Body Shop issues, need advice.
 

Hi everyone;

I got into a collision and last week I was informed that my BRZ was ready for pick up. I inspected the repairs when I got there and was very surprised to see that the parts I could see were repaired as opposed to being replaced. Insurance was covering for a full replacement on certain parts and it is very clear to me that it is a repair job. Here are examples from the front bumper of my car:


Before:

http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/...Z/IMG_1195.jpg

http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/...Z/IMG_1197.jpg

After:

http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/...Z/IMG_1247.jpg

http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/...Z/IMG_1250.jpg

I spoke with insurance and of course because this was a body shop of my choosing they will not help and the body shop has already been paid for their services. So my question is what can I do at this point? I have heard some people mention court but I would like to avoid that if possible.

Thank you in advance,
Inextirpable

Call your insurance company again, they should be all over the shop for doing a half assed job... doesn't matter if you chose the shop, they still paid the bill and if they paid more than $100 for that they got ripped off.

What shop is this? That's pretty shitty work.

I could've done better than that blindfolded. Do not settle. Give em Hell and continue to make it public. Ide even name drop the shop as much as possible. They'll give in as long as you take it down afterwards.

The paint looks caked on and thick, seems like very little prep work was done beforehand especially where the headlight meets the bumper. What kind of shop would be proud of work like this?

Well if you haven't went in and signed the check then you will still have leverage.

In general insurance won't touch anything outside of their recommended repair shops. Being in this industry... I don't blame them. You can ask them to complain to the shop which may help or annoy the shop.

If the body shop was estimated and was paid to replace the parts and repaired them and you have written proof then you will have much better chance.

I'd suggest you return to the shop in a calm manner and try to talk it over with the owner aiming to get them to redo it correctly. Worse case get part of your money back "so you can take it to a decent bodyshop." If they brush you off then you are pretty much shit out of luck. You can however do somethings to piss them off.

-File report to attorney general
-Report to the BBB
-Report to local new station that does a 'working for you' consumer investigation segment
-Repost this thread on their google maps/local listing warning others.
-Small claims court (only after giving them a chance to correct the problem)
-Any bad publicity goes a long ways in this industry, local, facebook, ect.

If you can PM me the estimate and I can look at it for you to see what else they might have done.

Thanks so far for all the help everyone. I currently do possess a copy all the parts and repairs that the insurance company paid for. The front bumper (along with several other parts) were to be replaced with brand new ones, which of course is not the case. I will be going in to speak with the shop owner tomorrow however he kept trying to convince me that the front bumper was a brand new bumper so we will see how that goes.

@Kiske
Because this is my first collision I was unaware that I had to sign a cheque once the work was finished. I have not been asked to sign anything front the body shop so far.

Whenever dealing with insurance and bodyshops before (and I've always chosen my own) the check has always required my signature. I can't recall if it was a check made out to me that I just signed over to them, or whether it was a check made out to the both of us that required my endorsement. But it definitely required my signature.

Insurance is different here. You don't sign any check. The insurance company handles all the payment details for you.

Got rear-ended in May and the body shop (we were able to choose it, no questions asked) required us to endorse the cheque from our insurance company. I'm in Kitchener, ON. It may depend on your insurance company.

Many people think that insurance companies have their 'preferred' shops because there's some kind of a pay-off going on. That's not necessarily the case. The insurance companies, more than any one else, knows which shops are rip-off shops and which ones do a good job for a fair amount of money. Down the road this will become history and it can be considered a lesson learned.

It really depends on the insurance company and how they write the check. Most I deal with have both names on the check so we have the customer sign it.

In the future always ask insurance to write the check to you. You will have more leverage that way. Also in some states if you refuse to pay your bill after the repair work is done the shop can put a lein on it. Also you taking delivery of the vehicle and accepting it can try to be used against you in court.

The shop is obligated to have a copy of the receipt for the parts they buy as insurance an request it at any time. It also helps when shops are told to put on oem parts and don't. If it hasn't been long ask to see the old bumper. Most don't quickly throw away the parts. Some shops may hold onto them to send them into companies that recondition/refurbish the plastics for resell (they will pay shop for old bumpers.)

no offence to our US brothers as i understand you are trying to help, but this is a Canadian issue and things work different here.

I just had my front bumper replaced after a parking lot hit and run, my total damage looked like your car does post repair!
i used a shop of my choosing not a 'preferred' shop, mind you it was one of high repute.
even though the insurance company deals with everything behind the scenes I still got a full copy of the invoice showing all parts and labour for the repair.
no matter who paid you should have received that for your records, if you didnt then i would say the shop is sketchy and not to be trusted!
call the insurance company back and voice concern about how they just got ripped off on the bill, as them if the estimate for repair was for replacement or repair, they would have had an estimate from the shop or from their own inspection/adjuster before they approved or paid for anything.
if the dont want to do anything about it then, change insurance companies and goto the shop manager and express the same thing.
and if they still wont do anything about it then go public for the shop scamming you and the insurance company, which they have.

really the insurance company should be the one taking these guys to court if they refuse to correct the problem as they are the 'customer' who paid and they are your representative, thats what you pay them for.

Have you spoken with the shop manager or owner yet? Present this in a professional manner, as yelling and screaming wont get you anywhere. If your insurance estimate says the bumper was replaced, and that's what the shop was paid for, it shouldn't be a problem for the shop to show you the parts invoice for the bumper.