Body shop Blues

[Capt Spaulding]

The general and I did a trip from deep south Texas (think Brownsville) to DC and home back in June. Some may remember my tale of woe as my little blue baby was run over by a Nissan wielding cretin in Tennessee.

The repairs cost was a shade over $6000 - and included new bumper, most of the stuff behind it, radiator, fans, left front fender and a host of other miscellaneous bits and pieces. The witch (with a B) that hit us and I are both insured by Allstate. The claim handler in TN is well and truly a POS. Fortunately, we spend one the order of $6k a year insuring everthing we own with them and after I called my agent in TX the guy actually got off his ass and did some work. Without our guy here, we might still be there.

At the time, I didn't seen any options but to have the car repaired up there so I accepted a shop near Nashville that was Allstate approved - meaning Allstate guarantees the repairs for the life of the car. After more arguing with the adjuster, he agreed to ship the car down after repairs were completed. The car arrived last Friday.

Superficially, it looked ok - the paint has quite a bit of very light swirling but I think I can get that out. A bit later I noticed the front bumper protruding slightly in front of the fender just under the outside corner of the left headlight. Then, I saw that the front marker lights on both sides of the car were not working. I wrote the shop owner and asked about both. He was puzzled by the bumper and suggested checking the fuses for the lights. I took look at the wiring diagram and there's quite a bit of other stuff on that circuit and all of it works.

I decided to just pull the markers and see if the bulbs were TU or the shop had forgotten to reconnect the harness to the sockets. The light housings were a royal bitch to get out. Why? The clowns at the shop had apparently either broken, or lost the "A" clips on both sides. Their solution, use F&CKING JB weld (or a close cousin) to glue the damn things in. (The problem was the bulbs.)

On top of that they randomly switched the trip clips holding the fender liner on with who the F knows what. God knows what other gremlins are lurking under the body work. The body shop guy in TN has gone dark, and Allstate asshole in TN claims they've gone above and beyond the call.

The next step is to take it to the local Subaru shop and pay them to take a close look at it and fix what's F'd up. I'll have them document and photograph everything that's wrong and present that along with the bill to my local Allstate guy. If they balk - I'll have to ask a lawyer buddy to push it. But goodamn, a guy who was sitting a red light and had some idiot cut a corner and nail the front of his car shouldn't have to deal with this shit. I know, I know, life's not fair, but damn. Is there any such thing as a competent, honest body shop? How do you ID them?

Thanks for giving me a place vent.

[NeverInTime]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Hopefully you'll get stuff squared away soon. I kinda lump auto repair guys and general housing contractors in the same bucket; trying to skimp and save money by choosing the cheaper guys is going to cost you more in the long run. Going with more expensive reputable people won't be a guarantee for quality work, but they are more likely to fix mistakes to protect their reputation.

On the bright side, at least it sounds like your insurance guy is pretty likely to go to war for you.

[LudwigMiles]

How does an insurance claim work? Can you not sign off on this work and demand it get fixed correctly? In theory, if the car was returned to you with a big dent still in it, what would be the course of action?

[NRXRaptor]

I feel for you man. My car was hit by some donkey-hole while it was parked. Lucky for me geico set me straight. They sent me to G&C Autobody here in Ukiah and they took care of the bodywork and paint matching perfectly. You can't tell where the damage was. The geico rep at the shop was super cool. Now that you've reminded me I have to give them a 6 star yelp review.

Good luck

[thomasmryan]

allstate will throw junkyard parts on your car. zero love.


I have a combined policy and they are holding a years homeowners dues captive for the rest of my life so I pay my car premium a week late every month. I have paid them way over a 100k in premiums for 40 years so they can shove their 'like/kind' bs up their backside.






tell you agent your want 6k in diminished value.

[Capt Spaulding]

Thanks to everyone. The way Allstate does things is, if you use one of their "Pro-Shop" repair affiliates, the repairs are guaranteed for as long as you own the car.

Ordinarily, if additional repairs were needed the shop that did the initial repair would be responsible for making it "right." In this case, the shop that did the initial repairs is 1200 miles away, so I've been advised to go to a local "Pro-Shop" to have the car looked at. The downside is, none of these are Subaru specific shops.

The plot thickens a bit, when looking at the invoice sent to Allstate by the shop. A quick look suggests that there are several parts the shop billed for that they did not replace. So far the total is on the order of $120. I suspect a detailed examination would reveal more. At the moment I'm considering several courses of action.

