Picked up my car after Insurance repair work- What should I do about...?
02-04-2004, 06:34 PM
#1
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Martinsburg, WV
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Picked up my car after Insurance repair work- What should I do about...?
Okay, long story short- I had an accident on 12.24.03. My fault. Car was wrecked, looked to not be too bad.
1996 GLE, 90K, no problems to date. I was about to sell it to get something newer or more sporty.
Call insurance. Adjuster looks at it on friday, Dec 26. Never calls me.
Monday, Dec 29 finally get a call. I pick a shop on the 29th. Insurance does not tow the car there until 12.30.03. I selected this shop because they could "start right away." There is another shop in the same "chain" of shops. It is close to my house, but they are backed up. They tell me they can trailer the car to the shop close to home once repairs are completed. That way, I can pick it up after work w/o missing time. Fine.
12.30, car arrives. I get the estimate. $4800 and change. WOW. Not totalled. SHop looks it over- thinks that it is toatlled. Ins says no, fix it. Shop revises estimate after taking it apart- $5200 in damages. Ins says still fix it.
I look at estimate, decide to do some repairs myself. I list the parts I will provide and install, shop gives the okay. Insurance company is clueless but does not argue. Repairs begin around 01.09.04 due to a delay caused by confusion over whether the car was a total or not. I am replacing (myself) both headlights, both park/turn lights, pr of SilverStar bulbs, 1 PIAA fog light bulb, 1 set clear corners, grille, license plate bracket, front emblem (hamburger). Some because I can get them cheaper, others b/c they were aftermarket and the shop had no code for them in the computer. Total of parts I was replacing was about $750. $650 of that was on the estimate, about $100 extra being aftermarket parts. They were supposed to offset the $500 deductible with the expenses that I incurred with my "subcontracting" of myself to do the repairs, but they are too simple to figure out the math. I am about to go pouring over the numbers yet again to try to explain it to them. I did it 3 weeks ago and they still cannot understand. The "supplemental" damages that the repair shop had to add after the initial estimate are the problem. I don't know WHY, but no one at the ins company can figure it out.
Car progresses. More minor damage it found. Small parts add up. Estimate climbs. I look over the car. I find more damage. Estimate adds. The total today when I pick it up: $5407 PLUS the $750 insurance owes ME. On top of this, they unhooked the battery and it died while it was at the sop, and they say too bad. They also say that 1 of my hood struts was dead, but I had JUST replaced them. My hood stayed up for the first time in a year, and they say that it was broken before the wreck. ALSO, I have a terrible rattle from my sunroof. Car is worth about $7000. Had they gotten the ****ing estimate right the first time, I would have taken the $6100 check, parked the car as-is, and parted it out. Leather, motor, tranny, 2 airbags, 4 doors, spoiler, all the glass, interior, digital climate control...add it all up and i would have come out way AHEAD on the deal! As it is, the Insurance company F-ed up, and I am left with crap. Read on...
So here is the end result:
I was w/o a car for 41 days, paid 1 car payment, paid 1 month insurance, and I could have had $6100 (less a $500 deductible) and STILL had the car to part out NOW, the kicker:
While it was in there, they LOST 1 corner light wire harness, BLEW UP the BOSE (no sound, bass **** was all of the way up and a different CD was in the stereo), my amp and sub no longer work, and they pock-marked up the driver's door panel, so it STILL has to go BACK for more work!!!
I already missed a 1/2 day's work to pick it up, they wasted 1.5 hours and STILL do not have my bill correct, and now I have to drive it BACK to the shop to drop it off, get a ride to work, argue w/ them on the phone from work, then later get a ride BACK there to pick it up, AND I will most likely have to wait a few days to get it back. I am trying to sell it before Feb 20 when the next payment is due, but it looks like it is getting farther and farther from being in sale condition. With the blown BOSE, sunroof rattle, door pockmarks, and everything else, I cannot sell the car like this. And who knows how long it will take to fix it?!?
Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't even know who to B!+ch to at this point...
1996 GLE, 90K, no problems to date. I was about to sell it to get something newer or more sporty.
Call insurance. Adjuster looks at it on friday, Dec 26. Never calls me.
Monday, Dec 29 finally get a call. I pick a shop on the 29th. Insurance does not tow the car there until 12.30.03. I selected this shop because they could "start right away." There is another shop in the same "chain" of shops. It is close to my house, but they are backed up. They tell me they can trailer the car to the shop close to home once repairs are completed. That way, I can pick it up after work w/o missing time. Fine.
12.30, car arrives. I get the estimate. $4800 and change. WOW. Not totalled. SHop looks it over- thinks that it is toatlled. Ins says no, fix it. Shop revises estimate after taking it apart- $5200 in damages. Ins says still fix it.
