Collision repair
Everything from a scraped door to a proper hit. We are a preferred or approved vendor with the major insurers, so if you are going through a claim we can talk to your adjuster directly instead of leaving that to you.
BBB accredited · A+ rated
Collision, custom, and everything between.
A family run shop on Spencer Street doing the work most shops in Central New York send out. Hail and dent repair, collision, wheels, detailing, and custom paint. Cars and motorcycles both.
Paintless dent repair
Hail damage
Collision
Alloy wheels
Custom paint
Lumilor
Cosmichrome
PeelClear
2012Dave and Heather have been running this shop since 2012, with three full time technicians on the floor alongside them
A+Accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2024 and rated A+
$4MGarage liability cover, plus workers compensation, on everything that comes through the door
MobileIf you cannot get the car to Spencer Street, paintless dent repair can come to you
What we do
One shop for the whole vehicle.
Most body shops handle collision and hand everything else to a subcontractor. Empire started as a dent company, kept adding the trades instead of farming them out, and now does the metal, the paint, the wheels and the finish under one roof.
Paintless dent and hail repair
The trade this shop was built on. The dent is worked out from behind the panel, so your factory paint stays where it is. No filler, no color match, no repaint, and the car keeps its original finish.
Alloy wheels and bumpers
Curb rash, scuffed lips and worn faces repaired and refinished, in the factory color or something of your own. Bumper covers get the same treatment, which is nearly always cheaper than a new one.
Custom paint and restoration
Full custom work on cars and bikes, and restorations that run from a bare shell back to paint. Airbrush, graphics, candy and pearl. This is the side of the shop that people drive across the state for.
Detailing and ceramic coating
Paint correction, ceramic coatings, headlight restoration, trim restoration, glass polishing, steam cleaning and odor removal. Show car prep too, for anything that is going to be looked at closely.
Protection and accessories
Undercoating and bed liners, XKGlow LED lighting, and WeatherTech as a Diamond Dealer. Viking motorcycle bags too. Fitted here rather than posted to you in a box.
Certified Lumilor lab
Paint that turns on.
Lumilor is an electroluminescent coating. It sprays on like paint and looks like paint, and then you put current through it and the artwork lights up. It is not a sticker, not a light bar and not a wrap. It is the paint itself.
- Empire is a certified Lumilor lab and a training center for other shops
- Cars, motorcycles, helmets, guitars, signs, near enough anything you can spray
- The design is yours: badges, crests, portraits, lettering, whole panels
Cosmichrome
Real mirror chrome, sprayed on.
Cosmichrome is a spray applied chrome. No plating tank, no shipping parts out of state for weeks, and it will go on plastic and fiberglass as happily as on metal. Tint it and you get candy chrome in any color you like.
- Wheels, trim, badges, mirrors, engine covers, helmets, signage
- Colors are mixed to your choice, from smoked gray to a deep candy
- Empire is a certified Cosmichrome applicator
PeelClear
Color you can take back off.
PeelClear is a waterborne peelable paint. It is sprayed on in the booth like any other finish, and when you want your factory color back it is scored at an edge and peeled away by hand in sheets. No chemicals, no heat gun, and no residue left on the paint underneath.
- Empire is one of a handful of certified applicators in New York
- 267 standard colors, plus OEM matching
- 20 year warranty covering both the finish and the peel
Our work
Every photo here is a job off this floor.
Nothing bought in, nothing borrowed from a catalog. Select any photo to see it larger.
How a job runs
What actually happens when you call.
Whether it is an insurance claim or a custom build you have been thinking about for two years, it starts the same way.
We look at it
Bring it down to Spencer Street, or send photos if that is easier. On hail and dent work we can often tell you what you are looking at from the photos alone.
You get a real number
A written estimate, with what is being repaired and what is being replaced spelled out. If it is an insurance job we deal with the adjuster.
We book it in
You get a date and a realistic length of time, not a vague week. Financing is available through Sunbit if you would rather spread it.
It leaves right
Nothing goes back out until it would pass in this shop. If something is not sitting how it should, it does not get handed over.
What people say
Six stars if possible.
Reviews left by Empire customers on Google, Facebook and Carwise. Trimmed for length, otherwise as written.
Rated 5 out of 5.
