Weird Car Accident - Lightning Strikes Twice at End of Page 2 (1 Viewer)

[Anarchy99]

Here's the latest update, should anyone be interested.

- I checked with the police department. There is definitely a police report on the incident, which I requested a copy of. But it will take them a week to process the request.
- I finally got a call back from the insurance agent for the repair shop. He said a claim has been filed on the shop's insurance. He indicated the shop is responsible to return the vehicle in the condition it was in when I dropped it off, so the shop's insurance is first in line to have to cover getting my vehicle fixed. Ultimately, he feels the other driver was at fault, and that driver's insurance will have to reimburse them for the damages (through a subrogation process). And my insurance will get on board to coordinate the process and exchange of information and documents.
- The agent said all three insurance companies will likely send an adjuster to assess the damage to the vehicle. Since there are three companies involved and all three will likely want to get their ducks in a row and obtain all the information they can and then bicker amongst themselves, this could take months to work through (especially at holiday season).

Based on that, is there anyone I should be yelling at and lighting a fire under?

Is the car drivable? If so I don’t think waiting for an assessment is that big a deal. I mean I’d follow up to make sure they schedule one.

Yes, the vehicle is drivable, and I also have another vehicle I can drive in the interim. The insurance agent representing the garage said the adjusters from all three insurance companies are going to want to inspect the vehicle, so they would need access to it. He said I could take it anywhere I wanted for estimates, but they still would want to see it.

 

[massraider]

He indicated the shop is responsible to return the vehicle in the condition it was in when I dropped it off, so the shop's insurance is first in line to have to cover getting my vehicle fixed

Everything else is incidental.

He wants to tell you about their adventures with someone else's insurance company? Listen if you want. But you don't need to. They need to get your car back in it's previous condition, to you, as soon as possible. Bummer to hear about their accident with your car, but you are the last guy they should be expecting sympathy from.

 

[Mrs. Rannous]

Seems like it HAS to go through the garage. There was no damage when you left the car in their care. There is damage now. It should be THEIR responsibility to rectify the situation.

Yes them claiming it was some one else’s fault and deal with them is weak. It happened under their care, period. They need to make you whole one way or the other.

We would contact our insurer, and they would handle it. We've never had a problem with this.

Why would you use your insurance to cover something that you’re not liable for?

I wouldn't. They would deal with the other insurers, etc. and make them pay up. That's their job.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Here's the latest update, should anyone be interested.

- I checked with the police department. There is definitely a police report on the incident, which I requested a copy of. But it will take them a week to process the request.
- I finally got a call back from the insurance agent for the repair shop. He said a claim has been filed on the shop's insurance. He indicated the shop is responsible to return the vehicle in the condition it was in when I dropped it off, so the shop's insurance is first in line to have to cover getting my vehicle fixed. Ultimately, he feels the other driver was at fault, and that driver's insurance will have to reimburse them for the damages (through a subrogation process). And my insurance will get on board to coordinate the process and exchange of information and documents.
- The agent said all three insurance companies will likely send an adjuster to assess the damage to the vehicle. Since there are three companies involved and all three will likely want to get their ducks in a row and obtain all the information they can and then bicker amongst themselves, this could take months to work through (especially at holiday season).

Based on that, is there anyone I should be yelling at and lighting a fire under?

Yeah, the shop owner. This is for HIM to sort out. Not you. You just need your damn vehicle that you entrusted to his care.

Gimme the address - this is starting to piss me off now.

The shop filed a claim with their insurance company. Is the expectation that they should be doing more than that?

I would expect them to fix the car right away and then figure out the insurance stuff later. You are the one out of a car. Not them.

The shop owner sort of offered to fix it right away, but the way he presented it didn't sit well with me. He offered to fix the vehicle at his friend's body shop in lieu of going through his insurance. And his version of "fixing the car" was likely a quick fix and not a full restoration to the condition it was in. Basically, he said his friend could buff it out, maybe work on the dents a little, and get a lot of the scratches out. He mentioned maybe they could touch up the paint a little to cover any remaining scratches. His solution seemed like a no frills, quick fix, and it sounded like his buddy would get it "mostly fixed" without any money changing hands. He also said this approach would take months off the insurance cycle, as he could make one call and have the car in the auto body place and skip the long wait.

