Body Shop Blues - Accidents Are Long Term Hassles

[Blue Ridge Holler]

Greetings from the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains and remember to drive like they are out to get you. I don’t want to lecture or burst balloons but I’ll admit to being surprised at the repercussions of a recent accident. Please bear with me, maybe it’s good advice and maybe this is just venting. Three long months ago I was rear ended while stopped at a traffic light, enjoying my brand-spanking-new odometer at 1400 miles, new car smell, and feeling pretty saucy about looking fine in my Sarge Green Overland. No injuries fortunately to anyone, but the impact pushed me into the car ahead of me and messed me up front, rear, and on the starboard side. My Gladiator, my beautiful Gladiator, squished, scratched, broken, and dropping plastic & glass all over the place. An otherwise happy afternoon spoilt bad. But then it got worse… it took a month to find a body shop with an opening. Seriously; everybody is estimating months to just get in the door. Think about that: they won’t even start ordering parts for months! I fortunately found a good shop (with the insurance companys’ assistance) that took me in after eight weeks. The second learning experience was this - I’m in a rental. My insurance covered six days, but since the truck that hit me was ticketed, his insurance has kindly provided wheels. Regretfully I had to fight & argue to get a pick up truck because they tried to put me in a 2WD mini-car. YMMV. Next tidbit is this - the body shop says “parts are on back order.” They say they have some cars that have taken months to get parts. So, to those of you enjoying your Jeep and riding in the sunshine with the wind in your face - remember to avoid any accidents. Not just for safetys’ sake, but the body shop world is very, very different these days. In a bad way. I had no idea. It’s almost enough to make you think you’re in a dystopian and dysfunctional society.

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[jeepers29]

The other side is your jeep could be totaled after years of work and getting it just right, because a POS illegal with no insurance or drivers license runs a red light at 70 MPH. Ask me how I know. Hope they get you taken care of sooner than later.

 

[Lost1wing]

I hope you are healing better than you truck. I hope you can work out a deal with the insurance for diminished value. Especially if you trade up pretty often. My daughter-in-law was working on getting compensated, but gave up after 2 years of insurance games. They gave her a diminished valve of $5000 on a KIA. Offered $1500 immediately, or no guarantee of anything if she opted for the full $5K. She waited and waited until she missed a reply deadline. She called to inquire about it and was told the best they can do now was the $1500. She took that.

 

[Blue Ridge Holler]

The other side is your jeep could be totaled after years of work and getting it just right, because a POS illegal with no insurance or drivers license runs a red light at 70 MPH. Ask me how I know. Hope they get you taken care of sooner than later.

thanks and I wish you well too. It’s hard to always look at the bright side of life…. Personal injury was spared, and that is always good. Hope you fare well from your nightmare scenario.

 

[Blue Ridge Holler]

I hope you are healing better than you truck. I hope you can work out a deal with the insurance for diminished value. Especially if you trade up pretty often. My daughter-in-law was working on getting compensated, but gave up after 2 years of insurance games. They gave her a diminished valve of $5000 on a KIA. Offered $1500 immediately, or no guarantee of anything if she opted for the full $5K. She waited and waited until she missed a reply deadline. She called to inquire about it and was told the best they can do now was the $1500. She took that.

ouch - thank you for the tip and I’ll heed your advice - and sorry to hear that they didn’t try to make her ”whole.”

 

[jeepers29]

thanks and I wish you well too. It’s hard to always look at the bright side of life…. Personal injury was spared, and that is always good. Hope you fare well from your nightmare scenario.

Glad to hear you weren't injured. Hope your jeep heals quickly

 

[Artsifrtsi]

ouch - thank you for the tip and I’ll heed your advice - and sorry to hear that they didn’t try to make her ”whole.”

Remember that they may not even bring up or offer the diminished value, that's something you need to be prepared to ask about.

 

[Y-Guy]

Sorry about all your troubles, this time makes repairs so much worse with staffing challenges and parts availability. What your going through sucks!

Every I've had 3 accidents all caused by somebody else and all 3 were alcohol related. The last one some idiot hit a huge Power line over our RV storage, brought the lines smack down on our motorhome as well as a few other RVs. While our carrier took care of us, the family that did the damage was trying to avoid paying (yes he was uninsured) . Me threatening small claims court got them to write the check to my insurance and closed things out. Our company also helped me deal with any diminished values as well as accounting for lost trips and my time dealing with things.

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