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This story starts out pretty unfortunately: I was involved in a minor accident last Thursday. The front of my car is a bit crumpled, but not much; I'd say only about the front inch maybe is the part that's crumpled. My grill was hanging by a thread, so I didn't want to chance a drive home, and called a tow. Tow took it to a mechanic recommended to me by a family friend. Got there on Friday. Here's the suck: I've asked multiple times for an estimate on how much it would cost to fix the car. They tell me they would have to strip the car in order to give me an accurate price. I tell them that before they do that I would like a preliminary estimate based on a visual inspection. Shouldn't be too hard, right? Well it's now midday Tuesday and I still have no estimate. I hate to be an SC, but I feel that this might be a tad too slow, especially for just a visual inspection. I phoned them yesterday, they promised me an estimate that afternoon, and nothing. I don't want to go overboard, but I feel that phoning every day might get it through to them that I would like an estimate before any disassembly occurs. Wat do?
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Time to find another body shop. They should have done that to start with. They may find more after taking things apart but before they touch it you should have a written estimate that you have signed that you agree with it."Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears." – Rudyard Kipling
I don't have hot flashes. I have short, private vacations to the tropics. -
Yeah, take it somewhere else.Comment
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Take it somewhere else. Pretty much now, before they take it apart and try to claim they informed you of cost or some such bull after the fact. Happened to a friend.
If they havent given you even a preliminary estimate yet, I'd suspect something shady. or incompetence.*~*THIS SIG HAS BEEN PASSED DOWN THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS!*~*
It's a strange world. Let's keep it that way.-Elijah SnowComment
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I'm sorry that you were in an accident. You didn't say, are you OK?
I have a friend who is a bodyman and he says that the first thing they do when they get a car in is to "pee on the tires". This is his elegant way of saying that they write the estimate right away and as soon as they get permission to start work, they do.
Are you paying out of pocket, or is this an insurance job?Comment
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This is out of pocket. First car, father helped by paying for first 6 months of insurance, and like an idiot (both of us) failed to include collision on the policy. Actually went for just the bare minimum. I'm fine, the damage looked to be negligible but still bad enough for a tow. Air bags never went off.Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
Father is telling me that this is a "good place" that his gf goes to frequently, and that he thinks they need to price the parts after seeing the damage. Like I said, they told me they'd have to dismantle the car to see the complete extent of the damage. I don't want that AT ALL, and have not given permission for that to happen. I've told them I want a preliminary estimate with no touching of the car. Still no word on estimate.
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It doesn't take that long to price the parts in this day and age! Even the most backwoods body shop in my area can usually give you an estimate with price of parts within an hour at the LONGEST. And I'm very much boonies. It's taken them nearly (assuming you get one today or tomorrow) a WEEK to give you an estimate?!
Take it elsewhere. Preferably a place that can run the worst case for parts, based on the visual inspection.If I make no sense, I apologize. I'm constantly interrupted by an actual toddler.Comment
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About 15-18 years ago, my father's car was stolen. ('87 Olds 88... and it was lot 86 in the auction, as it happened) A few days later, the cops called him that it had been recovered with some damage, and had been towed to a yard in Queens.
My father called them to find out how bad it was. They told him that the dashboard had been ripped out, this and that was dented, the seats were ripped up, and oh by the way, there's a load of lumber in the back seat, were we hauling lumber around when the car was stolen?
Then they told him they could fix the damage for $X, I don't remember how much that was anymore.
As soon as my father heard about the dashboard, he decided he wanted the dealership to take care of that. (This was when computerized cars were just coming in, and he wanted to make sure it was done right.) He called the Olds dealer and told them the story, and they said get your car out of there now, if you want we'll send our own tow truck to pick it up. He said, OK, do that.
Car arrives at the dealership. The dash wasn't ripped out, this and that wasn't dented (although other places were), the seats weren't ripped, and there wasn't any lumber in the back either. The repairs cost $Y, which was rather less than $X. (He had collision and theft anyway, so we weren't out of pocket except the deductible.)
Our best guess as to what happened was, either they were looking at the wrong car, or else they hadn't gotten a chance to do all that damage yet before the dealer yanked the car out of their yard...Last edited by Shalom; 03-08-2012, 02:01 AM.Comment
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Agree with the others who've said take your car elsewhere. That they haven't given you an estimate based on a visual examination is either ridiculous or a red flag.Comment
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Yeah, I'm seriously considering taking the car elsewhere. Main reason? I called and they FINALLY gave me an estimate: $3500. On a car that I paid $4500 for. I'm not a car guy, but from what I saw there's NO WAY there was $3500 worth of damage. I smell a story similar to the one Shalom tells: trying to get a lot more money out of me and they think I'm being naive. I'll see of I can get down there tomorrow and confirm that there's that much damage to the car. I now wish I had taken pictures of the damage so I can make sure the mechanics didn't do anything extra and expect me to pay for it!Comment
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3500 isn't a lot for body work. For example, replacing the bumper cover is usually $600-$700.... The bumper cover itself plus paint plus labour.. Adds up quick.
If you want a good shop check out the forums for the car clubs in your area... They are always on the lookout for the best shops from the perspective of both price and quality,There's no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people.Comment
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Painting the car to match is actually one of the more costly parts of a car repair. If you don't mind a mismatched car, get an itemised estimate with the repaint as part of the itemisation.
What I would expect of a body shop that knew I wasn't going to go all SC on them:
* an itemised estimate based on the damage they currently know about.
* a clear statement that if there is further damage they can't see yet, they'll contact me BEFORE doing anything about it.
* perhaps - and only perhaps - educated guesses about possible further damage.
If they take part X off for replacement, and see that it had hidden something serious and expensive, I'd expect them to contact me before bothering to actually replace part X: if I'm going to decide to write the car off because of the serious-and-expensive problem, I won't want the replacement of part X, will I?
So yeah.... either they're catering to sucky customers, or they're dodgy.
(See, sucky customers will often bitch about 'you should have known' when they find further damage. So...)Seshat's self-help guide:
1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.
"All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.Comment
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