Transmission Shop wrecked my Charger

[THE STIG]

I took my car to a shop for some tranny work it was laeking fluid and rolled in park. Some dumb kid thay had working there parked it on a hill and walked away and rolled into a building on thier lot and the back end hit a corner. It looks like the deck lid bumper and and valance will need replaced the valance was already rusted and shot to hell but the deck was good. It also looks like the passenger side quarter is bowed out slightly too. I already have a bumper,rocker panels and quarter skins but wasn't looking for a rear deck. If anybody has any insight or leads on some of these parts I would greatly appreciate it or PM me here. *Forgot to mention it's a 70 Charger*

 

[tpodwdog]

LAWSUITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT...... somebody would be lookin down the barrel of my .40 for that slick maneuver !

 

[THE STIG]

I should clarify that the owner seems like he wants to make this right. He has an insurance guy coming tomorrow and the kid no longer works there. And he mentioned several times how mad he was at the situation since this is a transmission shop and it's not the first time thay've had a car with these roll in park issues.

 

[Mike Z]

Oh Man That Sucks.
Good Luck
Mike Z.

 

[71 Meep Meep]

Shouldn't get to worried most shops are insured for that sort of thing.
It's upsetting to say the least especially on a classic but look on the bright side you might get some areas looking better than they did before.
Nobody in their right mind would do it on purpose i'm sure it was purely an accident and.... he paid for it with his job in these tough times.
Hope it all works out for the good for you. GL

 

[THE STIG]

Actually the kid in question quit when he scored some inheritance, but this incident may have planted the seed when the boss said "WTF were you thinking?". As for the insurance I'm worried that a claims adjuster may come out and see a crappy old car that should have been put to pasture years ago which I would vehemently disagree with.

 

[RustyRatRod]

OH bullshit. No .40 cal needs to be involved or a lawsuit. That's already what's wrong. People wanna kick each other's *** or kill each other or sue each other already. If the business is a legitimate one (our transmission shop is) they have insurance to take care of this type thing. Weren't all of yall "dumb kids" once too? Really? Are yall THAT old that you don't remember? Kids have to learn somehow. I think it's a good thing no one was hurt. Our shop would buy all new stuff to fix it and make it better than it was to begin with. I'm sure it'll work out. Ain't no need in killin anybody over it.

 

[THE STIG]

OH bullshit. No .40 cal needs to be involved or a lawsuit. That's already what's wrong. People wanna kick each other's *** or kill each other or sue each other already. If the business is a legitimate one (our transmission shop is) they have insurance to take care of this type thing. Weren't all of yall "dumb kids" once too? Really? Are yall THAT old that you don't remember? Kids have to learn somehow. I think it's a good thing no one was hurt. Our shop would buy all new stuff to fix it and make it better than it was to begin with. I'm sure it'll work out. Ain't no need in killin anybody over it.

I agree with your train of thought here and I wish it was your shop I was dealing with. My biggest concern here is some of the parts that I will need to replace being parts that were already bad like my trunk floor or valance that was already bad. Im afraid an adjuster will just say it was already rusted and rotted to begin with why replace it with a new one?

 

[hunt2elk]

I agree with your train of thought here and I wish it was your shop I was dealing with. My biggest concern here is some of the parts that I will need to replace being parts that were already bad like my trunk floor or valance that was already bad. Im afraid an adjuster will just say it was already rusted and rotted to begin with why replace it with a new one?

You would have had to purchase the parts to repair the previous rust issues, so I could see them arguing that. The expensive part is the labor to change the parts. If the insrance co. would cover that, I think I would be happy. Hopefully you won't get some off the wall adjuster who thinks your car should be totaled because his book shows the value of your car as to low to warrant repair.

