Buick lol....

 

In all honesty how is this even possible?

I crashed my previous 2011 mustang and it needed a new hood, new bumper, new head lights, new grille, new radiator, new rad supports, new fan, new clear bra, new under tray, new coolant reservoir and a new rim. It came to a total of $7500. You are not replacing the body parts from what i understand, only repainting them? Mine had to be replaced and painted. The whole car was smashed up, and it wasnt even as much as the bill you have.

 

A lot of it comes from the wheels at a ridiculous $990 each (with centercaps) and $300 each for two tires (the difference between the OEM goodyears and these will drop off the insurance plate and onto mine but for now they are listed as $300 each for insurance to pay). They also are replacing the calipers since they are crushed at close to $400 each, and all four rotors are being replaced since they are cracked and/or gouged.

That's a lot of it right there. Both side skirts are being replaced at $300+ each just for parts, the suspension crossmember alone is $420 for the part, another ~$200ish each for the vapor cannister and engine shields underneath, and I'm getting a new lower black plastic spoiler on the front bumper as well. Then add paintwork for the two bumpers and labor to disassemble and reassemble all the grilles/reflectors etc., a brake bleed, an alignment, tire pressure sensors, dust shields for the brakes, five hours of labor to fix the trunk floor, all the other labor and $500 in tax, and we are at $9500. I thought we'd be closer to $7k-$8k, but I'm not too shocked it went over - five hours to fix the trunk floor and the brakes are what did it. I also thought the wheels would be more like $600, not $950 + $40 for center caps.

All parts are new, genuine OEM ford parts - no used or aftermarket parts.

 

Ah, i can see it now. Still, thats crazy to think how much damage it all resulted in. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Whatever though man, youre getting it taken care of properly and thats the only way to do it.

 

Exactly...so far the shop has been excellent in dealing with my ****-retentive ways right down to not having the car washed either before or after the job, etc. and I'm just hoping the repair itself goes as well. Insurance is picking up the tab except for the $500 deductible, so I'm glad they are being super thorough and combing over the car to get it back to 100%.

 

I still don't understand how the calipers and rotors were damaged. Is this estimate from your insurance or the shop? I'm glad they're getting it taken care of, but it does seem like someone is being very generous with their estimate.

I'd hate for this to be an estimate from the shop, and then your insurance company not approve of all of it.

 

Rotors aren't too hard to imagine being that the car was dropped on two of them and the other two were subject to the dolly treatment trying to get the car on the flatbed. Calipers I'm not sure, must've happened during the flatbed loading process somehow...I know the tow truck driver was using a jack handle to jam the dolly repeatedly to steer the car when we were trying to get it out to where the tow truck could get it, must've happened then. Not sure.

Far as I know it's the shop's estimate, I would assume the shop wouldn't do the repair until they had confirmation that the insurance was going to pay out on it? I actually have no idea. The shop manager did note that everything was photographed and added to the insurance file, and mentioned he was glad I had sent him all the pics of us trying to get it on the tow truck on the dollies so he could show insurance how this happened.

 

Be sure to present a copy of that to your apartment "security" so they know it wasn't just about "a couple of wheels and tires".

 

!!!!!!!!!

 

Ouch. I didn't even think about that being damaged from the tow. But now most of that damage makes sense. Did the insurance company give an estimate before it was towed? And did they approve the tow in that fashion?

From an insurance company standpoint, I wouldn't want to cover a lot of that and I'd put it on you and the towing company for how it was loaded. It would've been easier and cheaper to buy some cheap wheels to get it to the shop or loaded up properly.

Just saying I would tread very carefully until it's all fixed and paid for...

 

I definitely understand what you're saying, but I think it would be rather unreasonable for the insurance company to assume one without an operational vehicle could go out and just buy new wheels and tires (either the right ones - good luck they aren't going to be readily available, or junk spares that the insurance company would surely then deny covering when it came time to buy the right ones) on a whim along with a jack and bring them home and mount them on the vehicle so it could be towed/driven in a better fashion late on a Sunday? I just don't see that as being reasonable, if that ends up being the case I'll fire my insurance company - I hired them, not the other way around. For all they know I'm a 65 year old lady, or handicapped. My insurance agent's office is closed on the weekend anyway, and there is no direct number to contact them anyway. The body shop didn't even have a set of Ford bolt pattern rollers to put on the back just to get it into the shop - they had to just wait until the right wheels and tires came in a couple days later. I also wouldn't open my wallet willingly beforehand and hope insurance paid me back. Tow driver did the best he could with the circumstances, that's just the way it's going to have to be and insurance will have to just accept that I think - probably not the first car to be winched up on a flatbed and be damaged in the process, I'd wager that's the norm rather than the exception.