I countered with I wanted the vehicle in the same condition it was in when I dropped it off . . . no dents, no scratches, no blemishes, no paint issues, etc. The shop owner said sure, an insurance estimate would cover replacing the damaged door and panels and repainting the whole side of the car, but that approach would cost thousands of dollars. His solution was a "let's get it back close to normal and hopefully it won't really be all that noticeable."

That’s ridiculous.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I know this stuff varies by state but I would file a claim with my insurance company and let them worry about getting reimbursed from the shop / other driver

If they gave me any BS about it not being covered or having to pay a deductible I’d find another insurance company (not that they will care)

That’s also why I like having a local agent vs using some internet insurance like Geico or Progressive. Might pay a little more but I find they are more responsive when you actually do have an issue.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Are you sure there aren't any mechanical issues associated with this? My good friend is a mechanic. You'd be surprise what a little fender bender at slow speed even does to the alignment and proper mechanical operation of the vehicle. And will you be there with the inspectors in person to go over every inch of that vehicle? There should be a post-repair inspection done as well IMO.

 

[ShamrockPride]

The amount of time mentally and physically Anarchy's gonna have to put in for all this to play out, god I'm frustrated just reading all this.

#### that shop.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

The amount of time mentally and physically Anarchy's gonna have to put in for all this to play out, god I'm frustrated just reading all this.

#### that shop.

Same. Total BS. Sorry GB @Anarchy99

 

[Irish3]

Anarchy, first and most important question, is there a police report of the incident?

 

[gianmarco]

The amount of time mentally and physically Anarchy's gonna have to put in for all this to play out, god I'm frustrated just reading all this.

#### that shop.

No kidding.

I'd even ask them to reimburse you for the time it's taken you to post here and any subsequent replies.

 

[Anarchy99]

Anarchy, first and most important question, is there a police report of the incident?

There is, but no one has seen it. I put a request in to get a copy, but it takes a week for them to process it.

 

[Anarchy99]

The end of day update does not inspire me with confidence. I told our insurance adjuster to only talk to me and not my wife, since she has no idea what's going on and doesn't want anything to do with this. So what does he do? He called her 3 times today and me 0 times. His 72-hour report is that no one has cooperated with him. He called the at fault driver to get a statement, who refused to talk to him and said talk to his insurance company. The problem is, as of now, no insurance information has been provided for the at fault driver, so he can't talk to the insurance company.

The adjuster moved on to the police department, and as I just posted above, no police report was distributed at the time of the accident and won't be available for a week. He tried calling the officer that wrote up the police report, but the officer has not been available and has not called back.

He called the garage to talk to the mechanic that was the one driving my vehicle, and the garage did not allow him to talk to my insurance company. The owner of the garage told my insurance adjuster this is none of their concern and refused to answer any questions, as I said, would not let the mechanic talk to him, and said the shop's insurance will handle it and for him to go away. The adjuster contacted the shop's insurance carrier, who said a claim had been submitted, but no one had been assigned it yet and there was no one he could speak to about it as they had no information to review yet.

So the insurance adjuster tried telling my wife that he has no information and therefore can't move forward with an investigation. He said he would be happy to proceed with our claim and have our insurance cover it (less our deductible), but it would definitely be held against us. Since he had no usable information, our insurance company would not be making any attempt to collect money from the two other insurance companies to reimburse us, we would own the incident, and it would get written up as if we were at fault. He pressured my wife to either drop the claim altogether (at which point they would do absolutely nothing) or have him complete the claim with us having to essentially admit fault and lose our deductible.

Needless to say, I was none too pleased with this development. I knew going in that this would be a cluster. The fact that it's been that from jump street is . . . disappointing.