 

[HT413]

Let's not forget this - he probably can negotiate a better deal with a local body guy than you can so he may be able to get it all done for LESS than the adjuster thinks. If the insurance doesnt cover it all, i'm sure the shop will at least split it with you. But to soften the blow it might make sense to plan ahead as to what other things you might want to throw in while he's at it (if you're fortunate enough to have the extra cash). You might be able to fix a lot of those nagging things with very little cash outlay and a lot of times those extras can be thrown in for very little extra cash.

btw, immediate jump to lawsuit is a big reason employers are leaving this country like rats on a sinking ship. The only payday we should be looking for is a payday EARNED.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I agree with your train of thought here and I wish it was your shop I was dealing with. My biggest concern here is some of the parts that I will need to replace being parts that were already bad like my trunk floor or valance that was already bad. Im afraid an adjuster will just say it was already rusted and rotted to begin with why replace it with a new one?

That's when a reputable transmission shop would step up and write a check.

- - - Updated - - -

We're lucky in our location in that we are basically surrounded by the biggest body shoup in our county. Literally, on all sides. lol We trade work back and forth all the time.

 

[67 coronet]

i see what most of you are saying about sue happy people now a days.many times it is the insurance industry that has caused this.i deal with adjusters on an almost dayly basis,and the nice ones are very few and extreemly far between.
dont be a bit surprised when he sais"we are gonna total the car,here is your $500".hopefully the trans shop owner is a stand up guy and you wont have to take them to court.

 

[Montclaire]

NADA has values for collector cars. I would load up on info as to what the car should be worth in the real world and what the cost of the repair should be, and I would also seriously consider paying an independent appraiser to come out on your behalf if it's not going well. Whatever you do, if their numbers are low, do NOT agree to anything, do NOT sign anything, and do NOT give up possession of the car until you are happy. Do NOT trust insurance people, period.

 

[71 Meep Meep]

Good thing here is it's not the car owner involving the insurance company it's the shop owner. Big difference on the " i want something for free" issue.
It will be looked at much differently from the insurance companies point of view.The car never came in the shop never looking like that and no matter how it looked perviously it should look at least the same or better.Most of the reason Insurance companies are dicks to deal with is half the time car owners are committing a fraudulent claim.
It's a totally different "claim atmosphere" claim when the shop owner is taking care of a customer by claiming damage that THEY did under their care.

 

[THE STIG]

This is the best picture I have of the damage I didn't think to take any yesterday and the car is behind a locked gate now. The trunk appears to be open but it is latched and I'm guessing the strain on the locking mechanism will probably break that too.

 

[THE STIG]

*UPDATE* The tranny shop called me today and told me it would cost $800 to fix the car and I owe them $300 for the tranny work. He also said they can get a deck lid which I assune would be the AMD since he called me a few days ago and asked me where to get one. I'm not really sure if the $800 they are talking about includes the deck lid and I don't see how it can since the AMD lid is about $600 and it also needs a new bumper and rear valance. So he offered to let me come in and get the car and take $500 I declined and told him that I want the car fixed. The valance was already rusted pretty bad and would have needed replaced anyhow and I already have a bumper as the one thats on it was dented before (more so now though). I haven't told them this yet but I am willing to go 50/50 on the valance since it was already shot and cover the cost of a rechrome on the extra bumper I already have. Does this $800 figure sound accurate? I have more pics I'll try and post to give you guys a better idea of what I'm dealing with.

 

[tpodwdog]

NO...it does NOT sound accurate. i am no body man by any means.....and it dont matter what it cost....they damaged it...THEY SHOULD FIX IT....or compensate you enough to have it fixed at a place of your choice. being that the car was taken to them for tranny work....and you TOLD them it rolls in park,,,and to have some incompetent idiot park it on a hill....is just pure negligence as i see it .


how about your time and trouble and time without the car....that HAS to add up to something. how about the trust you put in that shop to handle your car with care,,,THEY DIDNT. time for a little home made justice.............

DO NOT TAKE HIM TO COURT... i have much experiance with courts and they WILL NOT be in your favor...and if they are,,,,thats NO GUARANTEE that you will get your money owed to you. just because you win in court.....dont mean youll be compensated. THERE IS NOBODY ENFORCING THE COURT RULING AND WILL MAKE SURE YOU GET YOUR MONEY. trust me on this.

you walk in there like you own the place and tell him how things are going to be.... you dont take NO for an answer. be stern and let him know that you aint gonna take any of his ****! you have about 2500-3000 probably more in damage there,,,,800 aint gonna get it all fixed and painted....AND HE WANTS YOU TO PAY FOR THE TRANNY WORK?.... amazing the gull of people. they damaged your classic car,,,,and he still wants to make out in the end...THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE !

