[XscoreX]

Ok so my wife who is on this board had an 02 325ci vert, She was recently T boned by someone making a left turn. It was pretty bad. We live in charlotte so I told her to just have it towed to the dealership. We were told by the dealership that they didnt have a collision center. Apparently Rick Hendrick owns alot of dealerships here in charlotte and everything is funneled into their "Rick Hendrick Collision" I figured since he owned the dealership that this would be ok, That was my big mistake, after keeping the car for over 2 months, I go to pick it up and immediately notice that the car isnt right, First of all, they didnt reset the roll bars, I also notice he didnt replace the front roundel like he had said he would, so Im now wondering what else they didnt do. While taking the test drive at the pickup the guy who was some sort of manager informed me that they had replaced the left front strut from a car with 70k miles. Now my head explodes, I would never let them put on used parts and if you replace one side you should replace the other. So we pick up the car and immediately go get a lawyer. The lawyer finds a guy whose specialty is inspecting cars to make sure they were repaired correctly. This is where it gets really good. While Im standing there the guy pulls back a few moldings and we see that after grinding and welding they didnt even vaccum up the dust much less paint it, its all bare metal thats starting to rust. So he calls the state farm inspector and when he gets there they start taking off body panels and find stuff like they sectioned in the A pillar so they wouldnt have to take the windshield out ( even though they charged for it on the invoice) as well as covering damage up with the wheel well liner and floor pan damage under the carpet. Freakin ridiculous. This place was a state farm preferred repair center. who was the at fault parties insurance. We are waiting on an offer from them now to total the car. But the lesson to be learned is watch them like a hawk, NEVER NEVER NEVER buy anything from a Rick Hendrick dealership, and never take it to a " preferred" repair center if you can possible get out of it.

 

[farmdog]

What insurance company paid for the work?

I think they are allowed to use used parts to repair older cars?

 

[BMWjunkie77]

wow thats outragous, I cant believe how cheap some places are. I know that if I ever have any problems, I go to the same guy everytime, they know me and my car and take car of it, I dont care what an insurance company says. I hope you get a good settlement out of this, I dont live in Charlotte area, but i'll remember incase i'm ever down there and have a problem with my car, let us know what happens.

 

[XscoreX]

What insurance company paid for the work?

I think they are allowed to use used parts to repair older cars?

State farm, they are allowed, but I thought they had to ask you, Im new to NC so Im not sure exactly what the law is, but knowing that suspension parts wear out and we had new control arm bushings in the front, I was upset that they would put old struts on it. Who knows what they did with the bushings. The inspector found some other things, just basically a hack job and nothing was done to spec, didnt even blend the paint from the fender to the hood. Also the alignment was maxed out. I would never let them put used wear parts on my car especially since we were not at fault

 

[Guest021715]

That sucks. Luckily you had the courage to pursue your suspicions.

The idea behind using used parts on a car repair is to keep the cost low specifically so they don't end up totaling your car. To be honest, I'm surprised your wife's car wasn't totaled from the very beginning considering the severity of the accident.

 

[XscoreX]

That sucks. Luckily you had the courage to pursue your suspicions.

The idea behind using used parts on a car repair is to keep the cost low specifically so they don't end up totaling your car. To be honest, I'm surprised your wife's car wasn't totaled from the very beginning considering the severity of the accident.

well it should have been, but i didnt know it at the time that they were a "preferred" collision center, which means that Rick Hendrick is the estimator for state farm, Basically they can do 9k worth of fake repairs or they could have totaled the car and we would have got somethin like 14k. State farm and Rick Hendrick both win if the car isnt totaled

 

[BMWjunkie77]

At least you knew what to look for, most people wouldnt know whether things were new or used. I would take state farm and rick hendrick to court over this. Its like the work together to best rip you off or something. Its just not fair.

 

[jcns]

sometimes it's not the insurance company's fault.
The body shop calls, an adjuster comes out and approves the repair for a certain amount.
The body shop repairs the car, and the adjuster never comes (sometimes) to inspect the final repair.
So a shady shop can get a quote approval from the adjuster, say $5K, repairs the car for $2K(taking shortcuts, using cheap or old parts, etc), pocketing the difference.
This is a scam that's been around for decades.

 

[XscoreX]

sometimes it's not the insurance company's fault.
The body shop calls, an adjuster comes out and approves the repair for a certain amount.
The body shop repairs the car, and the adjuster never comes (sometimes) to inspect the final repair.
So a shady shop can get a quote approval from the adjuster, say $5K, repairs the car for $2K(taking shortcuts, using cheap or old parts, etc), pocketing the difference.
This is a scam that's been around for decades.

yeah I totally put this on Rick Hendrick, The problem is that apparently this is the MO for this body shop, the guy who did the inspection had just had the exact same thing on a mini cooper. State Farm doesnt care, they will still use him because of the volume he does and all of the money he saves them by being able to not total out cars. The shop is so big they have an enterprise rental car office inside the shop. They get the check cut directly to them by state farm and state farm lets them estimate the damage. Its a total scam, Im glad I had it checked out.


what made me first get suspicious is that they had the car almost a month and a half longer than promised, then on our way to pick up the car the case manager or whatever his title is called us and said " your car is making a noise in the rear end, you'll need to get that looked at" Now my wife had dealt with them before that, then I took the phone and said wtf is goin on? the car was hit in the side and driven up on a curb, The guy said " well your rear differential is making noise and thats not near the impact site so thats something you need to fix. I told him he better fix it, that Im not picking up the car till its fixed and we would sue state farm if they didnt want to fix it. of course it was fixed two days later.

