Lyons Auto Body Shop (Mississauga)
 

Hey Guys,

Just wanted to write this to hopefully prevent what is happening to me to other unsuspecting people.

Lyons Auto Body is on the radar of most insurance companies of being one of the shadiest shops.

So on Wednesday (earlier this week) I was driving to work in the right lane of 401 going west bound. I'm about 6 km away from my exit when a tractor trailer trying to merge onto the right lane clips the back of my left bumper turns my car 90 degrees, hits my driver side and spins me 360 degrees. Luckily I wasn't hurt and was not hit by any other incoming traffic. Anyways, so a tow truck comes in and picks up my car. I suggest we bring the car back to Oshawa and this guy aggressively tells me he will drop it off at a place in mississauga. I was quite naive at the time as this was my first accident and have not been in a situation like this. So i agreed and figured it wouldn't be a big deal since insurance should cover the charges. So i get there, they have a rental for me already (figured insurance would cover the cost again) so i was like what the hell. I sign some papers for the rental and I'm off. When I get home I realize I didn't inspect the car and they didn't have a sheet for me to sign off that the rental was fine (at the time I wasn't thinking straight and was pretty out of it, just lost my baby). I check around and see there are scratches on the left rear well. So I call the guy and leave a message saying there is damage on the vehicle and that I did not cause it (I didn't know what else to do). Anyways this gets bigger.

So after i get home I call from my insurance (reported the incident 2 hours prior). They ask me all this information and I tell them what I should do about the vehicle and the rental cause at that time I had already read online that the place is extremely sketchy, they tell me they are aware of them and would like to remove my car as soon as possible to an approved body shop. I agree and decide I should drop the car off too. So I get there with a tow truck from Atlantic and they are refusing to release my vehicle. They say I signed a work order to do work on my car. I don't see how I can sign a work order when my insurance people have yet to look at it and decide if its even repairable. I am there waiting for the owner to show his face for about an hour, the guy doesn't come out (his name is John Lyon). At this point I am asking to see the signed work order and he has nothing. I call my insurance and they inform me to call the police. The police come and somehow it turns into a situation where the cops can't interfere. My insurance was willing to pay for the tow and storage etc. but wanted the car moved elsewhere. These guys still refuse to release MY vehicle. They had not started any work on the car what so ever so it would not have been any loss to them. The manager at my insurance company calls and the owner of Lyons calls him an idiot and hangs up on him.

By this time I'm just sick of it and don't want to deal with the bullshit, so I leave it up to my insurance and leave. My insurance since has got lawyers involved to get my vehicle moved out of this place. I have still yet to see a signed work order on my part.

Onto thursday, I find out there is a charge of $850 dollars on my credit card. I call them to see what its for, the owner says he will get the rental company to write up the invoice and send it to me quickly. Day goes by, no answer, no invoice, still have yet to know what i was charged for. I tell my insurance about the situation and they tell me they will get the lawyers to get this information from them. I find out today from the lawyers it was for damage on the rental vehicle. This is complete bullshit, I call the shop and ask for an invoice and also a pre-inspection check signed by me. The owner puts me on hold and then to his voice mail. I call back and they say the owner has left.

I explain this to my insurance and tell them straight up, they are just trying to scam me because the vehicle is being moved to another location. Insurance agrees and tells me they will see what they can do. However this has a chance it will affect my rate as if it is claimed it will be on my record (I don't think it will get this far as I never did a pre-check inspection). Honestly, I've driven 7 years without any incidents, if I did this damage I would man up. Just the fact that he is avoiding me through all this tells you everything.Tomorrow I will call again and if I have to drive over to get this information, if hes going to charge me I'd like to see proof that I said the vehicle was fine to drive.

At this point, I am really depressed about losing my Fr-s and to add insult to injury, I have to deal with the bullshit scams this body shop is putting me through. I still don't know whether the car will be written off (I think it will) because my insurance is dealing with moving the vehicle out.

I know my naivety has cause quite a bit of this onto myself, but honestly I've never been through this and didn't know any better. My insurance has told me that they have done this with the shop on other occasions.

I just want to warn anyone that God forbid gets into an accident not to get towed to this place. If you need body work don't go to this place. I honestly don't know how they are still in business, probably from taking advantage of other people. Even if you do a quick search online, you'll see all the fked up reviews about these guys. Spread the word as I don't want anyone else going through this bullshit.

I will post pictures of my car once this situation gets resolved...I honestly feel like I lost a family member, really miss my fr-s....

Good thing your still alive, and good luck on this case. BTW whose your insurance company?

I am with Gore Mutual. Thanks, I just wish i could have my car back, feel so weird feeling so sad over an inanimate object. Was my first new car...


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Tow truck driver is just a euphemism for racketeer. Btw, all drivers should go through a mental scenario and write down what they should do in case of accident. I remember my first accident I was pretty shocked too, hard to think when your adrenaline is going full throttle. But because of what I heard about tow truck drivers, I refused to let the tow guy first on scene touch my car, and told him cops were on the way (which was not true), called my own tow truck and towed to my dealership's body shop (if insurance is covering, why would you bother with mom and pop body shops?).

The tow truck drivers probably get kickbacks from the shops to haul vehicles there instead of anywhere else.

Rob

While I'm sure not all are bad, it IS a competitive business. I remember when my car stalled out on the highway and had called a tow truck. This other dude came by and tried to tow me. When I told him my guy was on the way, he called the cops on me so that I would be charged more by the police tow. What a bastard.

I didn't know what to do, thought i could trust the guy, but he lied straight to my face.... Wasnt thinking straight at all...


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Just hope it doesnt happen to other ppl


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I had a problem with Lyonns back when i crashed my Trans-am. they towed it to there shop when i had asked it to be towed to my friends shop then when i asked to have it taken to my friends shop the next day they said they couldnt because it had a bent axle and they needed a flat bed and it was out. they were trying to hold it cause it was the friday of a lomg weekend and they wanted the extra storage fees for the weekend. i when down there and demanded that they give me my car even if they just put it out front and i would have a diffrent company tow it to my friends shop. well guess what all of a sudden the axle was fine and they could tow it there for a fee. never trust a Lyonns driver.They had also stolen my sun glasses and cd's i left in the car.

Yep, when i was Grabbing my stuff from my car i noticed my sun glasses were gone too. Albeit they were garbage anyway...


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http://www.n49.ca/biz/lyons-auto-bod...amthorpe-rd-w/

The third review is the same situation I'm in at the moment. I signed a "work order" before they even laid out the work, so because of this I can't have MY car removed. I really don't understand how they can run this way... Just called and the guys said he'd call me back, didn't bother explaining anything else.

So i called them today 4 times, each time the owner would say he will call me back, low and behold he didn't nor will he send me any proof of me signing a signed pre check form or invoice...just going to leave it up to my insurance from now on...


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this really sucks man I hope everything works out.

Hope you have the name, number, company description of the tow truck that brought you there as well, you should post his info up around GTA car forums as well to never use that guy no matter what.

I also honestly don't understand how the police could not get involved, you didn't sign anything for them to retain your car so they were holding your property against your will?

They said i signed a "work order" which i have yet to see, so i really dont get it. I dont remember the tow company, the guys name was Patrick and he was jamaican (spelling?)


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