They Destroyed My Baby!

[dssnosher]

3 month ago on my way to work i rear ended a guy on the highway. His bumper and rear right hand side light had to be replaced and my whole front had to be replaced except for the right lights assembly. In the matter of seconds 2 tow trucks showed up and started telling the Honda guy stories about his damaged tank and differentials and frame bla bla - unfortunately the guy had no clue about cars what so ever and he believed them. I had no choice - i had to be at work by 11:30 for major presentation and i took the tow truck guys offer. The offer was: you take your car to our shop and we take care of your deductibles, tow truck fee's and collision center car release fee. Since this is my first time in situation like this i can pretty much say i was in the same boat with the guy that i hit.

My car was towed to the reporting center. Tow truck driver told me to refuse taking my car to insurance preferred center and not to call insurance for claim - everything will be done by their shop. Time was pushing me and i did whatever i was told so i can quickly get a rental and go to that stupid presentation. Stupid me.

I was given a rental and insurance covered $1000 dollars worth of it. It took them 2 month to get my car repaired. Mechanic promised to pay the rental difference after my $1000 ran out. I picked up my car and left rental at the shop. 5 days later a charge on my credit card shows up: $1,400 worth of rental. Shop refuses to pay, insurance cant do anything because its not their preferred shop. A couple days later i discover that my AC doesnt work any more, my battery dies extremely fast, plastic protection underneath hasn't been replaced.

Its not my fault it took them 2 month to get my car fixed. The mechanic could have said that he will not pay the rent and i would have taken my parents car to work. But it is my fault that i wanted to believe every single word those idiots told me.

A friendly advise to everyone - deal with insurance preferred shops, do not sign any papers before you are about to pickup your can unless everything has been paid for (rental) and before you pickup your car, request copy of appraisal and see if everything has been replaced.

Bottom line is, i ended up with $1,400 credit card bill to pay for rental, and lots of broken parts in my car.

[SRK]

Well as you say, you had no choice. You had to make a presentation, you were in a hurry, and a tow truck driver's advice sounded good. Don't report the claim, give them your car, make it all go away quickly. The Honda guy didn't know anything about cars, and that's terrible. Trust the tow truck driver.

Geez.

[anthonyiez]

don't believe that insurance shops are any better. these shops have to give discounts to get in the program and these "discounts" get passed onto you in the form of them trying to cut corners. also as soon as they said they would save you your deductible you should of ran like hell. a deductible can't be "saved" it has to be made up somewhere. usually that somewhere is in the form of shoddy work or out of the shop owner's pocket. there's "no free lunch" anywhere. what you want is a shop that is up front, is willing to work for "you" with the insurance company, not the other way around. it might cost more and you will have to pay your deductible, but the car will come out right. those tow truck drivers that towed you in work on a commision based upon the value of the job, usually 10%. they will say anything and i mean anything, to get you on their hook. sorry you had to learn the hard way. that's why its best to investigate repair facilities when you don't need them, that way your prepared when you do. just like a doctor. hope some of this helped.

[geminilover112]

That just sucks