Ermita Automotriz

Several months ago our white 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis started losing paint. Mechanically the car is in great shape, and we are the kind to keep driving until the wheels fall off. But we did not want peeling paint looking ugly and creating potential rust problems. I looked into the situation and found that, apparently, Ford tried some innovative new paint and techniques at that time and now, ten years later, they appear not to have worked very well.
Initially I went to a couple of body shops in our area. They all knew about the Ford paint problem. In discussing resolutions they wanted to feather-​in the pealing areas and fill in. None of them wanted to remove all the paint because: «old car, just wouldn’t be worth it». And then one of them commented that: «you know, with the water based paint that we are required to use in California now-​a-​days, you’ll be painting it again within five years!». This got me thinking.
I have heard horror stories of people getting work done in Tijuana going back fifty years: paint peeling on the way home, upholstery seams coming apart within days, etc. BUT: we have a secret weapon. We spend quite a bit of time in the Tijuana/​Rosarito area, and we know people down there. I contacted one of them (Mexican nationals, business owners, who have lived in Tijuana for over thirty years) and asked it they knew of a body shop that was good and used by locals. They immediately told me about Ermita and told me that they had been dealing with this shop for about twenty years!
So we went down. Wound up dealing with Victor. As soon as he saw the car he started laughing and walked us over to an area where they had just finished prepping a Ford Explorer of our vintage — white paint ALL OVER the ground. So they were very familiar with our situation. He then explained that they would strip the paint to bare metal, prime it, wait a couple of days to make sure that the primer held, and then paint. I asked him what kind of paint they use. His response — smell the air, can’t you tell? And sure enough, you could smell the oil based paint so missing in California body shops today.
We brought the car down on Labor Day. Victor sent us emails with photographs to show the progress. Went down a week later and picked it up. Then went back again a couple of weeks later for them to buff and polish one last time. We’ve now had the car back for about a month and are very, very pleased.
So why only four stars? Attention to detail. They had removed several of the light assemblies prior to painting (good!), but they did not connect two of them when they put them back (bad…). They had masked pretty well, but it could have been better. We also had them detail the interior, the trunk, and the engine compartment — some good, but much not very good — would not have them do this again.
The best part was that the cost was approximately ¹⁄₃ of what the Temecula/​Murrieta places would have charged. AND: we got ALL of the white paint done (not just the bad areas), AND they used oil based paint, which should last a lot better than the stuff we use up here. We are already thinking about having our 1983 convertible re-​painted; and we just told a friend with a 35 year old trailer about Ermitz, and she is considering using them as well.
Not only all that, but it gave us a good excuse to spend some time in Tijuana!

Claro que ser amante de los autos y fanático de los motores no me exenta del típico portazo, de otro conductor despistado o ya de última instancia de un accidente provocado por lo divertido que es conducir rápido. Cualquiera de estos casos es motivo suficiente para ir a Automotriz Ermita, donde te darán rápido un presupuesto por 2 calidades de trabajo, el bicapa o triaca. Hace aproximadamente 1 año les lleve un auto que estábamos restaurando a que le hicieran una reparación completa de carrocería. El resultado fue demasiado complaciente, quedo como nuevo parecía de agencia y la verdad recomiendo su trabajo al 100%. Son muy exactos con sus fechas de entrega y si no podrán cumplir, te avisaran con tiempo. Otro punto a su favor es que están coordinados con varias aseguradoras entonces si tu seguro y ellos tienen un acuerdo, podrás contar con sus servicios mientras aprovechas tu seguro o del que te choco.

Hace poco compre un carro y necesitaba hacerle algunos arreglos de carrocería, preguntando con los amigos si conocían un buen carrocero uno de mis amigos me dijo que si recordaba el carro que le habían rayado y tuvo que mandar a pintar. Recuerdo que el carro que le pintaron quedo muy bien, fue el mismo carrocero que el me estaba recomendando y decidí visitarlo.
Desde que llegue me recibió muy amable, con solo ver los detalles de mi carro pudo darme dos presupuestos, uno por pintura bicapa (lo convencional) con un costo de $ 900 dlls y otro por tricapa (acabo de agencia tipo metalico) con un costo de $ 1300 dlls.
Aún no he podido llevar a pintar mi carro, pero si quiero llevárselo ya que pude ver la calidad de su trabajo y me pareció excelente. Por lo pronto me hizo unos arreglos de carroceria y quedaron excelente, sin duda alguna se los recomiendo.
En caso de que necesites partes de yonke, el mismo tiene una persona que las consigue sin necesidad que tu pierdas tiempo buscándolas.
Pregunta por Alex, el es el propietario y es super amable.