 

[Anarchy99]

As a side note, the shop I went to is my wife's shop that she's used for over 10 years. We have taken all of our vehicles there at one point or another, and they up until now have been very good to us. They have honored their quotes even when the work turned out to be more complicated. They took our cars in right away and we cut the line for repairs. A couple of times they fixed something and didn't charge us at all. The owners kids went to school with our kids, and they generally are decent people. Whether that makes a difference or not in this situation, who knows, but this is a place we have been to over and over again.

 

[Irish3]

Anarchy, first and most important question, is there a police report of the incident?

There is, but no one has seen it. I put a request in to get a copy, but it takes a week for them to process it.

That's great news. You shouldn't have your car insurance company involved. Certainly don't make a claim with them. As soon as the police report comes in, see who the other guy's insurance carrier is (they'll list it as a code) and on the report they will have a code that lists who was at fault. If it's clear that it was him, contact his insurance and file a claim with them to have your car repaired. I recently went through an ordeal where an accident wasn't my fault and it took a little time but worked perfectly and I didn't even have to pay a deductible.

GL

 

[Anarchy99]

Anarchy, first and most important question, is there a police report of the incident?

There is, but no one has seen it. I put a request in to get a copy, but it takes a week for them to process it.

That's great news. You shouldn't have your car insurance company involved. Certainly don't make a claim with them. As soon as the police report comes in, see who the other guy's insurance carrier is (they'll list it as a code) and on the report they will have a code that lists who was at fault. If it's clear that it was him, contact his insurance and file a claim with them to have your car repaired. I recently went through an ordeal where an accident wasn't my fault and it took a little time but worked perfectly and I didn't even have to pay a deductible.

GL

Thanks for the suggestion. The thing is, several people involved in this mess have said everything needs to go through the shop's insurance and I need to let them handle it and stay out of the way. It's the shop's responsibility to return my car in the condition it was in when I dropped it off. They can do what you suggested to get reimbursed, but I should not have to chase down police reports, make any phone calls, or file any paperwork. At least that's what is SUPPOSED to happen.

 

[Irish3]

Anarchy, first and most important question, is there a police report of the incident?

There is, but no one has seen it. I put a request in to get a copy, but it takes a week for them to process it.

That's great news. You shouldn't have your car insurance company involved. Certainly don't make a claim with them. As soon as the police report comes in, see who the other guy's insurance carrier is (they'll list it as a code) and on the report they will have a code that lists who was at fault. If it's clear that it was him, contact his insurance and file a claim with them to have your car repaired. I recently went through an ordeal where an accident wasn't my fault and it took a little time but worked perfectly and I didn't even have to pay a deductible.

GL

Thanks for the suggestion. The thing is, several people involved in this mess have said everything needs to go through the shop's insurance and I need to let them handle it and stay out of the way. It's the shop's responsibility to return my car in the condition it was in when I dropped it off. They can do what you suggested to get reimbursed, but I should not have to chase down police reports, make any phone calls, or file any paperwork. At least that's what is SUPPOSED to happen.

Correct, it should be the shop and the other guy duking this out. However, if I'm you, I don't continue down the road with my own insurance. Hell, you could always revisit that in the future, worst case scenario. Wait for that police report and be ready to handle this shizz yourself if you have to.

 

[Johnny Rock]

Nobody mentioned Punitive Damages, yet?

 

[gianmarco]

First of all, make sure you document any contact with anyone about this. Especially the garage.

At this point, I would stop doing all this work. This is on the garage. They should go through their insurance.

Let them know this expectation. Let them know that, in the meantime, you need another vehicle to use until this gets resolved. If they can't do those things, then let them know you'll just start to get an attorney involved.

 

[dickey moe]

Your first mistake - owning a vehicle...

 

[dickey moe]

Seriously though, the whole situation sucks so sorry you have to go through this. Auto repair shops (some) and insurance companies (almost all of them) are pretty far down on my list of reputable businesses.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Lawyer up.

Here's the latest update, should anyone be interested.

