Accident and body shop woes
10-23-13, 10:36 PM
#1
Accident and body shop woes
Hey fellow CL members,
On October 1st, I was involved in a car accident where my GS350 Fsport AWD was hit from the passenger side rear door while I was making a left turn. The street I was on is curved and by the time I was in middle of negotiating a turn, I failed to see the pick up truck flying around the corner at high speed. The impact was strong enough to cave in my rear passenger door, shatter the glass, and send the driver side rear sliding into a curb. When the wheel hit the curb, a chunk of the wheel broke off and some parts of my suspension were bent.
I was in a daze and the other driver seemed to be ok while both of us were able to move our cars off to a side street. I called the police and they asked if anyone was hurt or if our cars were blocking the road. When I said no, the dispatcher told me to deal with it amongst ourselves and our insurance companies. Wasn't sure who to call at that point so I decided to bring it to a shop I've used in the past to paint body kits for my previous cars. When the owner of the shop looked at the car, he said it would probably take 3-5 weeks depending on how soon the adjuster can come out and when he can get the parts.
The car sat in his lot for about 6 days before the first insurance adjuster came to inspect the car (Oct.7th). He wrote an estimate showing that both front and rear doors, both rear wheels needed to be replaced, and to cut the lower portion of the rear quarter panel. After he left, the owner of the shop said the adjuster missed quit a few items and that the whole rear quarter panel should be completely replaced (not cut off a portion of it and bondo it on) along with the B pillar since there was damage to that as well. The doors and quarter panel arrived on October 9th.
The 2nd adjuster came out on Oct. 14th and wrote up a supplement for the B pillar, rear passenger interior door panel, rear passenger glass, lower control arm, and some other small bits. These parts showed up on the 21st
I've been checking in almost every other day to see how the work was progressing but so far, it doesn't seem like he's done much;the rear passenger door, bumper, rear glass,both side skirts, and rear seat was removed about a couple weeks ago. His shop is pretty dusty and not very well organized. I voiced my concern to keep the interior covered so the dirt wouldn't get all over my interior so he wrapped up the front seats only.
Every time I call and leave a message, he doesn't return my calls and when I do see him when I drop in, he keeps saying that the work will start tomorrow(I think I've counted saying that about 12 times now) and that my car is "first in line" even though I see other customers cars being dropped off, repaired, picked up, after my car was towed there. What really pissed me off was when I dropped in earlier tonight and seeing the owner through the office window, he sent his receptionist out to tell me that he wasn't there. I guess the owner just got tired of seeing my face.
Sorry for the long essay and don't know if I'm just overreacting but any of you have any experiences with body shops when they took too long or you just felt like they were being flaky?
I miss my 4GS a lot.
-Rog
On October 1st, I was involved in a car accident where my GS350 Fsport AWD was hit from the passenger side rear door while I was making a left turn. The street I was on is curved and by the time I was in middle of negotiating a turn, I failed to see the pick up truck flying around the corner at high speed. The impact was strong enough to cave in my rear passenger door, shatter the glass, and send the driver side rear sliding into a curb. When the wheel hit the curb, a chunk of the wheel broke off and some parts of my suspension were bent.
I was in a daze and the other driver seemed to be ok while both of us were able to move our cars off to a side street. I called the police and they asked if anyone was hurt or if our cars were blocking the road. When I said no, the dispatcher told me to deal with it amongst ourselves and our insurance companies. Wasn't sure who to call at that point so I decided to bring it to a shop I've used in the past to paint body kits for my previous cars. When the owner of the shop looked at the car, he said it would probably take 3-5 weeks depending on how soon the adjuster can come out and when he can get the parts.
The car sat in his lot for about 6 days before the first insurance adjuster came to inspect the car (Oct.7th). He wrote an estimate showing that both front and rear doors, both rear wheels needed to be replaced, and to cut the lower portion of the rear quarter panel. After he left, the owner of the shop said the adjuster missed quit a few items and that the whole rear quarter panel should be completely replaced (not cut off a portion of it and bondo it on) along with the B pillar since there was damage to that as well. The doors and quarter panel arrived on October 9th.
