Went to pick up my car Wed night from the local body shop. “Well,” the guy said, “D’s gone for the day and here’s your car but something’s wrong with it and I have your bill here for $2,887.88.”
“What do you mean ‘something’s wrong with it?’”
“It doesn’t drive right. It sputters.”
Lovely.
He dialed D on his cell phone. “Yeah,” D said. “I fixed everything that was related to the accident. It must have had something else wrong with it before that. You’ll have to take it to the dealership and have it looked at. And I need your check today.”
I won’t go into the ensuing shouting match, the arguments, or my blood pressure spike. Suffice it to say D took it yesterday to the dealership which his brother owns, and they put a piece of tape on a hose and charged me nearly $100 for NOT fixing the problem. I did not pay the bill and I brought my car to the only other shop in town this morning; the guy who owns it used to work at the aforementioned dealership before they had a falling out and you can pretty well guess the politics of the whole thing in a small town.
D saw my car there and argued with this mechanic, saying it is not a sensor issue, it’s the hose, and the mechanic said he knows it’s the sensor and that his brother tried to cheat me by putting tape over the old hose instead of installing a new one. And round and round. Then D saw my mom at the bank and said “I don’t want Theresa to be mad at me, I did the best I could on her car, blah blah blah.” Followed by another shouting match with him over the phone where I told him he needs to pay the $100 bill at his brother’s garage as I refuse to pay that. I’m just so livid that he took my money and did not fix my car as promised and is trying to say that whatever is wrong is not accident related when I happen to know there were no problems driving it before I was hit by the semi!
“If he thinks I’m going to pay that bill, he can kiss my white hiney!” I told my mom when regaling her with the details of this mess over the phone.
“Keep a smile on your face and a light in your heart,” she said at one point.
“I’m going to keep my middle finger in the air, is what I’m going to do!”
“Now, Therese!” She is all about looking at the silver lining and all that crap.
Bottom line is, I’m going to have to pay at least $300 out of pocket to fix the sensor. Actually I’m not even sure of the entire diagnosis. I’m afraid to even call the garage for an update at this point. At least where it’s at now, I know I can trust the owner, as opposed to the body shop owner.
The semi driver’s insurance is taking full liability for the accident, and I still have to be the one to pay to fix my car!! Why? Because they wanted to total it out for 3K and I knew I couldn’t find a car for that, and can’t afford a newer one right now, so I had it repaired instead; D had said he could fix it for the exact amount they were giving me for the total loss.
“What do you mean ‘something’s wrong with it?’”
“It doesn’t drive right. It sputters.”
Lovely.
He dialed D on his cell phone. “Yeah,” D said. “I fixed everything that was related to the accident. It must have had something else wrong with it before that. You’ll have to take it to the dealership and have it looked at. And I need your check today.”
I won’t go into the ensuing shouting match, the arguments, or my blood pressure spike. Suffice it to say D took it yesterday to the dealership which his brother owns, and they put a piece of tape on a hose and charged me nearly $100 for NOT fixing the problem. I did not pay the bill and I brought my car to the only other shop in town this morning; the guy who owns it used to work at the aforementioned dealership before they had a falling out and you can pretty well guess the politics of the whole thing in a small town.
D saw my car there and argued with this mechanic, saying it is not a sensor issue, it’s the hose, and the mechanic said he knows it’s the sensor and that his brother tried to cheat me by putting tape over the old hose instead of installing a new one. And round and round. Then D saw my mom at the bank and said “I don’t want Theresa to be mad at me, I did the best I could on her car, blah blah blah.” Followed by another shouting match with him over the phone where I told him he needs to pay the $100 bill at his brother’s garage as I refuse to pay that. I’m just so livid that he took my money and did not fix my car as promised and is trying to say that whatever is wrong is not accident related when I happen to know there were no problems driving it before I was hit by the semi!
“If he thinks I’m going to pay that bill, he can kiss my white hiney!” I told my mom when regaling her with the details of this mess over the phone.
“Keep a smile on your face and a light in your heart,” she said at one point.
“I’m going to keep my middle finger in the air, is what I’m going to do!”
“Now, Therese!” She is all about looking at the silver lining and all that crap.
Bottom line is, I’m going to have to pay at least $300 out of pocket to fix the sensor. Actually I’m not even sure of the entire diagnosis. I’m afraid to even call the garage for an update at this point. At least where it’s at now, I know I can trust the owner, as opposed to the body shop owner.
The semi driver’s insurance is taking full liability for the accident, and I still have to be the one to pay to fix my car!! Why? Because they wanted to total it out for 3K and I knew I couldn’t find a car for that, and can’t afford a newer one right now, so I had it repaired instead; D had said he could fix it for the exact amount they were giving me for the total loss.
5 comments:
Holy crap! That is just BS. It seems like the innocent people are the ones who suffer when an accident occurs...
I hope that things pan out....
Well we worked it out after all. The guy at the 2nd garage was able to put in a new hose for $68, and the body shop owner paid for it in full as well as the $100 from the other place. I am going to pay him back the $68 though as the hose was worn and probably needed replacing as it was. I just hope my car is problem free for awhile now!
good, i'm glad things worked out this morning.
Strong drinks is an understatement! I still shudder thinking of the first drink of gin w/ a splash of tonic!! LOL Had a GREAT time on Friday evening and am glad things are looking up for the car scenario!
I don't trust mechanics, it seems like the majority of them screw you over and try to squeeze every little penny out of you! I'm so happy you stuck to your guns and put up a good fight. I hope you get your money back and some and that you can finally put this accident behind you once and for all. All this unwanted stress is caused by a stupid man behind a bigger vehicle!
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