- I checked with the police department. There is definitely a police report on the incident, which I requested a copy of. But it will take them a week to process the request.
- I finally got a call back from the insurance agent for the repair shop. He said a claim has been filed on the shop's insurance. He indicated the shop is responsible to return the vehicle in the condition it was in when I dropped it off, so the shop's insurance is first in line to have to cover getting my vehicle fixed. Ultimately, he feels the other driver was at fault, and that driver's insurance will have to reimburse them for the damages (through a subrogation process). And my insurance will get on board to coordinate the process and exchange of information and documents.
- The agent said all three insurance companies will likely send an adjuster to assess the damage to the vehicle. Since there are three companies involved and all three will likely want to get their ducks in a row and obtain all the information they can and then bicker amongst themselves, this could take months to work through (especially at holiday season).

Based on that, is there anyone I should be yelling at and lighting a fire under?

Yeah, the shop owner. This is for HIM to sort out. Not you. You just need your damn vehicle that you entrusted to his care.

Gimme the address - this is starting to piss me off now.

The shop filed a claim with their insurance company. Is the expectation that they should be doing more than that?

I would expect them to fix the car right away and then figure out the insurance stuff later. You are the one out of a car. Not them.

The shop owner sort of offered to fix it right away, but the way he presented it didn't sit well with me. He offered to fix the vehicle at his friend's body shop in lieu of going through his insurance. And his version of "fixing the car" was likely a quick fix and not a full restoration to the condition it was in. Basically, he said his friend could buff it out, maybe work on the dents a little, and get a lot of the scratches out. He mentioned maybe they could touch up the paint a little to cover any remaining scratches. His solution seemed like a no frills, quick fix, and it sounded like his buddy would get it "mostly fixed" without any money changing hands. He also said this approach would take months off the insurance cycle, as he could make one call and have the car in the auto body place and skip the long wait.

I countered with I wanted the vehicle in the same condition it was in when I dropped it off . . . no dents, no scratches, no blemishes, no paint issues, etc. The shop owner said sure, an insurance estimate would cover replacing the damaged door and panels and repainting the whole side of the car, but that approach would cost thousands of dollars. His solution was a "let's get it back close to normal and hopefully it won't really be all that noticeable."

That’s ridiculous.

The end of day update does not inspire me with confidence. I told our insurance adjuster to only talk to me and not my wife, since she has no idea what's going on and doesn't want anything to do with this. So what does he do? He called her 3 times today and me 0 times. His 72-hour report is that no one has cooperated with him. He called the at fault driver to get a statement, who refused to talk to him and said talk to his insurance company. The problem is, as of now, no insurance information has been provided for the at fault driver, so he can't talk to the insurance company.

The adjuster moved on to the police department, and as I just posted above, no police report was distributed at the time of the accident and won't be available for a week. He tried calling the officer that wrote up the police report, but the officer has not been available and has not called back.

He called the garage to talk to the mechanic that was the one driving my vehicle, and the garage did not allow him to talk to my insurance company. The owner of the garage told my insurance adjuster this is none of their concern and refused to answer any questions, as I said, would not let the mechanic talk to him, and said the shop's insurance will handle it and for him to go away. The adjuster contacted the shop's insurance carrier, who said a claim had been submitted, but no one had been assigned it yet and there was no one he could speak to about it as they had no information to review yet.

So the insurance adjuster tried telling my wife that he has no information and therefore can't move forward with an investigation. He said he would be happy to proceed with our claim and have our insurance cover it (less our deductible), but it would definitely be held against us. Since he had no usable information, our insurance company would not be making any attempt to collect money from the two other insurance companies to reimburse us, we would own the incident, and it would get written up as if we were at fault. He pressured my wife to either drop the claim altogether (at which point they would do absolutely nothing) or have him complete the claim with us having to essentially admit fault and lose our deductible.

Needless to say, I was none too pleased with this development. I knew going in that this would be a cluster. The fact that it's been that from jump street is . . . disappointing.