One of the realities I (and we all) need to face is that insurance is a racket. The idea behind liability insurance is to put the victim back in the position they were in before they were damaged. That is a complete fiction as are many of the Weasel Words they toss around (e.g. "like kind and quality, etc.) In a world of carfax the instant a car suffers enough damage to require a body shop, you are out thousands of dollars the insurance company will not talk about.

[Clipdat]

In this case, I believe you would be fine with just a highly regarded body shop. It doesn't need to be Subaru specific.

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

In this case, the shop that did the initial repairs is 1200 miles away, so I've been advised to go to a local "Pro-Shop" to have the car looked at. The downside is, none of these are Subaru specific shops.

[pfaffendorn]

Originally Posted by Capt Spaulding

One of the realities I (and we all) need to face is that insurance is a racket.

Of course it is -- in collision repair there are so many players all scrambling for a piece of the pie that it's hard to know if your car comes out in one piece or not.

A plan that has worked for me twice (two wrecks on my dime, to the tune of more than $10k total) is to take your car to the best body shop you have, one that has a wide rep they'd like to protect. It doesn't have to be a Subaru dealer -- as a matter of fact it seems that Subaru dealers farm out their body work to God knows where -- but it does have to be a shop that is scared shitless to bring a customer's wrath down on them. My choice has been our Cadillac dealer: they have their own collision shop, the work is splendid, all new Subaru parts, and a healthy fear of older owners who want their $65-$75k Caddies to be perfect after they have tromped the gas pedal by mistske while parallel parking. If there's a little hankypanky on the invoice, well, the insurance company has seen it and signed off, and my deductible is still the same $250 anyway.

I've been satisfied in the extreme with this solution, and I haven't seen any reason to change it yet.

[Xxyion]

It's a hassel, and a BIG time consumer, but the best way to find those honest body shops is to visit your local shops or ask these forums who people go to in your area. I have two shops i absolutely trust my car too in my area and both are accepted with my insurance company. But i also spent the time and effort in befriending the owners of each.

Sucks about the car and the shop though. You shouldnt have to go through all this for someone else's fault. Hope it gets resolved quickly.

[pfaffendorn]

Originally Posted by LudwigMiles

How does an insurance claim work? Can you not sign off on this work and demand it get fixed correctly? In theory, if the car was returned to you with a big dent still in it, what would be the course of action?

Most reputable collision shops guarantee their work. And the better ones will let you visit your car while it's in pieces and will show off how carefully they are repairing it.

A skilled insurance estimator, with the assistance of extremely detailed software, will draw up the cost of the repairs and cut you a check pretty quickly. This check is made out to you, and I guess you could demand to inspect your car before you sign it over to the collision shop. The shop will take the car apart, and when they find additional damage, they submit that cost to the insurance company and get a check directly. It's all pretty cut-and-dried, and disagreements are rare -- I've been through it twice with my BRZ and always had all new Subaru parts put in, even though they reserve the right to use Brand X parts instead.

[evomike]

honestly your best bet is to call Allstate inside claims tell them you are going to go have a post repair inspection done and what they find they will be responsible for. It was a good idea to go to their shop since you aren't at all familiar with shops in the area, but hopefully you know of a good shop now that the car is home. I have done many post repair inspections and if the car was repaired at a direct repair shop you are always going to find something they cut corners on.

[BaatLuk]

Originally Posted by evomike

honestly your best bet is to call Allstate inside claims tell them you are going to go have a post repair inspection done and what they find they will be responsible for. It was a good idea to go to their shop since you aren't at all familiar with shops in the area, but hopefully you know of a good shop now that the car is home. I have done many post repair inspections and if the car was repaired at a direct repair shop you are always going to find something they cut corners on.

Are you recommending against going to a direct repair shop? What if the direct repair shop happens to be a reputable place? i.e. when I was in Michigan, Autometric was a direct repair shop with AAA.

[evomike]

Originally Posted by BaatLuk

Are you recommending against going to a direct repair shop? What if the direct repair shop happens to be a reputable place? i.e. when I was in Michigan, Autometric was a direct repair shop with AAA.

I 100% recommend against going to a direct repair shop, to make money and keep with insurance unrealistic deadlines they have to cut corners and will rush jobs out the door.

[Capt Spaulding]

Thanks all. Getting closer. Hope to have it sorted in the next week or so.