Hot Rods Scumbag alert: West Coast Auto Craft in Windsor, CA

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6984112-181/owners-of-windsor-hot-rod?artslide=0

A guy I know has his 59 Panel there... he's headed up this morning to get what's hopefully left of it with a flatbed. Sad story.

Any one know this guy? WTF was he thinking?

 

build it or buy it completed is the lesson I keep seeing people learn.

 

He was also pretty good at claiming other peoples work as his on instagram....

 

There is even a site dedicated to the issue: http://www.westcoastautocraftsucks.com/

I have never heard of the guy, his wife, or the business partner.

 

Thats just wrong.

 

That was some pretty horrific work he was taking that slapper to.

 

hutch, lets hope your friend is successful in retrieving his panel. Usually, when the police are involved, it takes a lot of legal BS to retrieve your own property. Jerks like him and his wife give the hobby a bad name.

 

Justice

 

friend had her Ford done there, including 14 coats of clear and more - at some time in recent past returned it there to get some work done. then guy arrested. after some work got it running again and got it home. she said that he would take in a project, strip it down to the bare shell and put parts in crates. now people are trying to figure out what crates go with what car. lots of people lost lots of money and dreams. know another guy having his Willys PU painted by a "friend" - has been gone about 15 years!!

 

he got in. it's a roller with a stripped shell and boxes of parts. Looks like he has the majority of the parts, but Jalopy Joker stated it appears to be an easter egg hunt for his parts.

 

No one liked Boyd coddinton , he was a stand up guy though....

 

Classic failure/ripoff pattern;
Customer #A; Collect $$$ up front, strip it down, go hog wild for a month. Call customer/collect next installment $$$, then promptly place project on back burner in favor of "starting" customer B.
Customer #B; same as above.
Customer #C; same as above. And so on...

You see the same thing with remodel contractors. They collect 10k down, demo a kitchen down to the studs, then vanish for another job. Some are honestly are making an effort but are undercapitalized and are spread too thin. They take the down payment from job B, to finish job A, pay their labor and bills. Others are straight forward crooked.

Besides being out the $$$, the problem with retrieving your car becomes apparent that some of your parts are now missing. Cherry picked for other shop projects, sold, sitting in a plating shop unclaimed, etc.

Research the tradesman, get references, look at their work. Don't let them get too far ahead money wise-make installments in small increments. Inspect progress regularly and collect receipts. Don't get complacent. If progress has drastically slowed or stopped for an extended period w/o good reason, don't be afraid to pull the plug. Go with your gut.

 

Ahh, the very last shop that I worked for, before I gave up the line of work, probably, for good.

 

News flash, bulletin, this just in, some people are dishonest

 

They are but if they steal my car from me the last sound the dishonest person would hear is an honest shovel full of dirt hitting the box he painfully fit in

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

Rule Of Thumb, NEVER pay money up front unless you like being screwed. These type of scams are becoming all to common in our hobby. Right now the Paint Jail scam is probably the most prevalent.
When are people going to learn that not just some people are dishonest but LOTS are dishonest and will screw you in a heart beat?

 

Not prudent to express such ideas on a public/internet forum of any kind. Should you become "a person of interest" in a uhhhh....'disappearance'......such comments will be found and used against you.

If you choose to delete your post, I will delete this one.

Ray

 

sorry it happen....but a fool and his money....did I hear I need $10,000 up front - on a driving 1932 roadster....geez....

 

Too easy to be Rambo on the internet. As for the OP, that is a really sad story-at least this guy is out of business for awhile. I expect he'll pop up again.

 

I have heard about paint purgatory. I was lucky to have a friend in the business and a real stand up guy. I had talked to him about painting by 57 Chevy truck. Well, he calls one day and says he is slow and to get it down there. I spent a week wrapping up some details and got it down there. While discussing prices I told him I was in no rush (take his time), his response was he would be done in a week, he had limited space and was not into storing cars. He needed stuff in and out so he could get paid. True to his word, it was done in a week.

 

it is a common to see many cars parked around a shop (good & bad) because they do like you say and use money from one to do another - plus, who wants to say no to a paying customer

 

Sucks. I guess I'm a little surprised because being just north of SF there are not a ton of shops for this type of work and what I've found over the last 4 or so years being a bit more active in the community is that it's a pretty tight network of people. I'm not saying I'm close to knowing everyone, but it's to a point when I talk to a couple of key contacts I'm 1 or 2 people away from folks talking about the same person/shop.