I get pissed reading any if this. Get a lawyer. F the “relationship” you have with the mechanic. Fix my GD car, to my standards, or I am going to sue you out of business. This is 100% the shops responsibility. Make that abundantly clear.

 

[Grahamburn]

Ask the mechanic for a deadline. Be understanding. You get that they don’t want to use their insurance. Of course they don’t. But, if they can’t get in touch with the at fault driver and their insurance by X date, then he needs to file a claim through his insurance to cover the repairs. If he’s unwilling to commit to a date then threaten the attorney angle.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

and the garage did not allow him to talk to my insurance company. The owner of the garage told my insurance adjuster this is none of their concern and refused to answer any questions, as I said, would not let the mechanic talk to him

Start threatening bad Yelp, Facebook and whatever other reviews are out there where you will let the public know what this garage is putting you through. Maybe he’ll cooperate a little more.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

The end of day update does not inspire me with confidence. I told our insurance adjuster to only talk to me and not my wife, since she has no idea what's going on and doesn't want anything to do with this. So what does he do? He called her 3 times today and me 0 times. His 72-hour report is that no one has cooperated with him. He called the at fault driver to get a statement, who refused to talk to him and said talk to his insurance company. The problem is, as of now, no insurance information has been provided for the at fault driver, so he can't talk to the insurance company.

The adjuster moved on to the police department, and as I just posted above, no police report was distributed at the time of the accident and won't be available for a week. He tried calling the officer that wrote up the police report, but the officer has not been available and has not called back.

He called the garage to talk to the mechanic that was the one driving my vehicle, and the garage did not allow him to talk to my insurance company. The owner of the garage told my insurance adjuster this is none of their concern and refused to answer any questions, as I said, would not let the mechanic talk to him, and said the shop's insurance will handle it and for him to go away. The adjuster contacted the shop's insurance carrier, who said a claim had been submitted, but no one had been assigned it yet and there was no one he could speak to about it as they had no information to review yet.

So the insurance adjuster tried telling my wife that he has no information and therefore can't move forward with an investigation. He said he would be happy to proceed with our claim and have our insurance cover it (less our deductible), but it would definitely be held against us. Since he had no usable information, our insurance company would not be making any attempt to collect money from the two other insurance companies to reimburse us, we would own the incident, and it would get written up as if we were at fault. He pressured my wife to either drop the claim altogether (at which point they would do absolutely nothing) or have him complete the claim with us having to essentially admit fault and lose our deductible.

Needless to say, I was none too pleased with this development. I knew going in that this would be a cluster. The fact that it's been that from jump street is . . . disappointing.

Also, leave this insurance company

 

[Mitchie]

and the garage did not allow him to talk to my insurance company. The owner of the garage told my insurance adjuster this is none of their concern and refused to answer any questions, as I said, would not let the mechanic talk to him

Start threatening bad Yelp, Facebook and whatever other reviews are out there where you will let the public know what this garage is putting you through. Maybe he’ll cooperate a little more.

This was my thought, I'd meet with the shop owner and maybe not with an overly threatening tone just be like look my wife and I have been good customers for years, this is crappy situation but this is your responsibility and we need to fix this, otherwise word will get around. Of course after you do this you can never go back to that mechanic again but assume that's going to be the case anyway.

 

[jrt103]

Nobody mentioned Punitive Damages, yet?

SUE EVERYBODY!

 

[Grahamburn]

The end of day update does not inspire me with confidence. I told our insurance adjuster to only talk to me and not my wife, since she has no idea what's going on and doesn't want anything to do with this. So what does he do? He called her 3 times today and me 0 times. His 72-hour report is that no one has cooperated with him. He called the at fault driver to get a statement, who refused to talk to him and said talk to his insurance company. The problem is, as of now, no insurance information has been provided for the at fault driver, so he can't talk to the insurance company.

The adjuster moved on to the police department, and as I just posted above, no police report was distributed at the time of the accident and won't be available for a week. He tried calling the officer that wrote up the police report, but the officer has not been available and has not called back.

