4th Time's the Charm, Right?

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Nick1994

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My aunt got rear-ended in December in her 2016 Toyota Avalon, it was less than a year old. Guy tried to swerve out of the way and hit the left rear. The car was in the body shop for over a month. The first body shop was through the dealership. When the car was ready, her and my dad (who has done body work for 30 years) went to go pick it up. They ended up refusing it, the trunk didn't close well and the plate that it latches to was way off to the side, the exhaust on the driver's side was still smashed and shoved back from the accident, and there was a lump in the quarter panel from the filler.

5 days later they gave her the car back, we just went and picked up the car, a lot of things were going on and we didn't look it over thoroughly. The left rear window didn't work from the driver's door switch. The trunk was way too low on the driver's side and stuck out too far back on the right side. There were boogers in the paint from the paint booth being dirty, and they were in the paint, everywhere. They had to remove the rear wing windows to paint and when reinstalling them, the one on the right was sticking way out, and there was a huge chunk taken out where they used a pry bar taking the window out. There was a 2" long run in the clear coat on the passenger side. They replaced the driver's side of the exhaust but it was still too far inward. She's been busy and agent had a chance to take it in, finally she got a break and dropped it off at a different body shop. Also forgot to mention the trunk made loud popping sounds, the spring rods broke the plastic retainer clip and were flopping around

Body shop number 2 called body shop number 1, and the manager from #1 went over to #2 to look at the car. He expressed his concerns and apologized, saying the car was not acceptable, and he wanted to have his shop re-fix it. No thanks. So body shop #2 straightened out the trunk, reinstalled the window trip, buffed out the clear coat run and the paint boogers, and repaired the paint chip. They delivered the car to me and when they left I looked at it. They did a good job, however the plastic retaining clip for the spring rods broke again and the trunk was clanging and banging when opening and closing it. I also then noticed the roof was covered in paint overspray from shop #1, I noticed it in the beginning but I assumed the car was just dirty. They and to special order the trunk part.

So for attempt number 4, I took it in today and they replaced the trunk spring rod retaining clip, and buffed the roof and it looks great.

The first 2 repairs totaled around $9,200. The 2nd round at the new body shop was around $1,100.

Hopefully the trunk behaves itself and doesn't keep breaking the clips.






 
Originally Posted By: SatinSilver
Any after pictures? At least aunty is ok is the main thing.
Well, she had neck surgery a year before to fuse a couple vertebrates. She's had some issues since the accident and is still going to doctors and getting scans and all that stuff. We're hoping her neck isn't worse.

I'll try to post pictures tomorrow, it looks good now. It was a brand new Dodge Ram that hit her.
 
My god, does anyone in car related businesses really takes pride of their job? Why people are so careless??? Well, i know why - they are never held accountable for what they do, that’s the problem. Sick of it
 
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Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
These guys do [censored] quality work and move on to the next vehicle.

Luckily she was OK.

That's the problem with insurance companies. they only authorize a certain $ amount to fix the damage, so the shops have to cut corners in order to keep the insurance jobs coming in.

If this was a privately funded repair, it (usually) would be fixed right the first time.
 
Having your new vehicle damaged and then not repaired correctly surely sucks.


Originally Posted By: parshisa
My god, does anyone in car related businesses really takes pride of their job? Why people are so careless??? Well, i know why - they are never held accountable for what they do, that’s the problem. Sick of it



Not every shop is terrible, you just hear more about the terrible ones than the good ones. The dealer where I purchased my minivan, their body shop did a very good job repairing the damage the thieves caused to it.
 
Originally Posted By: parshisa
My god, does anyone in car related businesses really takes pride of their job? Why people are so careless??? Well, i know why - they are never held accountable for what they do, that’s the problem. Sick of it


There are some people that take pride in their work. It seems to be increasingly difficult to find people that are, though.

I see lots of young guys (and a few gals) that wan't to get into my line of work. Anyway, only a select few seem to have the drive to stick with it. Most wash out in short order.
 
Inredible that it was that much money for that little damage. Our van was rear-ended twice within 3 months.

