Bent frame after an accident? 15+ years of frame straightening, alignment and welding on unibody and full-frame vehicles. Free towing 24/7. Walk in and have your written estimate in 30 minutes. Urgent repairs done in 1–3 days. We handle the insurance — all of it.
Frame straightening is the process of returning a collision-damaged vehicle's structure — the frame on a truck, or the unibody shell on most cars and SUVs — to the manufacturer's original dimensions. The vehicle is anchored to a frame rack, measured against factory reference points, and pulled with hydraulic towers until every point is back within tolerance. Sections too damaged to pull are cut out and new metal is welded in.
Prime Motors has done this in-house for over 15 years at 3701 Gribble Road in Matthews, NC — frame straightening, frame alignment and frame welding on cars, crossovers, SUVs and pickups, including European and luxury vehicles. Towing is free 24/7. Measuring and the written estimate are free and take about 30 minutes if you come in. Urgent repairs are back on the road in 1–3 days. We handle the insurance claim from start to finish; most customers pay $0 out of pocket.
Frame damage often hides behind a bumper that "looks fine." If you notice any of these after a hit, the structure moved. The only way to be sure is to measure it — which we do free.
The gap between hood and fender, or door and quarter panel, is wider on one side than the other.
Doors stick, need a slam to close, or the trunk lid sits crooked. The openings themselves are out of square.
You hold the wheel at an angle to go straight, or the car drifts even after an alignment.
The alignment shop says a value is "out of range" — that means the suspension mounting points have moved.
One tire wearing on the inside edge, or a new set gone in months, points to structure, not just alignment.
One wheel is pushed back or forward in the wheel well compared to the other side. Sit at the corner and sight down the car.
New noises over bumps or a shudder at speed that wasn't there before the accident.
An impact hard enough to fire the airbags or shift a wheel almost always reached the rails or subframe.
Don't drive it if you suspect frame damage. A bent structure changes how the car steers, how the tires wear, and how it protects you in the next collision. Call (704) 635-1813 any time, day or night — we'll send a tow at no cost to you, billed to your insurance.
Wrecked at 2 AM on a Sunday? Call. We dispatch a tow to our Matthews shop at no cost to you, any hour, any day, and bill it to your insurance. Don't drive a car with a bent frame, and don't pay a random tow company to bring it to the wrong shop.
Prime Motors is a family-owned collision shop on Gribble Road with over 15 years of hands-on structural repair experience. Frame work is not something we send out — the rack, the measuring system, the welding and the paint booth are all under one roof, and the technician who measures your car is the one who pulls it, welds it and signs off on it.
Most of what comes through our bay doors is structural: front-end hits, side impacts, rear-enders that pushed the trunk floor forward. European and luxury vehicles are our specialty, and we follow each manufacturer's structural repair procedures, including where sectioning is and isn't allowed on high-strength steel and aluminum.
Whatever the accident did to the structure, it's repaired here to manufacturer procedure and verified by measurement.
The car goes on the rack and every structural point is measured against the manufacturer's specs. This tells us — and your adjuster — exactly what moved and by how much. Free with your estimate.
Hydraulic towers pull the rails, aprons and pillars back to factory dimensions. We pull in stages and re-measure after each one, so nothing is over-pulled and the metal isn't stressed more than it has to be.
After the pull, the structure is measured again and the printout goes in your file. Then the car gets a four-wheel alignment on our mechanical side so it tracks straight before it leaves.
When a rail is kinked, torn or crushed rather than bent, pulling isn't safe. We cut the damaged section out at the manufacturer's approved sectioning point and weld in new OEM or OEM-equivalent metal, then seal and corrosion-protect the joint.
Rails, aprons, rockers, pillars, floor and trunk structure on cars, crossovers and SUVs. The body shell is the crash structure on a unibody, so we follow the OEM's rules on what can be pulled and what must be replaced.
Ladder frames on pickups and body-on-frame SUVs, plus front and rear subframes, crossmembers and suspension mounting points on any vehicle — straightened or replaced, then aligned.
Frame pulling, unibody straightening, structural repair, frame rail repair and collision frame repair — all in-house. Once the structure is back to spec, the same shop handles the panels and paint — color-matched in our in-house booth, with a lifetime warranty on the paint. See auto body & collision repair for published painting prices.