“Six stars if possible. Small family run business extremely professional, prompt, courteous.”
Rated 5 out of 5.
“With over 400 dents from hail damage, I figured they would never be able to get them all out. But they did a beautiful job.”
Rated 5 out of 5.
“They did an absolutely FANTASTIC job while standing by their work! You can tell they care about the quality.”
Rated 5 out of 5.
“The paint is perfect. The color was better than I imagined. The detail job was impeccable.”
Rated 5 out of 5.
“My car looks BRAND NEW again and it barely took any time at all! Totally happy with the service I received!”
Rated 5 out of 5.
“Great place. Friendly, courteous, prompt and did a great job with my car.”
Who you are dealing with
A shop with two names on it.
Empire started life as Empire State Hail Company, chasing storms and pulling dents. The dent work is still the backbone, but the shop kept picking up trades until it could do the whole car.
Dave Nauseef, owner
ARC Certified Master Technician and ARC Master Hail Technician, Dent Wizard Certified Master Technician, four star and five star master technician. Certified for both Lumilor and Cosmichrome.
Heather Nauseef, office manager
The person who picks up the phone, books the work in and handles the insurance side. If you have called Empire, you have spoken to Heather.
ARC Certified Master Technician
ARC Master Hail Technician
Dent Wizard Certified Master Technician
Certified Lumilor lab & training center
Certified Cosmichrome applicator
WeatherTech Diamond Dealer
BBB accredited, A+
Where we are
948 Spencer Street, Syracuse.
Just off the Inner Harbor on the near west side, a couple of minutes from 690. The shop is where the collision, custom and detail work happens, and cars come in from all over Central New York for it. Hail is different: that work runs the length of the state.
Syracuse and Onondaga County
Central New York
Hail work statewide
Body shops we subcontract for
Mobile paintless dent repair
Before you ask
The questions we get most.
Mostly about the two finishes, because almost nobody has had them explained properly before.
Will a car wash hurt Lumilor?
No. The Lumilor stack is sealed under automotive grade clear coat, so washing, waxing and polishing all happen on the clear, not on the coating. Lumilor put the system through ASTM G154 accelerated weathering for over 400 hours without losing brightness or adhesion.
What powers it, and is it on all the time?
It runs off the vehicle's own 12 volt supply through an inverter, which turns the direct current into the alternating current the coating needs. It goes to a switch, so it is on when you want it on and the panel just looks like paint the rest of the time.
Is Lumilor legal to run on the road?
That depends on the color and where you are driving. New York restricts colors that read as emergency vehicle lighting on public roads, so plenty of builds get wired to run at shows and events rather than on the highway. We go through this with you before anything is sprayed, not after.
Will sprayed chrome survive a Syracuse winter?
Cosmichrome is sealed under an automotive urethane topcoat that is UV stable and warranted by the manufacturer not to yellow, so it weathers the way a good paint job weathers. If the parts in question are wheels that will sit in road salt from November onward, tell us that up front and we will be straight with you about what to expect.
Does paintless dent repair affect resale?
The opposite, usually. Paintless repair works the dent out from behind the panel, so there is no filler, no color match and no repaint, and the car keeps the factory finish it left the plant with. Original paint is exactly what an appraiser or a resale inspection is looking for.
Will I know the price before you start?
Yes. Estimates are free, and you get a written one that spells out what is being repaired and what is being replaced rather than a single number at the bottom. When the job is booked in you get a date and a realistic length of time with it. If it is an insurance claim, we deal with the adjuster.
Get in touch
Tell us what happened.
Estimates are free. Send this through and Heather will come back to you, or ring the shop and talk to a person.
Checking hours
Shop hours
- Monday9am to 4pm
- Tuesday9am to 4pm
- Wednesday9am to 4pm
- Thursday9am to 4pm
- Friday9am to 4pm
- SaturdayClosed
- SundayClosed
Empire Custom Paint & Body Repair
Address948 Spencer Street
Syracuse, NY 13204
Syracuse, NY 13204
Phone315-314-6774
Emailinfo@empirehail.com
InsurancePreferred or approved vendor with the major carriers. Bring the claim number and we will take it from there.
FinancingAvailable through Sunbit. You can pre-qualify without touching your credit score.
