Frustrating Repair Experience

[archaica]

So, I got my Mustang at the beginning of October. Just under two weeks later, I was rear-ended sitting at a red traffic light. I won't get too into the specifics of that accident, other than to say I was displeased with other driver and very pleased with my insurance company. The body shop, on the other hand, has been nothing but a nightmare.

I took my car to them because they were a one-stop inspection/service location for my insurance company. I wanted to get this done quickly, so I brought my car there the day of the accident, and they assured me that by Tuesday (this was a Friday) I'd be back in my car. Well, then it turned out, they'd have to order a bumper. Then, it turns out they ordered the wrong bumper (base vs. PP). Then, it turned out they'd have to order the bumper from LA, which would take a week to get there. Then, it turned out they'd received the bumper, painted it, and then the paint was damaged by them. They told me they could replace it on the car, and fix the paint later, and so eager to rescue my car from the clown college masquerading as a body shop was I, that I agreed to that. Then, five minutes from dropping off my rental, after driving an hour through South Bay traffic, they called and said someone had started sanding out that paint damage, but had gone home. So I couldn't get my car.

And then ... when I pick up the car .... they'd replaced the bumper, and failed to adjust the parking sensors, so every time I went into reverse, I got error messages about the Park Aid, and they misaligned the bumper so there's no panel gap around the tail lights on the left, and substantial gap on the right. The misalignment is noticeable and, needless to say, was NOT present on the car prior to the accident.

When I pointed out the sensor errors and the misalignment to the staff at the body shop, the former were written off as "reset errors" and the latter shrugged at, like, "huh what are you gonna do". I left ASAP, and wrote my insurance company saying that this work was unacceptable and required fixing at another facility.

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[archaica]

For reference, here's the panel as it was originally.

 

[Drewbo]

That sucks mate and the repair is totally unacceptable! How they could allow that to leave the workshop is beyond me.

Only 836 miles too......

When I finally get my car I will be forever paranoid about being rear ended.

So many stupid people texting, it's like an epidemic around here.

Best of luck for an outcome that you're happy with!

 

[SeanR]

I don't understand when people rear end S550s. Did the two glaring searchlights in the back not warn you? They're bright as hell, so the only explanation is they were probably glued to their phone. Well, besides inclement weather, but that should be accounted for when driving.

 

[Excelerater]

I had a bad experience with a body shop w my wifes car "Service King" worst quality and service I could ever imagine,of course it was suggested by our insurance company that these clowns were good at what they did .

Your car is a mess,sadly unless you pay it yourself you are stuck having those clowns
repair it

 

[draco24433]

I wold tell that body shop to have all their people go back to the school they got training at and get a refund for their education. From a customer service stand point, where in the hell is the QC person to assure that the vehicle is completely and properly repaired before giving it to the customer.

 

[mikef523]

I got rear ended about a month after getting my car. I was just sitting at a red light. Some big Dufus just eased right up and hit my rear. I would bet he was staring at his phone, but he would not admit to it. he just said he thought I turned right, so he eased forward.
Just look around when driving. You will see so many people staring down at their laps. You know what they are doing right? I hate it. Or, they have the damn phone in their ear yapping away while driving.
Two lane highways are the worst. You have to hope that some dumbass isn't going to veer over into your lane because they are playing with their phone.
Anyway. that little Hit in my rear end, ended up costing his insurance $800, and 2 weeks of me not having my car.

 

[friendgr]

That's why never choose the shops that the insurance companies recommend. You know they are in the profit business and for sure the insurance and the shop are going to cut corners to get as much $$$ without spending that much. That's my conspiracy at least.

It is not a conspiracy. It is a fact.

 

[mocella]

I had a bad experience with a body shop w my wifes car "Service King" worst quality and service I could ever imagine,of course it was suggested by our insurance company that these clowns were good at what they did .

Your car is a mess,sadly unless you pay it yourself you are stuck having those clowns
repair it

I had a pretty consistent experience with them in TX. The repaired panels on my truck looked decent enough, but they'd buffed completely through the clear and into the paint on my hood (which was not repaired), and that area turned to crap within a year. Never again.

 

[edillen3953]

A local Lexus dealer here has a stand alone body shop at the dealership. Only place I will take my car. Their work has been flawless

 

[jasonstang]

To be honest, factory fit and finish is no worse than this.

 

[ARS1]

That's why when mine was wrecked I didn't take it to the little shop they recommended it went to the Ford Dealer I'm familiar with and the outcome was great. Some of the parts were pulled right off the line at Ford as some weren't available yet to stock. Frame rail parts and such. One came in stamped but lacking the holes because it was pulled to soon down the assembly line. I doubt a little body shop would have had the means to make that happen so quick. They would have reverted to ebay...

 

[mikef523]

That's why never choose the shops that the insurance companies recommend. You know they are in the profit business and for sure the insurance and the shop are going to cut corners to get as much $$$ without spending that much. That's my conspiracy at least.

I really don't think it is a conspiracy. After all, what business isn't for profit? That's the name of the game. if not for profit, then what's the point of doing business?
As for the insurance recommended shops. I do not think they will cut corners. They may be working with the insurance companies to help cut costs, but the bottom line is, You the claimant MUST be happy with the job done, or you don't have to accept the end result. I doubt the insurance company wants to have to have the job done twice to satisfy your claim. Just my opinion.

 

[ktp1598]

To be honest, factory fit and finish is no worse than this.

My factory fit and finish is much better than that. Even so, the attention to detail should be much greater on the part that is being repaired as they're not responsible for the rest of the car. I couldn't imagine giving something back to a customer that didn't look BETTER than the rest of the car. That's how our small town bodyshop does it anyway.

 

[MSMStannyl]

I got rear ended about a month after getting my car. I was just sitting at a red light. Some big Dufus just eased right up and hit my rear. I would bet he was staring at his phone, but he would not admit to it. he just said he thought I turned right, so he eased forward.
Just look around when driving. You will see so many people staring down at their laps. You know what they are doing right? I hate it. Or, they have the damn phone in their ear yapping away while driving.
Two lane highways are the worst. You have to hope that some dumbass isn't going to veer over into your lane because they are playing with their phone.
Anyway. that little Hit in my rear end, ended up costing his insurance $800, and 2 weeks of me not having my car.

Lol. My little hit, which sounds like almost exactly what happened to you, cost the ladies insurance $10,200 (plus the $8,000 in Diminished Value that I'm in the process of going for) and I was without my car for about 35 days! I have a whole thread about it somewhere here.

OP, it's too late for you obviously but I would NEVER take my car to an "insurance" shop. The only advantage they try to sell you on is that the repair is warrantied for life. However, any good body shop will warranty their work for life. While I definitely understand the desire to get the car back as quickly as possible, you have to remember that these shops that spit car repairs out are usually cutting corners somewhere.

For example, I hit a deer with my Satin White Pearl Subaru WRX that I had before the Mustang. I took it to the Geico shop for the initial estimate and they basically said it would take 3 days to get back to me. That just sounded way too fast for about $3500 in damage. Sure enough, I left there and took the car to my buddies body shop. They took about a month to get it done but the car looked flawless and that was not an easy paint to match. They also did my Mustang (Triple Yellow) after getting rear ended and while it took a while again, they did an amazing job. Not only did they fix the damage, but they fixed Ford's shoddy work as well (fastback glass alignment, panel misalignments, etc.).

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