 

[jdstrickland]

I have AAA, and the adjuster knows pretty much to the penny what the repairs will run. You must have different rules in NC than we have in CA. We have preferred centers here too. They are supposed to formulate the estimate and send it in without the expense of an adjuster getting involved. Basically, the center IS the adjuster for this portion of the claim -- there is an actual desk-bound person that oversees the benefits paid that is the claims adjuster, but the repair people do the collision adjustment. Normally this works out okay, but clearly in your case something went horribly wrong.

Having said that, if the body shop can bill the ceiling but fix the floor, that's what they will do. I think your car should be totalled at this point because it was not repaired properly, and cannot ever be done right from here. Good luck. Don't forget that your lawyers should go after the pain and suffering you experienced over the of the loss of your most favorite car you have ever owned, and that there is little chance of ever being able to replace, a loss that but for the improper repairs would not have happened ...

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Geo31]

Regarding the question of the used strut....

What was specified in the estimate? If they did not specify used, but installed a used part, I would think a case could be made for fraud. I've always understood they have to specify if and when they use used parts.

 

[OrientBlau]

http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13353304&postcount=9

You sure about that?

When you make a claim, you are entitled to fair monetary compensation for damage since you pay premiums. The insurance adjuster will determine the extent of damage and pay you what it will cost to fix (parts and labor), minus your deductible.

There are two ways to go about this. Drive/tow to an insurance adjuster field office/garage and have them assess the damage. From there, the adjuster will cut a check and you are free to do what you want with it. You can fix it or pocket it. Or fix it cheaper.

You can also drop the car at the mechanic or dealer, and have the adjuster look at the car there. The adjuster will make the same assessment and then cut the check for the same amount to the mechanic or dealer to perform repairs. In this scenario, the body shop/ mechanic will most likely claim the entire amount to fix the damage itemized by the insurance company.

By having an adjuster look at it at a field garage and cutting YOU the check, allows you to take advantage of what the adjuster is willing to disburse and gives you more options. From here, you can either find a shop to do the work for less (shopping around) or you can DIY it yourself with this apprasial check and pocket the labor and extra in part money.

In fact, you dont even have to have the repairs performed and can keep the entire amount if you wanted.

 

[Grande D]

Ok so my wife who is on this board had an 02 325ci vert, She was recently T boned by someone making a left turn. It was pretty bad. We live in charlotte so I told her to just have it towed to the dealership. We were told by the dealership that they didnt have a collision center. Apparently Rick Hendrick owns alot of dealerships here in charlotte and everything is funneled into their "Rick Hendrick Collision" I figured since he owned the dealership that this would be ok, That was my big mistake, after keeping the car for over 2 months, I go to pick it up and immediately notice that the car isnt right, First of all, they didnt reset the roll bars, I also notice he didnt replace the front roundel like he had said he would, so Im now wondering what else they didnt do. While taking the test drive at the pickup the guy who was some sort of manager informed me that they had replaced the left front strut from a car with 70k miles. Now my head explodes, I would never let them put on used parts and if you replace one side you should replace the other. So we pick up the car and immediately go get a lawyer. The lawyer finds a guy whose specialty is inspecting cars to make sure they were repaired correctly. This is where it gets really good. While Im standing there the guy pulls back a few moldings and we see that after grinding and welding they didnt even vaccum up the dust much less paint it, its all bare metal thats starting to rust. So he calls the state farm inspector and when he gets there they start taking off body panels and find stuff like they sectioned in the A pillar so they wouldnt have to take the windshield out ( even though they charged for it on the invoice) as well as covering damage up with the wheel well liner and floor pan damage under the carpet. Freakin ridiculous. This place was a state farm preferred repair center. who was the at fault parties insurance. We are waiting on an offer from them now to total the car. But the lesson to be learned is watch them like a hawk, NEVER NEVER NEVER buy anything from a Rick Hendrick dealership, and never take it to a " preferred" repair center if you can possible get out of it.

Sounds like insurance fraud. I doubt the shop will be State Farm preferred much longer.

 

[flashmeow]

good job. i hate shaddy business. who did you find a lawayer that specialized in this? I mean..what kind of lawyer did you use?
BTW

 

[[email protected]]

Wow thats ridiculous

 

[TheKingSim0n]

whoa that's completely ridiculous man, sorry to hear all the trouble your going through and thanks for the warning but to be quite honest that's the way people work, when they don't know you and they see an opportunity to make money, people tend to get greedy. But your situation is honestly too greedy.

Good luck man!

 

[XscoreX]

Update:

The collision repair inspector called state farm to look at the car. They started pulling the car apart and the state farm guy totaled the car on the spot. State farm has been awesome so far with this. the problem I have is with the shady crooks at Hendrick bmw in charlotte. If you go to BMW's website they list him as having a bmw collision repair site. I called customer relations at bmw today and basically got nowhere. The good or maybe bad news is we went out and bought an 05 545i. its fast! the bad is there is a recall on the brakes that brings hendricks bmw back into the picture but thats for another post.

 

[Penguin Koolaid]

If possible, always go to a BMW Certified Collision Repair Center. I have gone a couple times to Patrick BMW in Schaumburg, IL (Chicago suburb) and their work is flawless.

 

[XscoreX]

If possible, always go to a BMW Certified Collision Repair Center. I have gone a couple times to Patrick BMW in Schaumburg, IL (Chicago suburb) and their work is flawless.

update to the update

on bmw's website they list this guy as bmw certified collision repair center. Super sketchy right?

 

[Penguin Koolaid]

update to the update

on bmw's website they list this guy as bmw certified collision repair center. Super sketchy right?