Car HAD to be out of the garage by Monday morning along with all the others anyway so they could clean the garage floor. If I had left it in there, the other wheels and tires would've been gone by morning too, so that's something the insurance company can ponder if they have a problem with it.

Besides, I don't know how the insurance company would be able to draw a line and know for a fact what was damaged by thieves, and what was damaged by the tow.

 

well the good news is you get to pick the wheels and brakes!

I would recommend wildwoods from the local guy here in phoenix.

http://www.tceperformanceproducts.co...05-13/kits-41/

bigger, better and better looking brakes!

 

Now you got me worried, the manager has me down for a phone call on Friday so I'll make sure all this was cool with insurance. Here's the estimate for those curious:

 

I think my Insurance would question that price.

 

I'm fairly certain that I could just go to Discount Tire (or any local place with wheels/tires) and find 2 cheap ones that will fit on the back. The smart thing to do for the insurance company would've been to cut you a check for those, so that it could be loaded/towed properly along with a rental. But it sounds like you had this all done before they could really respond to you. If the car *had* to be out of the garage by Monday morning but wasn't in working condition, then that's up to the management if they want to tow it. If they tear it up when they tow it, then that's on *them* especially since they're already aware of your situation.

I'm sure this isn't the first car to be dragged up onto a flatbed, but those that require it are usually far more damaged. So the damage from the drag is irrelevant. In this case though, it looks like the tow probably caused a *considerable* chunk of the damage on that estimate.

It would be questionable for them to try to decide what blame to place on theives and what blame to place on you...But given the initial pictures that you posted, it would be reasonable to assume that any damage around where the old tires are wedged under the car was caused by the theives. So that leaves all the rest of the blame on you. If they decide to take this stance, then the pictures that you posted of the car being loaded could actually work against you as well. Looking at those photos, it's pretty easy to guess how any/all brake components were damaged. You could also say that it's likely *any* front-end damage at all was caused solely by the towing, as well as the spare tire area.
The manager was probably glad that you send him the loading pics, because the insurance company probably did question how all the damage occurred. Although, I guess we'll see if those photos made it better or worse. Sorry to worry you, but if I were you...I'd actually be pretty worried until it was all finished. It seems like you are dealing more with the shop and letting the shop deal with your insurance company. I'm the opposite...I pay my insurance company to handle exactly this. If something happens to my car, I start a claim and the rest is their job. I don't even need to speak to the shop. I pay the insurance co. to talk to them and get my car fixed and back to me in a reasonable amount of time.
I'm interested in seeing how this ends up, and I hope the best for you. But just be prepared...

 

I'm sure it will pan out just fine. You and the tow company made reasonable decisions to get the vehicle secure and to the shop. Any damages during that time will still be covered as its part of the incident.

I have always done just as puma and delt directly with the shop. The shop is going to be on your side and try to replace any little marginal part to make it perfect. The adjuster on the other hand will try to skimp out, use aftermarket parts where they can and save the insurance company money.

I think in this case, the car is so new and there will be no question that it was in like new condition prior to this and it will be returned in like new condition with OEM parts.

I wouldn't be worried in this case.

 

The thief is actually sitting and waiting and hoping that you'll get this all fixed up with new wheels and tires. Then he will just try to do it again. If I were you, I'd make triple sure this will not be possible again. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice. . ." You know how the rest goes.

 

Puma. put it like this. It's straight and to the point.

You pay insurance.

your car was jacked and essentially "broken into"
car was damaged in the process (use those terms loosely)

it is the insurance companies responsibility to make sure it is restored to its original state.

that's it. if that's what it cost to restore your car to its original state. Then argue those facts. Don't fret. its not like you are asking the shop to do side work and extract more out of the process resulting in your insurance to dish out more money.


I'm actually taking my mom's 2014 corolla in for an estimate this afternoon. she was recently rear-ended and the bumped needs to be looked at. In part of dealing with my insurance, I am taking the car to a body shop that we've used in the past (and that is certified by my insurance) because then if there's an issue with the work down the road, it's guaranteed and won't cost me a dime to have fixed again.

So ... no worries. You are not asking for anything unreasonable. If anything, your insurance will argue with the bodyshop. that's it. Nothing to do with you. Besides..... the insurance has to approve anything before any work is done on a car.

 

Sounds like everything's ok. I emailed the manager about this and he said the adjuster is aware of the price and took pics, and the manager was glad the adjuster came out and looked at it so he could explain that the original estimate was done while the car was on blocks and before they could see all of the undercarriage damage.

So it sounds like the adjuster is aware and seemingly not having any issues with the estimate/cost.

 

That's good to hear.