I look at estimate, decide to do some repairs myself. I list the parts I will provide and install, shop gives the okay. Insurance company is clueless but does not argue. Repairs begin around 01.09.04 due to a delay caused by confusion over whether the car was a total or not. I am replacing (myself) both headlights, both park/turn lights, pr of SilverStar bulbs, 1 PIAA fog light bulb, 1 set clear corners, grille, license plate bracket, front emblem (hamburger). Some because I can get them cheaper, others b/c they were aftermarket and the shop had no code for them in the computer. Total of parts I was replacing was about $750. $650 of that was on the estimate, about $100 extra being aftermarket parts. They were supposed to offset the $500 deductible with the expenses that I incurred with my "subcontracting" of myself to do the repairs, but they are too simple to figure out the math. I am about to go pouring over the numbers yet again to try to explain it to them. I did it 3 weeks ago and they still cannot understand. The "supplemental" damages that the repair shop had to add after the initial estimate are the problem. I don't know WHY, but no one at the ins company can figure it out.
Car progresses. More minor damage it found. Small parts add up. Estimate climbs. I look over the car. I find more damage. Estimate adds. The total today when I pick it up: $5407 PLUS the $750 insurance owes ME. On top of this, they unhooked the battery and it died while it was at the sop, and they say too bad. They also say that 1 of my hood struts was dead, but I had JUST replaced them. My hood stayed up for the first time in a year, and they say that it was broken before the wreck. ALSO, I have a terrible rattle from my sunroof. Car is worth about $7000. Had they gotten the ****ing estimate right the first time, I would have taken the $6100 check, parked the car as-is, and parted it out. Leather, motor, tranny, 2 airbags, 4 doors, spoiler, all the glass, interior, digital climate control...add it all up and i would have come out way AHEAD on the deal! As it is, the Insurance company F-ed up, and I am left with crap. Read on...
So here is the end result:
I was w/o a car for 41 days, paid 1 car payment, paid 1 month insurance, and I could have had $6100 (less a $500 deductible) and STILL had the car to part out NOW, the kicker:
While it was in there, they LOST 1 corner light wire harness, BLEW UP the BOSE (no sound, bass **** was all of the way up and a different CD was in the stereo), my amp and sub no longer work, and they pock-marked up the driver's door panel, so it STILL has to go BACK for more work!!!
I already missed a 1/2 day's work to pick it up, they wasted 1.5 hours and STILL do not have my bill correct, and now I have to drive it BACK to the shop to drop it off, get a ride to work, argue w/ them on the phone from work, then later get a ride BACK there to pick it up, AND I will most likely have to wait a few days to get it back. I am trying to sell it before Feb 20 when the next payment is due, but it looks like it is getting farther and farther from being in sale condition. With the blown BOSE, sunroof rattle, door pockmarks, and everything else, I cannot sell the car like this. And who knows how long it will take to fix it?!?
Does anyone have any suggestions? I don't even know who to B!+ch to at this point...
02-04-2004, 07:39 PM
#2
I totally feel your pain and frustration - I had similar problems with my car when it was worked on by local body shop owned by bunch of rude and unprofessional thiefs !
well its over an year now and problems are still showing up - peeling paint, cricket suspension ( car won't align properly ) i had Sprint springs at that time and they did aligment based on those springs - now i'm on stock SE springs and camber is way off on the front passenger tire.
just to make it short - once the car been in any wreck - it never will be the same.
i wish my INS totalled the car right there so today i would be driveing something newer and better
But good luck with it and hopefully you'll get all those details worked out
Nick.
well its over an year now and problems are still showing up - peeling paint, cricket suspension ( car won't align properly ) i had Sprint springs at that time and they did aligment based on those springs - now i'm on stock SE springs and camber is way off on the front passenger tire.
just to make it short - once the car been in any wreck - it never will be the same.
i wish my INS totalled the car right there so today i would be driveing something newer and better
But good luck with it and hopefully you'll get all those details worked out
Nick.
02-05-2004, 06:05 AM
#5
Who's your insurance company?
I'd b!tch to them. They paid for the work (did they pick the shop?), and its their responsability to return the car to the condition it was in before the accident. That's what you pay the insurance company for.
I'd b!tch to them. They paid for the work (did they pick the shop?), and its their responsability to return the car to the condition it was in before the accident. That's what you pay the insurance company for.
02-05-2004, 06:58 AM
#6
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Originally Posted by WillMax95
that is the most retatded thing ive ever read! did u ask the shop about the cd in the stereo, i would kill them!
02-05-2004, 07:00 AM
#7
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Originally Posted by ejj
Who's your insurance company?
I'd b!tch to them. They paid for the work (did they pick the shop?), and its their responsability to return the car to the condition it was in before the accident. That's what you pay the insurance company for.
I'd b!tch to them. They paid for the work (did they pick the shop?), and its their responsability to return the car to the condition it was in before the accident. That's what you pay the insurance company for.
02-05-2004, 07:02 AM
#8
Originally Posted by phenryiv1
Geico. I picked the shop off of their list of approved/certified repair places. I had dealt with a sister shop of this one when my wife's car was vandalized, which is why I went with them. The last time, things largely went well. This time, not so much...
It is the insurance companies responsability to return the car to the state that it was in before the accident. They work for you, so make them do the work. If their shop can't get the work done, make them take the car somewhere else.
Also, insist that they rent you a car.