He called the garage to talk to the mechanic that was the one driving my vehicle, and the garage did not allow him to talk to my insurance company. The owner of the garage told my insurance adjuster this is none of their concern and refused to answer any questions, as I said, would not let the mechanic talk to him, and said the shop's insurance will handle it and for him to go away. The adjuster contacted the shop's insurance carrier, who said a claim had been submitted, but no one had been assigned it yet and there was no one he could speak to about it as they had no information to review yet.

So the insurance adjuster tried telling my wife that he has no information and therefore can't move forward with an investigation. He said he would be happy to proceed with our claim and have our insurance cover it (less our deductible), but it would definitely be held against us. Since he had no usable information, our insurance company would not be making any attempt to collect money from the two other insurance companies to reimburse us, we would own the incident, and it would get written up as if we were at fault. He pressured my wife to either drop the claim altogether (at which point they would do absolutely nothing) or have him complete the claim with us having to essentially admit fault and lose our deductible.

Needless to say, I was none too pleased with this development. I knew going in that this would be a cluster. The fact that it's been that from jump street is . . . disappointing.

Also, leave this insurance company

Lol. Why? They’re third in line for any kind of claim, and it sounds like his guy is the only one actually doing anything.

 

[Anarchy99]

Twelve days since the incident and with no progress being made, I ratcheted things up and started making calls. Our insurance adjuster reiterated he was still getting nowhere and was getting ghosted by everyone involved. I called the repair shop's insurance company and was able to finally talk to their claims department. They have accepted and authorized payout on my claim, so I can go wherever I want to get an estimate and a check cut. (They said they would have contacted us in another week or so, I just beat them to it.) I booked a slot with our regular auto body place for an estimate, but if we want the work done there, they can't do it for over 4 months. I am sure this isn't done yet, but it looks like the main hurdle has been overcome. At least, that's my hope.

 

[BroncoFreak_2K3]

Twelve days since the incident and with no progress being made, I ratcheted things up and started making calls. Our insurance adjuster reiterated he was still getting nowhere and was getting ghosted by everyone involved. I called the repair shop's insurance company and was able to finally talk to their claims department. They have accepted and authorized payout on my claim, so I can go wherever I want to get an estimate and a check cut. (They said they would have contacted us in another week or so, I just beat them to it.) I booked a slot with our regular auto body place for an estimate, but if we want the work done there, they can't do it for over 4 months. I am sure this isn't done yet, but it looks like the main hurdle has been overcome. At least, that's my hope.

Once your check is in hand, time for an immediate 0 star review for that repair shop on every social media platform you can find. Most importantly Google

 

[Anarchy99]

Here's the update. Two months later, still no payment, still no repairs made. I have spent hour after hour on the phone with three insurance companies, multiple appraisals, had the vehicle looked at and an estimate prepared, and the blame had kept shifting. The shop's insurance company authorized payment, I provided them with a written estimate, and told a check was forthcoming. However, before a check was cut, the insurance company for the driver at fault accepted responsibility, which then caused the shop's insurance to no longer be liable. Except they didn't tell me. I had to start all over again with the at fault driver's insurance, and they are only willing to pay only two-thirds of the estimate from the shop that I got the estimate from . . . and they are an authorized repair center for that insurance carrier.

The story I am getting floated is the estimate that I was given is not the amount an insurance company would actually pay. That's the off the street price they would charge me if I wanted the work done. And if we wanted to actually get the work done, there is a three month backlog. What a mess. We are now at the point that I have invested more time in not working than the claim is even for.

All along I was told the shop's insurance is obligated to make me whole and they would payout 100% of the damages. Now they told me not to contact them anymore . . . I have no claim against them any longer.

 

[titusbramble]

May be different in the US, but this is why in the UK you just report it to your own insurance and indicate you want to claim through the third party, especially in your sort of spot where you have obvious third party details

 

[DA RAIDERS]

Lawyer up. Add some punitive. Pain and suffering or whatever.

