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Expertise

 

A modern car is a computer wrapped in stamped metal, structural aluminum, bonded composites, and dozens of cameras and sensors. Repairing one right takes training the manufacturer signs off on, the equipment that goes with that training, and a shop willing to renew both every year.​

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Three programs set the floor for what a collision shop should know: I-CAR, ASE, and OEC. Carl's holds all three at the highest level our trade offers. I-CAR is the industry's training standard. Carl's is an I-CAR Gold Class shop, which means our estimators, structural techs, non-structural techs, and refinishers each complete the I-CAR training for their specific role every year. Gold Class is the highest designation I-CAR awards a shop, and roughly 10% of shops in the country hold it.

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ASE certifies individual technicians on the mechanical and refinishing skills the work actually demands. Our team is ASE certified and re-tests on the schedule ASE sets. OEC, through the Collision Performance Network, ties our shop to live OEM repair procedures and parts data. The repair plan we write today matches the procedure the manufacturer published this week, not last year.

We also hold 20+ manufacturer certifications, covering Tesla, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Ford, GM (Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Buick), Honda, Acura, Hyundai, Kia, Nissan, Infiniti, and the FCA brands (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, RAM). What these different certifications mean for the work we do is explained further on our certifications page.

​Aluminum Repair. Tesla, the Ford F-150, much of the Mercedes lineup, and a long list of luxury vehicles use aluminum bodies or aluminum-intensive structures. Aluminum doesn't behave like steel. It work-hardens differently, welds differently, and corrodes when steel dust lands on it. Mixing the two materials in the same workspace ruins both. Carl's runs a dedicated aluminum repair bay, sealed off from steel work, with its own tools, fixtures, and ventilation. Our aluminum techs are trained and certified through the manufacturer programs that require it, including Tesla and Mercedes-Benz. If your car came off the line with structural aluminum, we put it back the way the engineer drew it.

Refinishing. We paint with PPG. Our refinish techs are trained on PPG's color systems and paint-matching protocols, and our spray booth is set up for the waterborne base coats today's vehicles ship with from the factory. Color match is mostly chemistry. The last few percent is judgment. We blend across panels when the math says to, we let the work cure on the schedule the paint manufacturer specifies, and we don't release a car until the panel-to-panel match holds in three different lighting conditions, including direct sunlight.

Electric Vehicle Repair. Carl's repairs hundreds of electric vehicles a year. We hold the Tesla Approved Body Shop certification, which is the strictest OEM program for EVs in the country, and we work on the EV models from every manufacturer we're certified by. EV repair is a different job than working on a gas car. The high-voltage system has to be safely de-energized before any structural work begins. The battery enclosure has its own inspection and torque-spec requirements. The bonded aluminum substructures on most EVs rule out the heat-and-pull techniques that work on a steel-bodied sedan. We do the de-energizing, the inspection, and the structural work in-house, with the equipment and the training each manufacturer requires.

Campers and RVs. Carl's repairs campers and RVs, including motorhomes, travel trailers, and fifth wheels. RV bodies don't behave the way a car or pickup does. They're built around fiberglass panels, aluminum framing, oversized glass, and slide-out mechanisms, and a hit from a tree branch, a low-clearance bridge, or a sideswipe needs different equipment and different repair techniques. We have the bay clearance and the training to put an RV back together the way the manufacturer built it.

ADAS Calibration. ADAS, short for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, is the camera, radar, and sensor package that runs lane-keep, automatic braking, blind-spot monitoring, and adaptive cruise. Almost every car built since 2020 has some version of it. After a collision, even a minor one, ADAS sensors need to be re-aimed and recalibrated to manufacturer spec. A windshield replacement alone usually triggers a forward-camera calibration. Skip this step and the car may seem fine in the parking lot but miss a stopped vehicle on the highway. We perform pre-repair and post-repair scans on every vehicle that comes through. Most ADAS calibrations we handle in-house. A small number, depending on the make and the equipment that specific calibration requires, we send to specialty partners we've worked with for years. Either way the calibration is documented to OEM procedure and the records stay in the file.

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Glass. We coordinate glass repair and replacement through the auto-glass companies we trust to do the work to OEM specifications, and we manage the calibration that follows once the new glass goes in. One stop, one estimate, one shop signing off on the glass and the cameras that depend on it.​

Paintless Dent Repair. For dents and dings where the paint is unbroken, paintless dent repair is faster and cheaper than panel replacement.

Spray-In Bedliners. We install LINE-X spray-in bedliners on pickup truck beds. The bed gets prepped, masked, and sprayed indoors so the coating cures evenly across the whole panel. Once it's down, the bed handles tools, gravel, ladders, and weather without the dings and rust a bare bed picks up over a few seasons.

Lifetime Warranty. Carl's stands behind every repair we do. If something we did needs making right, we make it right. The training and certifications on this page are why we can say that.

© 2026 by Carl's Collision Center Inc.

The auto body shop that's right for your collision repair with three locations: Fall River, Newport, and New Bedford  When you get into a car accident you want the best auto body shop to repair your vehicle. Carl's Collision Center is an auto body shop that is certified by many of the manufacturers. Looking for an "auto body shop near me" or "collision repair near me" Carl's Collision Center is your destination for where to go after a car accident to know your car is fixed right. 

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