How long does it take a collision repair shop to fix a car? My car was hit by a Mazda pickup truck striking my rear left tire, smashing the left door, fender and bumper. An estimator came out to check my car and sent his estimates to my insurance company. My car was towed to the Honda Collision repair shop and I began driving a rental car. The collision shop would call me every three days to let me know how the repairs were progressing. Marcus and then Leah gave me favorable reports. All the calls sounded to me quite positive and as if the repairs were moving along. At one point, after my car had been at the shop for a couple of weeks, Marcus told me that further repairs would be needed. He told me not to worry, they would contact the insurance company and I did not have to do anything. When I asked about a completion date, it was hinted, because nobody could say for sure, that I might have my car fixed by the first week in March.
Today, the second of March, I called to find out when I might be getting my car back this week. I was told: "When they went to work on the body we found out the all the car was welded on to one piece of metal so now we have to put on a new roof to complete the repairs." My first question was why did they wait until now to let me know something so drastic needed to be done? The response was: "We found out when we got to this part of the repairs. We will contact the insurance company to let them know."
I remembered when the estimator had looked over the car he had mentioned that it might be totaled, yet when he gave the report to the insurance company there was nothing about my car being totaled. He did mention that once the car was pulled apart, at that time they would know if further damage had been done because he was unable to see all the repairs at the initial estimate.
A feeling of helplessness has come over me. I am at the mercy of the repair shop. There is nothing I can do other than call my insurance to find out what will happen from this point forward. The person I was speaking to at the Collision place did say that the car might be totaled but it was up to the insurance company as whether or not they decided to total it. I placed two calls to the insurance company and left messages.
Six weeks later and I am about at where I was right after the accident. Makes me wonder why I was called every three days with updates on how the work was progressing. Now I wonder if any work was being done and the calls were a bunch of bull-shit!
This morning I spoke with the insurance company and was informed me that the estimator had been contacted on March 2 by the collision shop to come out to do another estimate. After the estimator sends in his report, the insurance company will know how to proceed. The insurance person also said he did not know why it was taking so long to repair my car when it was supposed to be an eleven day repair.
The hardest thing for me is to sit and wait. Something like this makes it very difficult to trust and have faith that people work in a spirit of honesty and integrity. I certainly believe that the Honda Collision shop does not.
On March 4, 2015, I received a letter from the insurance company along with another estimate. The good news is that the car is reparable and the bad news is that no one seems to know how much longer it will take!
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