Both can be straightened. The difference is how the repair is done and what the manufacturer allows.
| Unibody | Full frame (body-on-frame) | |
|---|---|---|
| Which vehicles | Nearly every car, crossover and SUV built since the 1990s — Honda, Toyota, BMW, Audi, Tesla, Subaru, Hyundai and so on. | Pickups (F-150, Silverado, Ram, Tacoma) and large SUVs (Tahoe, Expedition, 4Runner, Wrangler). |
| How it's built | Body and frame are one welded shell. Rails, pillars, floor and roof all carry load and absorb crash energy. | A separate steel ladder frame carries the body, engine and suspension. The body bolts on top. |
| Typical damage | Front rails pushed back, aprons buckled, floor rippled, pillars shifted. Often invisible under the bumper cover. | Frame rails bent, twisted or diamond-shaped; body mounts and crossmembers moved. |
| How we repair it | Measured on the rack against OEM datum points; pulled to spec; kinked sections replaced only at OEM-approved sectioning points. High-strength steel and aluminum zones follow the maker's no-heat, no-pull rules. | Frame measured and straightened on the rack; rails sectioned or replaced when kinked; body remounted and aligned to the frame. |
| Typical time | 1–3 days for straightening alone; 5–10 business days with sectioning and paint. | 1–3 days for straightening alone; longer if the body has to come off. |
Not sure which you have? Send us the year, make and model in the estimate form and we'll tell you.
You'll know what's bent, what it costs and how long it takes before anything is touched — in writing.
Not drivable? Call from the scene, any hour, any day — we dispatch a free tow 24/7 and bill your insurance. Drivable? Drop off any weekday, no appointment. A real person answers (704) 635-1813.
This is where we find out what actually moved — rails, aprons, subframe, pillars — and by how many millimeters. The report becomes the basis for the estimate and the proof for your adjuster.
Itemized: pull time, any sections to replace, parts, paint. If you came in, you have it in about 30 minutes. We send it to the adjuster and handle everything on the insurance side — the claim, the negotiation, the supplements, the paperwork. You don't call anyone.
Hydraulic pulls bring the structure back a bit at a time, re-measuring between pulls. Anything torn or kinked is cut out at the OEM sectioning point and new metal is welded in, sealed and corrosion-protected.
Final measurement printout confirms every point is back in tolerance. Panels are refinished in our in-house booth. Then the car goes to our mechanical bay for a four-wheel alignment so it tracks straight.
Panel gaps, door fit, wheel position, the measurement report. If anything is off, we fix it on the spot. Keep the report — it's what proves the repair when you sell the car.
Frame damage is where insurance gets complicated. Here is how it actually works, and what we do about it.
Claim filing, adjuster calls, negotiation, supplements, rental, paperwork: all ours. Adjusters approve what they can see on paper. A measurement report showing exactly which points moved is much harder to argue with than a photo of a bumper. You choose the shop — your insurer can recommend one but can't require it.
In North Carolina an insurer typically declares a total loss when repair cost plus salvage value exceeds about 75% of the car's pre-accident value. Frame work is expensive, so this comes up. Three things to know:
I recently contacted Prime Motors Corp for frame repair after an accident, and I was absolutely thrilled! They were professional from the start: they diagnosed the car, explained everything in detail, and gave a reasonable price.
I am extremely satisfied with the work done by this body shop. The paint job came out perfect, and the frame repair was done flawlessly. The team was professional, honest, and paid attention to every detail.
My Nissan Rogue was in a serious rear-end collision. Bumper was hanging off, parts missing. Took it to Prime Motors and honestly, great experience from start to finish. They were organized, quick, and didn't make me run around.
No shop can quote a frame job over the phone honestly — the number depends on what the measurement shows. Here is what moves the price, and where each type of repair starts.
Every frame estimate comes down to these. We'll show you which apply to your car on the measurement report.
Starting prices are structural labor and parts before paint. Final cost depends on the vehicle and the extent of the structural damage. Your quote is itemized after measurement and always in writing. Insurance jobs are billed to your carrier — most customers pay $0 out of pocket.
Fastest: drive in and leave with a written estimate in about 30 minutes. Can't drive it? Send photos below and we'll reply within one business day with whether it looks structural, what the next step is, and what to expect on cost — or call and we'll send the tow, 24/7.
Car not drivable? Call (704) 635-1813 and we'll send the free tow first — any hour, any day.
No obligation. We reply within one business day. Your details are used only to prepare your estimate.
Free towing 24/7. Free estimate on the spot when you come in, or within one business day online. Urgent repairs in 1–3 days. Insurance handled — all of it. 15+ years of frame straightening, alignment and welding, and you keep the measurement printout.