Laura Bertolli

I see that the last time I updated this blog was over two months ago! My nephew's death took a toll on the entire family and I didn't start to come out of the funk it caused until recently. Now I want to get back to talking about auto body and insurance issues. The local paper, The Marin Independent Journal, had an article this weekend about the medical field (which, because of its strong ties to insurance, is similar to the autobody industry). Patients are getting billed the difference between what their medical provider pays for services and the actual costs from the doctors who provide those services. Doctors are finally doing what dentists have been doing forever. So sorry, your insurance didn't pay the full amount, you need to pay the difference! (http://www.marinij.com//ci_7494816) Gone are the days where you got three estimates for autobody repair and the insurance paid one of them (usually the lowest). Gone are the days where the adjuster worked wit

The newest member of the Bertolli family, Anthony, born April 9, 2007, died today of SIDS. The family was going out of town for the weekend and went in to get him up from his nap and he had stopped breathing. What was supposed to be a fun getaway weekend has turned into the worst day of our lives. My sister and husband are hysterical and the rest of us are pretty wrecked. Here I am, crying, unable to sleep and typing furiously just to keep myself busy. This is a reminder that we must treat those we love with gratitude and affection because they could be gone from our lives in an instant. I only wish I could wake up from this and find out it was just a bad dream - the worst nightmare I could have. But I WILL have to wake up and life WILL go on. I know this in my head, but my heart is screaming to stop the pain.

Hi everyone! Just got back from LA and the biggest HIN show! In the pic is Mike Garcia, the Custom Shop Manager for B. Customs. We took the 95 Toy Supra and the car was a big crowd favorite. Unfortunately, we didn't win any awards, but we're gonna do a little work on the car and the display and maybe in Alameda on Sept. 29th, we'll get something! I enjoyed the show and saw many interesting modifications. One thing I heard is that carbon fiber parts are the new chrome. These carbon fiber parts were everywhere - the hoods, spoilers, bumpers, interior door trim panels, dashboards, and even headliners! Most of the cars had doors that were modified lambo, suicide, vertical, door handles shaved, even MagicTouch where you touch the door somewhere and it pops open. Paint jobs aren't as important at this show as much as performance, suspension, wheels, roll cages, carbon fiber, audio/video and such. I saw a rear bumper with two TV screens in the corners - wild! I have more pix

They call it Hot August Nights San Anselmo. This car show benefits the town's holiday lights fund. In January 2005, San Anselmo was under 4 feet of water and the flood devastated both merchants and residents alike. Why, city hall just opened this week after 20 months of rebuilding. Funding was lost for the holiday lights, so Helen and her daughter, Lauren Gregory of Bloomworks put together this fundraiser, among others so the town could celebrate the holidays in style and welcome visitors back to their newly remodeled shopping district. The car show was a success. Seventy seven cars were rejected and the money refunded because of lack of space. The cars that did make it were amazing. The best of show went to a '56 Kaiser Darrin - cream color exterior and red interior. Flawless beauty and the cool thing is that the doors open into the fenders - a pocket door on a car!!! I also saw a '61 Pontiac Catalina, the first car I drove and very seldom seen at car shows. I was driving

Hello all, Check out bertollis.com where you will enter a portal to choose either Bertolli's Auto Body or B. Customs, the new custom shop. We have been busy working on the '95 Toy Supra that will be entered in Hot Import Nites next weekend in LA. The office remodel is about 90% complete and we hope to have a ribbon cutting party sometime in October. Other than that, summer is almost over, with the kids returning to school. That means that life will be more routine and we can gear up for a busy fall and winter at the shops. I'll be at the San Anselmo car show this Sunday, 8/19/07 and at the Fairfax car show on 9/9/07. Come out, check out the cars and say hello. Yours truly, Laura

What can I say? I have waited way too long to post to my blog. The newest development in my world is the creation of a new division at work - B. Customs. Since I love cars and hate dealing with insurance companies, I'm hoping that doing custom work will give me a creative outlet and hopefully help my company make some money. We have a new logo, are in the middle of an office/shop renovation and have completed out first custom job and are working on our second. The first is a 2007 GMC Yukon that we installed vertical door hinges, also called lambo doors; complete custom paint job; new grilles and wheels, and custom sound system. We put logo decals on the truck and drove it in the Novato Fourth of July parade. The kids and I had a lot of fun and got some great feedback. The next project, a 1996 Toyota Supra will be done by mid August, just in time for Hot Import Nights ( HIN ) in LA. But before that, I'll be in Reno for Hot August Nights - see ya!