Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Elmwood Park, Illinois

I felt compelled to post here because of how thrilled I am to have my 2009 Chevy Impala back. After getting cut off and veering into a divider, I thought my car would be totaled. However, the good folks at Proline Body and Chassis in Elmwood Park saved me from having to look for another car. I was shocked to see how good it looked when I got it back a week later -- it was like I bought it new between the quality of the body work and the paint job. When I went to my long-time mechanic, he said he never would have suspected I had been in an accident. That's probably the best endorsement anyone can give for a body shop.

(contd.) Part 2: from: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-red-light-cameras-part-two-jul13,0,- - 6603390.story?page=2&track=rss Liberman said RedSpeed's British parent was first approached about coming to Illinois in March 2006 by Current Technologies, which had wired up Bellwood with police surveillance cameras. The legislation was still pending at the time. Current's owners are partners in the Illinois venture, Liberman said. The other half of the partnership involves a labyrinth of firms owned by Zaydman and relatives, all of whom are Israeli citizens. Aside from RedSpeed, most of the companies are based in Kazakhstan and involve a grab bag of specialties from traffic management to outdoor advertising to real estate, consulting, a medical clinic and a beauty salon. RedSpeed was launched in 2004 when the Zaydmans bought assets of a bankrupt British traffic equipment company. RedSpeed began with just five employees, according to a 2006 company news release. It since has become the exclusive supplier of digital traffic-enforcement cameras to London, a major component of its sales pitch to Illinois municipalities. But there is a crucial difference between the Illinois and British operations. In London, RedSpeed only installs and maintains equipment, but police operate it, according to transportation officials in the British capital. The company goes well beyond that here, selling itself as a turnkey operation that provides cameras, runs them, flags violators and collects fines. It is a quasi-police function, but local authorities get the final say on who is ticketed. As first introduced, Saviano's legislation addressed the kind of dangerous situation that may have contributed to the Elmwood Park Metra collision. It would have allowed the use of enforcement cameras to catch drivers who swerved around lowered railroad crossing gates. On the House floor, Saviano had the bill rewritten to authorize red-light cameras. Another version of the bill was pushed on a parallel track by now-Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), though it was the Saviano measure that became law. Considerable lobbying heat lined up behind the concept in addition to Ronan. Redflex lobbyists pushed for suburban cameras. Bellwood dispatched at least five emissaries, legislative records show, including two who have had a long history of doing lobbying work with Ronan. Bellwood's efforts paid off handsomely: The suburb netted more than $1.1 million in red-light camera revenue last year. The minutes of suburbs' meetings where Zito has appeared for RedSpeed on several occasions have identified him as an owner or founder of the company. Responding to questions from the Tribune, Zito said he is neither and described himself as an "independent, part-time consultant, offering assistance in the area of sales and marketing." Zito quit the Illinois Senate in 1991 to become an in-house lobbyist for Prospect Heights-based Household, later bought by HSBC. Since 1994, those financial firms have steered $53,000 in campaign cash to Saviano, more than to any other current member of the legislature, state records show. It's hardly unusual for financial firms in Illinois to help bankroll campaigns, and records show that Zito's HSBC has given away nearly $1.3 million in political donations over the last 15 years. But one of the smallest gifts stands out. On April 3, 2006, HSBC gave $500 to the political organization of Frank Pasquale, the mayor of Bellwood, which was soon to become RedSpeed's first customer. The banking giant had never before written Pasquale's campaign a check and has never done so since, state records show. April 3 was the day the General Assembly gave final approval for Saviano's red-light camera bill, a development that opened the suburban market to camera vendors like RedSpeed. Zito said the timing of the gift was "purely coincidental" and "occurred well before RedSpeed-Illinois' existence, either conceptually or officially." Tribune reporters Monique Garcia in Springfield and Laurie Goering in London contributed to this report.