02-05-2004, 09:27 AM
#9
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Originally Posted by ejj
Don't deal with the shop. If this was a shop that Geico approved then let them deal with it. Talk to you agent (or whoever your contact at Geico is) and make them work with the shop to get the car fixed.
It is the insurance companies responsability to return the car to the state that it was in before the accident. They work for you, so make them do the work. If their shop can't get the work done, make them take the car somewhere else.
Also, insist that they rent you a car.
It is the insurance companies responsability to return the car to the state that it was in before the accident. They work for you, so make them do the work. If their shop can't get the work done, make them take the car somewhere else.
Also, insist that they rent you a car.
On top of this, I called the shop to talk to them and the manager there insists that they insist that they did not do it...
02-05-2004, 09:37 AM
#10
Originally Posted by phenryiv1
My Geico adjuster is being really lazy. I bypassed her and went straight to her supervisor, who of course will call me back.
On top of this, I called the shop to talk to them and the manager there insists that they insist that they did not do it...
I had two major (one $3500 and one $5500) accidents in my old Maxima. The first one the shop sucked. Not as bad as you're describing, but they sucked. I got a hold of my agent and he made it all better. I learned the second time and took the car to the best shop in the area. I was treated like a king and they did fast, wonderful work. I never once had to talk to my insurance company after making the initial claim.
Sorry you're getting boned like this...it sucks.
02-05-2004, 10:18 AM
#11
Dude be prepared for GEICO to drop you. I was dropped for 2 MINOR accidents. They were my fault, however, they were so trivial (license plate screw marks on a bumper NO damage to my car). You have to ride those folks. They will sure want their money every month.
02-05-2004, 10:37 AM
#12
Donating Maxima.org Member
Join Date: Dec 2002
Posts: 2,749
Man, im very sorry for you.
I took some precautions when i took my car into the shop recently for my accident. I took the amp for my stereo out so their was no way they could *** up my system...
As everyone said, go through your insurance. Since you went through one of their preferred shops (as did i) the insurance company will rip them a new a$$hole as to the problems your having...Trust me. Body shops should know better than to *** with insurance companies. Keep fighting and keep b!tching. You will get your way. But on the same token, when you speak to the reps, DO NOT be rude to them obviously. Just state your problems and such. Also, if you feel your being ignored by Geico, their is an agency who you can report the insurance company them selves to, and by law, they must respond to you within 24hrs. This keep the insurance companies on their toes as well...
I wish you the best of luck man, as this can be dragged on over some time. Just be patient and adament (sp?) of getting your way. Dammit, we all pay so much money a year (at least i do...2400 a year) to these fuking insurance companies, they better do their fuking jobs...
Eric
I took some precautions when i took my car into the shop recently for my accident. I took the amp for my stereo out so their was no way they could *** up my system...
As everyone said, go through your insurance. Since you went through one of their preferred shops (as did i) the insurance company will rip them a new a$$hole as to the problems your having...Trust me. Body shops should know better than to *** with insurance companies. Keep fighting and keep b!tching. You will get your way. But on the same token, when you speak to the reps, DO NOT be rude to them obviously. Just state your problems and such. Also, if you feel your being ignored by Geico, their is an agency who you can report the insurance company them selves to, and by law, they must respond to you within 24hrs. This keep the insurance companies on their toes as well...
I wish you the best of luck man, as this can be dragged on over some time. Just be patient and adament (sp?) of getting your way. Dammit, we all pay so much money a year (at least i do...2400 a year) to these fuking insurance companies, they better do their fuking jobs...
Eric
02-05-2004, 10:46 AM
#13
I had the same issues with my wreck. Not as bad as the stereo issue but they wouldn't let me do any work by myself except DC's and they insisted that they must put the front liscense bracket on so instead of a perfect front bumper I have two holes. My hood doesn't line up perfect(I will deal with that over spring break). They also painted some of the black parts in the engine bay body color in the overspray, they let it sit outside with no hood for almost a week allowing water and dirt to destroy my cone filter. Wrecks are never good. I had $5400 in damages also. It would have been $5500 if I hadn't taken $100 off to allow for a partially damaged tire.
Sorry about your problems man. You'll get it all worked out eventually. BTW, this should tell you that GEICO is cheap for a reason, they aren't very good. Most companies will give you a loaner car. I got to beat the **** out of a 91 5Spd sentra for a month.
Sorry about your problems man. You'll get it all worked out eventually. BTW, this should tell you that GEICO is cheap for a reason, they aren't very good. Most companies will give you a loaner car. I got to beat the **** out of a 91 5Spd sentra for a month.
02-05-2004, 11:36 AM
#15
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Thanks for all of the help, guys. I have a few things moving right now. Hopefully this will get resolved quickly. I have people interested in buying the car, but I cannot show it looking like htis...
02-05-2004, 03:39 PM
#16
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 184
Make a diminished value claim on the car. What was the market vallue prior to the accident and its market value now. Ask the insurance company and the shop to supply the name of an ombudsman to overview potential complaints of poor workmanship practices. These will depends on your states law.
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