The 2nd adjuster came out on Oct. 14th and wrote up a supplement for the B pillar, rear passenger interior door panel, rear passenger glass, lower control arm, and some other small bits. These parts showed up on the 21st
I've been checking in almost every other day to see how the work was progressing but so far, it doesn't seem like he's done much;the rear passenger door, bumper, rear glass,both side skirts, and rear seat was removed about a couple weeks ago. His shop is pretty dusty and not very well organized. I voiced my concern to keep the interior covered so the dirt wouldn't get all over my interior so he wrapped up the front seats only.
Every time I call and leave a message, he doesn't return my calls and when I do see him when I drop in, he keeps saying that the work will start tomorrow(I think I've counted saying that about 12 times now) and that my car is "first in line" even though I see other customers cars being dropped off, repaired, picked up, after my car was towed there. What really pissed me off was when I dropped in earlier tonight and seeing the owner through the office window, he sent his receptionist out to tell me that he wasn't there. I guess the owner just got tired of seeing my face.
Sorry for the long essay and don't know if I'm just overreacting but any of you have any experiences with body shops when they took too long or you just felt like they were being flaky?
I miss my 4GS a lot.
-Rog
10-23-13, 11:54 PM
#2
first of all, thank you God you are ok and the others. Car isn't important on those situations. I don't know about your insurance but have you told the insurance that it can't be fixed? so they just consider the car totaled and write you a check for its market price? I believe the parts alone cost more than 15k. I would call them and have them tow it to a Lexus dealer and let the dealer tell your insurance how much it will cost to be fixed! because they will say it can't be fixed. Thats just my opinion. because I had an ES330 and a guy hit me from the rear only. and my insurance consider it totaled.
10-24-13, 04:07 AM
#3
Is the body shop on the insurance's preferred repair list?
If yes, call the insurance and tell them what is happening.
My Accord had had a similar hit like your car but the B pillar and the two right doors needed to be replaced. And it took almost 3 weeks. The body shop blamed the insurance didn't send the supplement adjuster sooner. They kept pushing this week to next week. I called the insurance.
Things seemed to move after the call.
If yes, call the insurance and tell them what is happening.
My Accord had had a similar hit like your car but the B pillar and the two right doors needed to be replaced. And it took almost 3 weeks. The body shop blamed the insurance didn't send the supplement adjuster sooner. They kept pushing this week to next week. I called the insurance.
Things seemed to move after the call.
10-24-13, 06:14 AM
#5
Lead Lap
Who is your insurance company? It could be that they are a slow claims payer, and he knows that. Or it could just be that he is lazy. Regardless, if you decide to take it somehwere else, someone is going to have to pay him for all the parts he has already ordered and you're going to have to make sure you grab all of those as well. Unless of course the insurance company has already paid him....in which case causes more problems getting a different body shop involved. This situation sounds bad. Sorry OP. Glad you're okay though.
10-24-13, 08:14 AM
#6
first of all, thank you God you are ok and the others. Car isn't important on those situations. I don't know about your insurance but have you told the insurance that it can't be fixed? so they just consider the car totaled and write you a check for its market price? I believe the parts alone cost more than 15k. I would call them and have them tow it to a Lexus dealer and let the dealer tell your insurance how much it will cost to be fixed! because they will say it can't be fixed. Thats just my opinion. because I had an ES330 and a guy hit me from the rear only. and my insurance consider it totaled.
10-24-13, 08:18 AM
#7
Is the body shop on the insurance's preferred repair list?
If yes, call the insurance and tell them what is happening.