And, yeah, I'm some fine line between being too cheap to pay serious $$$ for the whole project and dumb enough to think I can do it myself, but at the end of the day, I guess I know where my car is! My buddy with the panel had another one done (not sure if it was by this guy or not) and he definitely wasn't keeping a close enough eye on this project as he himself is a small business owner with a full plate of things going on.

 

Harris said he agreed to have Miranda paint and redo the interior of his 1932 Ford Highboy roadster. The job was priced at $22,500 and Miranda told Harris it would take three months. Harris cut a deposit check for $10,000 and Miranda hauled the antique roadster to West Coast Auto Craft’s former location in Cloverdal

I'm sorry the guy got hosed but who in their right mind would pay that kind of money to have a interior re-done? HRP

 

My interpretation is the guy wanted the car painted and the interior redone. Even in the Midwest, first rate work for both would probably be $15k plus depending on a number of variables. On the West Coast and it's exorbitant cost of living, those figures would surely be exceeded. Nonetheless, the notion of paying a bunch up front, as opposed to paying as work is completed, is the real issue for me.

Ray

 

I used to think that, until I ran my own business.

When I first opened up, I took no money up-front. I used my capital.

I steadily watched all of that capital get tied up with purchasing parts, and waiting for late customers to show up and pay. Eventually, I had a shop full of finished cars, and customers that were in no hurry to come and pay. When people did finally show up, they wanted to re-negotiate everything that they had agreed to. I had to go deep into my own savings to make rent and payroll.

I even had one customer cut my gate and take his finished car, without paying. The cops did not give a shit.

After lien selling several cars (at ultimately a loss), I started charging people for all of their parts, up front, and taking labor payments every two-weeks (provided that work was performed). The new contract stated that if you were one payment late, work stopped. If you were two payments late, I sold off your car and parts, sufficient to cover your outstanding bill.

That cleared up most of the nonsense, but not all of it.

 

I'd take my business elsewhere before I'd pay a large sum up front. There's too many crooks out there. Besides I've worked too hard to piss away my cash. I personally know of several 2-3 year paint jobs and one 5 year project that was never finished.
Pay up front and hope your dealing with someone reputable is a crap shoot I wouldn't take.

 

I've got a friend who had a shop here who had the opposite going. He set up the deals on the cars he worked on so that the customer was billed when a defined amount of progress was made. Some cars seemed to sit a long time while he waited for payment for what he had done so he could proceed to the the next stage.

Still on this West Coast Autocraft thing, don't people investigate these outfits on their own before taking a car anywhere? A 30 second search on the laptop usually brings up the bad or good about any shop that has been around a while. It sure brings up plenty on them.

I've seen too many businesses that were good for a while go down hill when the owner started living larger than he/she should and living off money that should have been used in the business or on one case a friend who couldn't or wouldn't control his wife's spending on the business checking account. The "we have plenty of money rolling in, lets buy a big house, new pickup, boat, or take a trip or trips" has sucked the money out of more than one business.

 

Large sums are relative.

I doubt that a small shop will run you $14,400.00/mo. +utilities where you live.

 

Deposit is good business. Spikes the job. That said $10K for a deposit seems a bit too strong.

 

Gimpy is right on, we operate pretty much the same way only we require half when the car is dropped off unless it's a small job, but if it's extensive we have to have their capital to buy their expensive parts. We treat hot rods the same as a grocery getter, same labor rate same deposit same work order, estimates are done the same way. Only difference on a hot rod with multiple issues we require the customer to provide a wish list of work they want done in writing and they have to understand that late model stuff comes first like your work truck or the car your honey has to get the kids to school. We go over their wish list for a day or two then work up an estimate. They authorize the work and pay half, the other half when completed. We adhere to State of Ca. laws and have no issues. It's all about open and clear and constant communication. This way the customer has skin in the game and I know they are serious. If I have their car in my shop it does me no good to let it sit I want it done just like the grocery getter. Time as with any and all jobs depends on the size of the job. Yes they're shops that are dishonest and usually prey on peoples emotions and especially if they can't check on the shop and the progress being done. Unfortunately that's the world we live in no matter what type of business it is. I'm sure this will ruffle some feathers but.....