Each time was around $6k including panel replacement.

Hope it all works out this time!
 
I have never had anyone do the job well first time around. None. Neither body shop nor repair shop. Techs are in my experience are useless young idiots that care less about what they do. Same goes to service advisors. Not all them - i met two decent gentlemen but techs still managed to fawk it up. Rant over
 
Holy cow JHZR2!!! That's really tough. Feel bad for you in those circumstances.

Nick1994 good job there.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Inredible that it was that much money for that little damage. Our van was rear-ended twice within 3 months.

Each time was around $6k including panel replacement.

Hope it all works out this time!
They had to replace the entire inner and outer quarter panel, as well as the LED brake lights and the trunk lid and bumper. The pictures don't do it justice, it buckled the whole quarter panel.
 
Originally Posted By: parshisa
I have never had anyone do the job well first time around. None. Neither body shop nor repair shop. Techs are in my experience are useless young idiots that care less about what they do. Same goes to service advisors. Not all them - i met two decent gentlemen but techs still managed to fawk it up. Rant over


That's because you live in Texas. I do body work for a living and I have yet to see any repaired vehicle come out of Texas that didn't look like [censored].
 
That was a good hit, worse than it looks. It looks like it even got into the C pillar but from the sound of they did a bad job.
I would hate to see whats under the skin and filler.
Have you thought about getting rid of it now its "fixed"? Check that car for water leaks very carefully.
 
My wife's Avalon was damaged when it was fairly new by a cement truck rolling into it at a red light...the guy was on his phone and pushed several inches into her before he even noticed. The truck driver then asked my wife why she backed into him!!
The body shop she used basically did a good job, but one of the panels in back popped up a bit a few days after she got it back. The same type of thing happened to my RAV4 less than a year before that after a repair and I just took it back to the shop, it was fixed at no charge in less than half an hour.
The wife preferred to whine and moan about the shop doing a "terrible job" and said she was "too busy" to have to drag it 5 miles back to the shop despite the fact that she worked only 3-4 days a week. I even offered to take it over and she just would throw a fit about how they should have done it right the first time...basically, she likes to be the aggrieved party with something to complain about and this fit her bill perfectly.

Almost 10 years later, that panel still sticks up 3/4 of an inch or whatever. I thought about trying to learn how to do the repair myself, but decided that I shouldn't have to spend my time on it when my wife couldn't take an hour out of her "busy schedule" to get it done right. I'm sure it will still be like that when she trades it in and the dealer will bring it up in an effort to minimize the trade value, although that thing sure isn't worth much anymore. At least she never had lights burn out from water getting in or anything like that, she was pretty lucky.
 
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Originally Posted By: Lolvoguy
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
These guys do [censored] quality work and move on to the next vehicle.

Luckily she was OK.

That's the problem with insurance companies. they only authorize a certain $ amount to fix the damage, so the shops have to cut corners in order to keep the insurance jobs coming in.

If this was a privately funded repair, it (usually) would be fixed right the first time.


If it was a privately funded repair, I am willing to bet that the quoted price would have been quite a bit higher than the dealer gave to the insurance company for that work.
 
A few years ago, my wife's Kia Sorento was hit hard while parked. I was SURE it was going to be totaled but it wasn't. They gave us a check for like 6500 bucks. A friend who I've known for over thirty years owns a body shop and towing company. His house, his business, his tow truck... You name it are all spotless and impeccable. He took the car and the check and a week later brought the car back looking better than it looked even when it was brand new.
It's good to have good friends.
 
Originally Posted By: Lolvoguy
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
These guys do [censored] quality work and move on to the next vehicle.

Luckily she was OK.

That's the problem with insurance companies. they only authorize a certain $ amount to fix the damage, so the shops have to cut corners in order to keep the insurance jobs coming in.

If this was a privately funded repair, it (usually) would be fixed right the first time.


Also (here at least), insurance companies will provide OE parts to the offender, but not the victim.

An owner/ manager told me this, but from previous experience, I am guessing it's true.
 
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