IT DONT MATTER THE CONDITION OF THE VALANCE OR WHATEVER. its his responsibility to make things right. i would LOOOOOOOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE to go there with you and see this moron. i have had to pull this trick more than once and trust me.....if you have the look on your face of " look dude...i aint takin your **** ". things will work out alot better than a court battle!...TRUST MEEEEEEEEEEE

BE A ROYAL PAIN IN HIS ***. will eventually pay you to have everything fixed just to get rid of you.....YOU WIN !:headbang:

- - - Updated - - -

RAT..... normally i agree with 99% of the things you post......not in this case. and everybody does not do " the right thing"...what they do is the LEAST amount that they THINK they can get away with. STIG will eventually get screwed in this case if he dont stand up for himself. this damage was not caused by STIG , but you can bet your *** he will end up paying for it. people understand fear....THEY DONT UNDERSTAND WHAT THE RIGHT THING IS.

small story for yall...............

back in my rock-n-roll days. ..i played alot of small venues that the owner tried to get away with paying us less than our agreement....or try not to pay us at all....heres how i got paid....ALWAYS:

ME AND THE GUITARIST..( another 6'-5" sasquatch ) loaded the juke box..... cases of beer , whiskey...anything that wasnt nailed down and that was available all in the back of the truck. when the owner seen this, he was all too happy to shell out what was due to us. thats happened a few times and it always worked. i could have easily said " well ok,,,you dont have to pay us"....but that was unacceptable. so we made SURE we got paid.....HOME MADE JUSTICE!...because people understand fear !

 

[RustyRatRod]

Lemmie tell yall what WE just got done doing. 05 Isuzu Axiom we rebuilt the trans on back in May. We give a 12 month, 12K mile warranty. Needle bearings had a failure and got caught up in the forward planetaries last month. We're located in Milledgeville. The guy's son has the car in Savannah. We took our personal trailer the four hours to Savannah, got the car brought it back and repaired the transmission, ALL at our expense and under warranty. Because it's the right thing to do. Most shops I know of would have made the man pay to have his son's car towed from 4 hours away. To us, that wouldn't have been right. We priced it with our towing company. 600 bucks. So we did the next best thing. Race car trailer to the rescue. Took maybe 150 in gas. Here is the bottom line...and it's an unfortunate one. MOST shops only care about one thing. Money. You need to find one that cares about their customers. I tell our customers everyday......as corny as it sounds that we like to sleep at night. NONE of us has a house on the lake, is rich, drives fancy cars.....hell "I" own the latest model cars of anybody there including the owners......two 2004 FORDS. I know....bless my heart. lol When you pull in our parking lot.....you caint even hardly turn around for all the old Mopars that we love. lol We got tons of um. Try to find a shop that's there because they LOVE it, not there to JUST make a dollar. We're fixin to get into the spec motor business....and I garrandamntee you we'll offer the best little motor packages for the money than you can get anywhere else because it's what we love to do. Sure, we'll do up a mega dollar mofo, but MOST people don't need that to be happy and we won't do it unless we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that's what the customer wants and needs. We want people to be happy and come back. Any of this crap ever happens at our place and the customer won't lose a wink of sleep because it'll all be on us. Hope you get it worked out.

 

[71 Meep Meep]

1 Ask to see the written quote
2 get your own quote
3 Dont remove the car until this gets worked out have the body shop estimate it there on the spot.
4 Be reasonable,price good used parts and pay the difference if you want new.
5 Dont fly off the handle nothing get worked our with yelling and screaming.
6 Make sure there are a room full of customers when you deal with him.
7 GET IT IN WRITING.

If all else fails show up with your harley buddies.

 

[tpodwdog]

very commendable rat...and thats why i like ya.. but not everyone is like that. im the same way ,,,or used to be until i got walked on and screwed around ONE TOO MANY TIMES. look out for yourself coz 99.995 of the time...nobody else is!