I don't know what your chances are, but I hope you go to war with all partys involved. And the magnetic sign on your car, naming the insurance and the body shop, parked at a busy intersection with a note and and a pic to the home office can't hurt.
I got similar treatment on a new ot car....brand new SUV....had it two weeks...got broadsided and flattened the pass side.....went to go pick it up and there were tape lines in the doors, the rear bumper cover was still scratched all to shit (they said they were gonna change it) and the biggest part was the paint didn't match.... I wouldn't take the truck back....made em go get my rental back.....they stated that they couldn't get the paint matched.....I told em that I would call Brumos Porshe where they do a lot of contract work and talk to my buddy.....who is the CEO and tell him of the quality work they do....furthermore if they can't match the paint in a truck that is a total of 2 months old that there was big problem.... I finally picked up the SUV a month later and it was correct.....good luck with yours.
Sometimes you just have to fight. Had an agent try to low ball me once saying he knew something about old cars since he had an Edsel at home. Whipped open a classic car value guide and showed him my car was worth more than his in it's condition compared to his. Said I would just take his Edsel and call it even. He came way up with his offer. Glad too. Edsels are cool, but didn't want his....................
Totally unacceptable. Fight this, with your insurance company, if no results, take it to your state attorney generals office. Your property is to be returned to you, in its condition prior to the accident..that obviously is not the case here. Good luck
take it by your insurance agents first, explain/ask him if he thinks its fixed properly. Then take him and the car back to the shop that 'fixed" it. If they cant fix it properly find another that can and let your insurance guy know he's on the hook for the new repairs. Maybe point them both in the direction of this thread too, and threaten to add the names of both companies. Might also seek out a lawyer to back you up. What you have there is totally unacceptable. I feel for ya Dude!
Thats bullshit,I woulda taken the cash and fixed it my self. When ever insurance companys are involved I tell em to fuck off ill fix it my self cause they are too damn stupid to do anything. Its a joke really. Im sorry about your car man but I would cut your losses and fix it your self, if ya take it to another shop it may come back worse!!!!!
Thanks all for the push in the right direction. The people at the center talked a great story and had a really well equipped shop. Figured anyone who took such apparent pride in their service area would take pride in their work too. I was impressed too when they asked me to check out the metal work on the inside of the trunk panel where it wouldn't even be seen to make sure I was happy with it. They reshaped the crush zone pretty well from what I can tell, but it went downhill from there. Now I'm half afraid to even let them have another shot at it. I welded in the bridge openings on the uprights on either side of the rear plate. They were perfect. Now they have dents in them where they placed the bumper face down on concrete and pounded on it. They even admitted they straightened out the bumper, then realized it was supposed to be curved to the trunk and had to recurve it? I gave them another bumper in case it would be better to use and they had the pattern right there...........Scary, huh?
Most companies are out just to make a profit even if that means screwing people over.I used to work at a body shop and we did tows to seen alot of people get screwed over.It makes me sick when i see thier commercials on tv and they act like they realy care.
Why are protecting the insurance company and body shop by not telling us who it is? If nothing else just let us know so know one else gets screwed like this! Good luck, fight hard!
Shit. Typical of modern body shops..."body panel replacement specialists", more like it. I'm surprised they even had anybody who could bump out the quarter panel. They owe you some replacement parts, lights that work, a flame job and I don't know what else. Straightening the curve in the bumper that's meant to be curved, and denting it up in the process...gimme a break. And don't allow them to use your spare bumper...unless they buy it from you. I hope you can get good satisfaction, Jerry.
Raise hell with the insurance company,it's time to be a sob ,make a complaint to the insurance commissioner if you don't get anywhere with them.Be aggressive, Don't let them bullshit you that it's a old worthless car.They have to put it back to pre accident condition. If it is your insurance co paying for it they got you by the balls. You have more power if it was someone else s insurance Co ,Good luck.
Wow...thats just awful. What self respecting shop owner would let that out the door as being done?? Hope it works out for you, stick to your guns.
That looks like some really poor work(?) they did to your car, they should be ashamed of themselves. How do places like this keep their doors open? I think it comes down to taking pride in your work. I've been doing collision work for over 25 years and theres been plenty of times that i have more time in a repair than i got payed for, you do the repair till its right. Most collision shops pay their techs (at least around here) flat rate. If the insurance adjuster lets say writes 10 hrs to repair your qtr panel, the tech gets payed 10 hrs at their hourly rate. If it takes them 5 hrs or 14 the pay is the same. Bottom line is, the faster you go the more you make. I'm not insulting the techs that are fast and good, their just rare. We have a saying, "The biggest butchers make the most money''. I wouldn't take it back to that shop because now you will be the pain in the ass customer and the work wont be any better, they just want you to go away. Remember, its YOUR choice where to have the work done. Talk to your agent, they have more pull than you think. If any of this has be repeated, sorry, sucky typer. Good luck.
