all,
I'm thinking of moving to california and setting up a body shop there probably around the OC area, me and my other half are planing to come out there in the next few weeks to have look around and see a few workshops and have a meeting with a lawyer about immigration and visas,can anyone give me any personal experience of any bodywork you've had done (price,quality,service,ect).In the UK my body shop mostly do ferrari, merc, bmw and porsche ( autobodytechnic.co.uk) can i make my name in california doing this sort of car or can anyone give me any other advice that might be helpful.
thanks
bob

 

There's plenty of auto body shops in Orange County, but few that cater exclusively to high end cars. I have used one in Costa Mesa that was recommended on this forum and their customer service is good, but the quality of their work is, IMO, lacking. I have had to reject my family's vehicle twice for what I consider sub-standard work and for things that should have been caught by a quality inspection. Having said that, I would encourage you to take a trip out to Orange County and see what body shops exist and what their reputation is. This will help you to make an informed decision about relocating to OC and what your competition would be.

 

There are so many auto body places, especially in the Orange area of OC.

Most of them do work that "looks good", but when you get closer, you see over spray, and you sometimes have parts that are missing.

My friend brought his Cobra to a really nice body shop, and he has a fiberglass cowel hood, and they didn't prep it right at all. We understood that since it was fiberglass, there would be a little bit of waviness, but the paint is starting to lift now. Even a week after the work was done the paint was lifting. And they unplugged the intercooler, and never plugged it back in. That could have costed him a new supercharger! Luckily he caught it in time though.

So if you can bring a body shop that will really do good work, and stand behind your work, you are more than welcome. And I will be happy to be your first customer.

Besides, California is gorgeous!

 

OC has the worlds best weather.

Traffic is bad, , but you will learn tricks to cope.

But, of course, Los Osos is my town.
Best views!

 

How are you going to get a new business's spray booth approved ??

Very very very difficult (almost impossible) in almost every city and county in Southern CA.

 

I'm coming out there to have a look at a few running businesses thats how i plan to over come the problem with the booth, does anyone know of any bodyshops being sold with real estate