Carl's Collision Center

Carl's Collision Center Family-owned collision repair & auto body on the SouthCoast since 1994, with shops in Fall River, Newport, and New Bedford.

I-CAR Gold Class, Tesla and Mercedes certified. We work with every insurance company and offer on-site rentals and free estimates.

Everyone asks the same thing when they drop a car off: will the new paint match the rest of it?Here's the honest answer....
09/01/2026

Everyone asks the same thing when they drop a car off: will the new paint match the rest of it?

Here's the honest answer. Your car doesn't wear its factory color anymore. Sun and a few winters move the paint, so a panel sprayed straight from the factory code can read a shade off next to the old metal. We don't gamble on the code. A spectrophotometer reads the actual paint on your car as it sits today, and that feeds a custom PPG mix tuned to your finish, not to a number in a book. Then we shoot a test card and hold it against the car in daylight before anyone touches a panel. If it's off, we adjust and shoot another card. We'd rather waste a card than waste your fender.

More on how the color read and our in-house mixing work: https://carlscollision.com/blog/will-the-new-paint-match

Here's something most people never get told after a fender bender: the list of parts going on your car is a conversation...
08/28/2026

Here's something most people never get told after a fender bender: the list of parts going on your car is a conversation, not a done deal.

OEM parts are built by or for your carmaker, to the exact factory spec. Aftermarket parts come from other companies that reverse-engineered something to fit. On a plastic bumper cover or a splash shield, a good aftermarket part is usually fine and saves you money. On a structural rail or anything mounting a safety sensor, we lean OEM and we'll tell you why on your specific repair. Those parts are engineered to fold a certain way and fire your airbags at a certain millisecond.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island both have rules here too, and a newer or lower-mileage car gives you more say than most folks ever use. We read these estimates every day and we handle the back-and-forth with your insurer so you're not stuck translating it. The full breakdown is at carlscollision.com/blog/oem-vs-aftermarket-parts.

Ask any painter where a good finish comes from and they will tell you it starts before any color goes on.Prep is the qui...
08/25/2026

Ask any painter where a good finish comes from and they will tell you it starts before any color goes on.

Prep is the quiet part of the job. We sand the repaired panel down so the surface is true, then mask off everything that should stay clean. Edges get taped tight. Trim, glass, and the nearby panels get covered so there is no overspray and no hard line where the new paint meets the old. By the time a car rolls into one of our Italian spray booths, the hard work is already done. The booth just lets us lay the paint down right.

That patience is why the panel matches when you pick the car up. We wrote up how our booths and the prep behind them work here: carlscollision.com/blog/italian-spray-booths

Just got into a fender-bender? Slow down and get your facts before you worry about the bumper.First, make sure everyone ...
08/21/2026

Just got into a fender-bender? Slow down and get your facts before you worry about the bumper.

First, make sure everyone is okay and get the cars out of traffic if you can. Then take pictures. The other car, your car, the plates, the spot in the road, all of it. Get names and insurance info. If the other driver wants to skip the insurance and "just handle it," still get their info. Things change once the adrenaline wears off.

You do not have to decide on a shop at the scene, and you do not have to use whoever your insurer suggests first. That choice is yours. When you are ready, send us a few photos and we will start the estimate from there. We work with every insurance company and handle the claim end to end, so you are not chasing paperwork on your own.

More on the first steps here: carlscollision.com/blog/what-to-do-after-a-car-accident

Your car is smarter than it used to be. Cameras behind the windshield, radar in the bumper, sensors watching your blind ...
08/18/2026

Your car is smarter than it used to be. Cameras behind the windshield, radar in the bumper, sensors watching your blind spots. That's the tech that keeps lane assist, automatic braking, and adaptive cruise working.

Here's the part most people don't know. After a collision repair, a lot of those systems have to be recalibrated before they read the road correctly again. Replace a windshield, straighten a bumper, even swap a mirror, and a camera or sensor can end up pointed a fraction of a degree off. You won't see it. Your car will, and it'll react to the wrong information.

So we calibrate it back, right here. We run full ADAS calibrations, which means your car doesn't get shipped to a third party and your safety systems get verified before you pick it up. We wrote up why it matters here: carlscollision.com/blog/adas-calibration-modern-car-repair

All three Carl's Collision shops will be closed Saturday, August 15 for our 3rd annual Family Field Day.One day a year w...
08/14/2026

All three Carl's Collision shops will be closed Saturday, August 15 for our 3rd annual Family Field Day.

One day a year we close the doors and get our whole crew and their families together for the day. The people who put your car back together work hard all year, and this is how we say thank you. We're back to regular hours Monday, August 17.

If something comes up over the weekend, send us photos for a free estimate any time and we'll pick it up first thing Monday: carlscollision.com/estimate

New Bedford Engine 1 spent some time in our lot.When a town's fire apparatus needs body or paint work, it can't just sit...
08/13/2026

New Bedford Engine 1 spent some time in our lot.

When a town's fire apparatus needs body or paint work, it can't just sit out of service for a month. We got it back on the road fast, and we got it right, for the people who count on it. Same standard we hold for every car on the rack, with a little extra pride when it's a truck that shows up when your neighbors call for help.

We serve the people who serve. Thank you to the New Bedford Fire Department for trusting us with one of yours.

More about our shops at carlscollision.com/locations.

A white Lamborghini Huracan, parked in one of our bays.A car like this doesn't roll in often. When it does, the owner ex...
08/11/2026

A white Lamborghini Huracan, parked in one of our bays.

A car like this doesn't roll in often. When it does, the owner expects it back perfect, every panel straight and the paint matched so you can't tell anything ever happened. That's the same thing the person dropping off a dented Corolla wants. Different price tag, identical standard.

Supercar or the car you drive to work every morning, it gets the same attention here from the first day to the last. That's how Carl's Collision has always run. carlscollision.com/estimate

Everybody asks the same first question when they drop a car off: how long until I get my car back?The honest answer is t...
08/07/2026

Everybody asks the same first question when they drop a car off: how long until I get my car back?

The honest answer is that the repair clock usually doesn't start the day you arrive. It starts when your insurance company inspects the damage and approves the work. We can pull a bumper, write up the damage, and order parts fast. What we can't do is start cutting before the insurer signs off, and that approval step is the single biggest reason one job takes a few days and another takes a couple of weeks.

Paying out of pocket tends to move quicker because there's no approval round trip. A claim adds inspection time, and sometimes a supplement when we find hidden damage once the panel comes off. None of that means your shop is slow. It usually means the file is still moving through the insurer.

We work with every insurance company and handle the claim end to end, so you're not the one chasing approvals. We wrote up how the timeline really works here: carlscollision.com/blog/how-long-does-collision-repair-take

A teal-green Charger came through our shop, and the color is the kind of thing you don't see done right very often.Custo...
08/04/2026

A teal-green Charger came through our shop, and the color is the kind of thing you don't see done right very often.

Custom paint is a different job than a standard repair on a factory color. The mix has to be exact, and the finish has to lay down clean so every panel reads as one color in any light. Our painters built it in our CMC infrared booths with PPG paint, then checked it panel to panel until it matched edge to edge. No shortcuts on a color like this.

If you've got a custom color in your head and you're not sure who can pull it off, send us a few photos for a free estimate at carlscollision.com/estimate. We'll tell you straight what it takes.

Address

1591 Bay Street
Fall River, MA
02724

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm
Saturday 9am - 12pm

Telephone

+15086755422

Website

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