My Accord had had a similar hit like your car but the B pillar and the two right doors needed to be replaced. And it took almost 3 weeks. The body shop blamed the insurance didn't send the supplement adjuster sooner. They kept pushing this week to next week. I called the insurance.
Things seemed to move after the call.
If yes, call the insurance and tell them what is happening.
My Accord had had a similar hit like your car but the B pillar and the two right doors needed to be replaced. And it took almost 3 weeks. The body shop blamed the insurance didn't send the supplement adjuster sooner. They kept pushing this week to next week. I called the insurance.
Things seemed to move after the call.
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10-24-13, 08:24 AM
#8
Who is your insurance company? It could be that they are a slow claims payer, and he knows that. Or it could just be that he is lazy. Regardless, if you decide to take it somehwere else, someone is going to have to pay him for all the parts he has already ordered and you're going to have to make sure you grab all of those as well. Unless of course the insurance company has already paid him....in which case causes more problems getting a different body shop involved. This situation sounds bad. Sorry OP. Glad you're okay though.
Thanks for the kind words.
10-24-13, 09:03 AM
#10
Pole Position
My friend has had his Infiniti in the shop since May 2013 and still hasn't gotten his car. He took it to a shop like yours, where he is getting the run around also. He goes and checks on it twice a week and makes numerous phone calls. He now wishes he just took it to the Infiniti dealerships bodyshop since insurance was paying for it. If i was in your shoes and insurance was gonna pay i wouldn't have even thought about taking it to anyone else. If you had gone to the dealer im sure they would have pointed out more things that needed replacement and potentaily called it nonrepairable or at least it would have been fixed properly. I try to stay away from small shops even though some dealers are just as worse.
10-24-13, 09:35 AM
#11
If you can, contact your dealer and request they become involved. You already have cause to doubt this repair and Allstate should be in your corner for getting a repair that is done properly and in a timely manner. Seeing as though his assistant is telling you he isn't there when he is shows how honest a guy he is. I get that he doesn't want to be pestered on something daily too. But just be up front and honest. Too many people try and take the easy way out.
10-24-13, 09:48 AM
#12
Lexus Champion
You should tell your insurance that you would like the car to be inspected by the dealer when they're done. That's what my shop did for my Audi and the dealer found a few more things they had to do. Insurance obliged and provided funds for additional parts and labor.
It doesn't really seem like you took it to a very reputable shop. You should see what shop the dealer recommends and try to have it transferred there.
It doesn't really seem like you took it to a very reputable shop. You should see what shop the dealer recommends and try to have it transferred there.
10-24-13, 01:02 PM
#13
I just called my insurance this morning and the person I spoke to said there's not much I can do since I chose a non preferred shop. She did say that I should wait a little longer and that she'd make some calls for me.
The local dealership doesn't do collision work but I should have brought it to the shop they recommened. When I called the recommended shop earlier, they said that I would need to have the original shop reassemble my car, pay them for the labor, then have every moved/towed to their shop.
One of the main reasons I chose the first shop was that he did a lot of work on my old Subaru that was rear ended in 2007. He did great work and the turnaround was so-so. He even let me do an exhaust swap in his garage when I parting out one of my older cars but this was years ago.
The local dealership doesn't do collision work but I should have brought it to the shop they recommened. When I called the recommended shop earlier, they said that I would need to have the original shop reassemble my car, pay them for the labor, then have every moved/towed to their shop.
One of the main reasons I chose the first shop was that he did a lot of work on my old Subaru that was rear ended in 2007. He did great work and the turnaround was so-so. He even let me do an exhaust swap in his garage when I parting out one of my older cars but this was years ago.
10-24-13, 03:59 PM
#14
That's seems shady, I would have spoken to the owner when you saw him and sent out the receptionist.
Is his car still there or was it sold off or stolen. That's not expectable at all. What does the insurance company say?
Is his car still there or was it sold off or stolen. That's not expectable at all. What does the insurance company say?
10-24-13, 05:03 PM
#15