Hey, SirWoosh; Don't know if I mentioned this before, but advice to get an attorney, may or may not, work. That is a crap shoot, & the more you learn about the BAR (& I don't mean the very cool .30 caliber auto), the less you will be amused. Forget the lawyers, as all insur cos have lots of them & both they & their BAR associates, have lots more $$$ than you do. & the threat of "I've got/gonna get an attorney" is usually met w/little more than eye-rolling &/or laughter. You just don't get to hear that... However, should you wish to light a fire, under what-ever or which-ever, insurance co that so desperately needs it, go find the (your) State Insurance Commissioner. Let them know what has & is transpiring, good & bad, & ask for them to intervene. I would do it w/an info-finding ph call, then in a nice letter, & a follow-up ph call. The *very last* person *any* insurance co wants to hear from, is that S.I.Commissioner. Since they hold the key to said insurance co ability to operate in that state. & the S.I.C. doesn't take any sh_t off of any insur co. My little brother used to work for a major insur co, & when the S.I.C. call came in, well, asses were a-flyin', & *real* solutions got implemented, real quick like. 'Bout the only time you'd ever see mgmt actually sweat... Was rather funny to watch - as long as his dept wasn't the one getting rolled. . Hope you can get you car straightened out - no pun intended. Marcus...
Sorry to hear about your misfortune, I hate to hear of situations like this. I have worked in the body shop bussiness for the better part of 18 years, it's a complicated bussiness and there are allot of reasons that this sort of thing happens. One thing is for certain crummy work is never acceptable. Taking a classic car of any kind to a collision shop is almost never a good idea. Collision shops are usually set up for volume style production, it's the only way they can be profitable. There is just no place for older cars/trucks that are more time consuming than later model stuff. Another problem is for the most part the techs don't like woking on older vehicles. If it is a commission shop, which most are, the tech won't get paid what it is worth to do the repair. Restoration shops have a higher hourly rate than collision for a reason.The other reason is most of the techs that work in collision shops aren't into cars like we are, it's just a job to pay the bills. I'm a working manager in my shop, we have 7 techs and I'm only one who is interested in hot rods and such. So I do anything older that comes in myself, mainly because I enjoy it, but also all the pissing and moaning about having to work on old stuff from the guys. As far as shop owners go for the most part they only care about the bottom line, it is a bussiness after all. My advice for the furture would be get the right insurance, hagerty,etc. They are easy to deal with and will pay for quality work, where regular companies are usually just gonna try to get out as cheap as they can. It sucks being in the middle of that situation believe me. Be persistant and you'll get the results your after,make all parties involved understand that your not going away anytime soon. I just thought I would throw in my .02, maybe it would help being I'm work on the other side of the counter. I have read allot of threads on this board about angry customers and I know for the most part everyone hates people in my line of work. There are craftsmen out there who strive to have the best quality they can produce, like myself. But anytime accountants get invovled in labor operations, it's an uphill battle, not to mention the guys who just don't care. Well good luck my friend.
Sorry to hear it. I had a similar thing with an OT vehicle. I just refused to take possession of it and called my insurance company and told them I wouldn't take it until it was as if the accident never happened. I made them keep it for 3 months before I finally agreed to the repair. It still wasn't perfect but it was close enough to trade in without being noticed. I got rid of it.
That is totally unacceptable and you have never left the shop with it without the insurance people seeing it and agreeing to take it to another shop of your choice to be done right.
Ok , so if you are so unhappy with the insurance company and the shop, why then won't you give us the names. Being in Maine I really don't care about the shop, but I would like to know which insurance company you are with.
Check your state law most say return to preaccident condition contact you state insurance commissioner's office.
I'm with you on this 48FordFanatic. What does Sir Woosh have to gain by protecting a large ins. co. that Screwed him? Especially if that someone has the chance to do the same to many of us on this site. I'm calling Bologna on the hole thing plus I think he did the repairs himself in his back yard. The Wizzard
Looks to me like the shop needs to take it back and make it right. Like in they are going to have to hire someone else to do it make it right. Take it back ricky tic and make sure that your insurance adjuster as well as your attorney know about it. you did hire an attorney like I suggested in the first place right?
You have the right to choose any shop you want when someone else is at fault for hitting your car. They are REQUIRED to bring the car to AT LEAST pre accident condition. Any shop I've ever worked in, if I brought that around front for the boss to look at I would have gotten fired. Good luck man, do NOT back down until you get your car back the way it looked before it got hit.
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