Here is a nice story from the Chicago Tribune, following the money in quite interesting and revelaing ways: Part 1: from: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-red-light-cameras-part-two-jul13,0,- - 6603390.story On Thanksgiving eve in 2005, a Metra express train plowed into five cars at the busy Grand Avenue crossing in west suburban Elmwood Park, leaving behind piles of twisted metal, 16 injured people and a golden, moneymaking opportunity for the politically connected. State lawmakers were quick to propose a crackdown on drivers who swerve around lowered crossing gates. But as so often happens in Springfield, one of the bills aimed at preventing a repeat of the near-tragedy experienced a metamorphosis during the legislative process. Thus emerged the 2006 law that brought red-light cameras to the suburbs. Advocates said it was all in the interest of safety. But in the fun-house mirror that is Illinois politics, explanations of how and why things get done are rarely so simple. Moving with a lightning speed befitting its name, a then-2-year-old British traffic camera-maker called RedSpeed latched onto savvy Illinois political insiders and came to dominate Chicago's lucrative suburban market even though it had never before operated in the U.S. So aggressive was the push that one suburban police chief recommended that his town hire RedSpeed a week before it was even incorporated in Illinois. Just as happened when Chicago debuted red-light cameras in 2003, the devices in the suburbs have infuriated drivers surprised by $100 tickets in the mail, fattened municipal treasuries and intensified a roaring debate about whether their purpose was to reduce crashes or extract cash from motorists. The spawning of RedSpeed may represent a textbook example of how to cash in on this state's clubby intersection of public policy and clout. But it's an Illinois story with an unusual foreign accent. The ownership of RedSpeed is obscured in public records, but the firm is part of a closely held Israeli-owned conglomerate that does most of its business in Kazakhstan, the former Soviet Republic that Americans perhaps know best -- maybe unfairly -- from the mockumentary "Borat." There are other curiosities. RedSpeed's sole U.S. operation is in west suburban Lombard, and it markets itself as the only Illinois-based firm in the highly technical red-light camera business. Yet the corporate structure is topped by a holding company whose CEO lives in Staten Island, N.Y., and works in the office of a Manhattan ophthalmologist. RedSpeed is not the only traffic camera company to benefit from the 2006 law, but it is by far the most successful. Company officials boast that they have lined up contracts with more than 50 Illinois municipalities -- more than all competitors combined. RedSpeed got a jump-start by quickly signing up a core group of suburbs -- among them Bellwood, Berwyn, Bolingbrook, Elmwood Park, Melrose Park and Rosemont -- with ties to a close network of clout-heavy lobbyists and former public officials. The company's sales director is Greg Zito, a former state senator from Melrose Park who also is a longtime Illinois lobbyist for British banking and credit card giant HSBC and the local loan giant it bought, Household International. Those two firms have long been a major source of campaign cash for the red-light legislation's chief sponsor, state Rep. Angelo "Skip" Saviano (R-Elmwood Park). RedSpeed also has become something of a gathering spot for associates of Zito and his longtime friend Al Ronan, another former Illinois lawmaker and a lobbyist for RedSpeed since 2007. Ronan -- who lobbied for the red-light camera legislation on behalf of Melrose Park -- was a name partner in a lobbying firm that pleaded guilty to federal bid-rigging charges in 2004, though Ronan personally was not charged. He also was a major fundraiser for both former Govs. George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. According to minutes of meetings in several municipalities, the sales force pitching RedSpeed in Illinois has included Scott Okun, who once ran the Illinois Toll Highway Authority's I-Pass program but quit after being suspended in 2006 amid questions about a printing contract. Ronan's name appeared as political sponsor for Okun on a 2003 list of state job-seekers kept by Blagojevich's office. Another past Ronan political operative from Berwyn also has served as a RedSpeed salesman, according to village board minutes and interviews. Robert Liberman, managing director of RedSpeed-Illinois, said in an e-mail exchange that his firm's success here was a testament to "careful planning and well-managed strategies." That, Liberman added, has "allowed the growth, whilst rapid, to be managed so that the company is fiercely proud of its reputation and its ability to deliver on promises." The city of Chicago's red-light cameras come from a different vendor, Australian-owned Redflex, the largest company in the field with operations in several states. Ronan contended that the city and Redflex were the main forces behind the suburban camera push, not RedSpeed, which formally entered the Illinois market only after the legislation passed. Chicago officials, he argued, feared a legal challenge to the city's then-3-year-old program and were looking for legislative cover. "The suburbs got involved because the city wanted to be protected," said Ronan. "Suburban towns saw the city program as a success." Zito said his first involvement concerning RedSpeed came at the end of June 2006, a month after the red-light camera bill was signed into law. He said then- Naperville-based Current Technologies, a company whose owners became involved in RedSpeed-Illinois, asked him to help analyze the new legislation. Daniel Zaydman, the head of RedSpeed's British parent, declined to be interviewed for this article. Saviano did not respond to interview requests. Just how fast did RedSpeed move in Illinois? Less than two months after the red-light legislation was signed into law, Berwyn Police Chief William Kushner urged his city's mayor and council to hire the company, according to a memo dated July 11, 2006. RedSpeed incorporated in Illinois a week later -- on July 18, state records show. Kushner told the Tribune that he looked at other vendors but preferred RedSpeed because of its British track record and because its system could be used for railroad crossings as well as red-light intersections. (contd.)

I negotiated a price of $23.5 for an 08 Odyssey EXL last September from McGrath Honda in Chicago (or maybe Elmwood Park), so I suspect that you shouldn't pay more than that price plus tax if you buy that model today. SO, I think you are paying too much, unless your state tax and license rates are off the charts. Didn't buy the car and decided to wait until 09, and we are now in the market again, but want an 09. In the FYI column, on the 09, negotiated a price of $27.9 for the EXL with RES from Honda on Grand in the greater Chicago area (Elmhurst, I think). Wife wouldn't pull the trigger b/c second thoughts that she might want Sienna (also good deals there since this is last year of current model), but ultimately decided on the EXL. Going to wait until the summer to see if I can get them down to $25 on the EXL, which I think is very doable given current market conditions and the fact that we don't need the van. These guys are hurting, it is the end of the month and they NEED sales, so don't be afraid to be aggressive.

Elmwood Park, which I believe is north of Passaic.