Ridiculous

 

[fruity pebbles]

Lawyer up. Add some punitive. Pain and suffering or whatever.

Ridiculous

Pain and suffering? He wasn’t even in the car lol.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Lawyer up. Add some punitive. Pain and suffering or whatever.

Ridiculous

Pain and suffering? He wasn’t even in the car lol.

Maybe not suffering, but this whole thing seems like kind of a pain.

 

[fruity pebbles]

Really feel like all this legwork should have been done by the shop.

 

[Anarchy99]

Almost left out the best part. Mrs. Anarchy told me I better not have damaged the relationship with the repair shop. None of this was their fault, and she wants to keep using them.

 

[Juxtatarot]

I would put in a claim to the at fault driver’s insurance. I know this stuff can vary by state.

All along I was told the shop's insurance is obligated to make me whole and they would payout 100% of the damages. Now they told me not to contact them anymore . . . I have no claim against them any longer.

Not by everyone.

 

[Juxtatarot]

And if we wanted to actually get the work done, there is a three month backlog. What a mess.

Is the backlog with this repair facility you chose? I don’t understand this part.

 

[fruity pebbles]

Almost left out the best part. Mrs. Anarchy told me I better not have damaged the relationship with the repair shop. None of this was their fault, and she wants to keep using them.

New repair shop and a new wife. Win win.

 

[Anarchy99]

And if we wanted to actually get the work done, there is a three month backlog. What a mess.

Is the backlog with this repair facility you chose? I don’t understand this part.

The auto body place I got an estimate from (which we have used multiple times over the years) is booked solid pretty much up until the end of April / early May at this point. It's not just them . . . most places don't have enough workers, and places are getting repair jobs in faster than they can complete the work. Add in that it's winter, and it's getting worse, not better.

 

[fruity pebbles]

And if we wanted to actually get the work done, there is a three month backlog. What a mess.

Is the backlog with this repair facility you chose? I don’t understand this part.

The auto body place I got an estimate from (which we have used multiple times over the years) is booked solid pretty much up until the end of April / early May at this point. It's not just them . . . most places don't have enough workers, and places are getting repair jobs in faster than they can complete the work. Add in that it's winter, and it's getting worse, not better.

Atleast It’s drivable. Really suck if you were out the car too.

 

[Dan Lambskin]

I forget did you ever try to file directly through your own insurance?

 

[Anarchy99]

I forget did you ever try to file directly through your own insurance?

Sort of. I reported it and started the claims process, but we would have to pay the deductible even if we were not at fault. They also said it would be considered as an at fault claim when it came time to renew our policy and determine a new rate. At least that's how things were shaping up at the beginning since no one would talk to our insurance adjuster (and they therefore could not determine fault). Who knows how it would have turned out, but either way we would have been out the $500 deductible had we gotten our insurance company to pay us for the damages.

 

[Corporation]

Almost left out the best part. Mrs. Anarchy told me I better not have damaged the relationship with the repair shop. None of this was their fault, and she wants to keep using them.

Oof. Sorry about all this. No chance I keep that repair shop. If she wants to go to them then she can handle that on her own.

 

[Anarchy99]

As if I needed any more proof that weird stuff just happens to me, here's what happened at ANOTHER garage. Took the same vehicle from this story for an oil change. Easy peasy, right?

Dropped it off, picked it up a little bit latter. Drove home a mile to pick up Mrs. Anarchy to go out to dinner. On the way out, noticed a huge puddle of oil left in my driveway. Drove back to the garage with giant clouds of smoke billowing out of the engine. Had to leave it for them to figure out what happened. Turns out they broke a gasket and almost all the oil had leaked out.

As if that wasn't enough . . . while the car was in their care and parked on their lot waiting for them to find time to fix it, SOMEONE HIT THE VEHICLE and left a huge dent and other damage to the passenger side. You can't make this stuff up!

How can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?
- John McClane, Diehard 2

 

[Pip's Invitation]

You suck at picking garages?

Maybe try Yelp or something?