All,

I'm in a pretty difficult situation and could use advice from anyone who has knowledge on any options I have here. Sorry for the long post, I've lost my patience with these clowns and need to vent.

I wrecked my car on June 8th (post is somewhere on this board with subject relating to potenzas sucking it) by spinning into a ditch. At first glance I thought it may be totalled, but (after two weeks of State Farm not getting an estimate done) the estimate came and it was for around 6700.

I've probably called more times than the ones mentioned below, but these are just the calls that stick out.

The body shop had originally claimed it would only take around two weeks to repair. I said fine and ordered a plane ticket (car was wrecked around 7 hours from Raleigh, so I'd need to fly) for four weeks later to give them some buffer. Three weeks roll around and I call and ask if it'll be done by the time I'm flying in. "Weeeelll we needed to order a tie rod and a strut so it should be up and ready by next week for the body work to start and should be close. Call back Tuesday."

I call back Tuesday (this Tuesday from a week and a half ago) and get some BS about them still needing to get it road ready. No explanation for what exactly he's been doing since I talked to him on Friday. He says it won't be ready by Friday, so I cancel my flight.

I call on Monday (four days ago) about the car again. He informs me that they need to do some work to the underbody to get it working again, but he'll know a date for when they can start the body work (which supposedly will only take two days) by Tuesday or Wednesday and will call me Wednesday at the latest. Wednesday at 5:15 rolls around, and of course I haven't gotten a call. By this point I'm obviously getting pissed.

I call and ask what the hell is going on (not in so many words--I was polite). He informs me that they "need to get it on the frame puller." I inquire, since no frame damage was mentioned on my estimate at all, and since as far as I know the Z is unibody (correct me if I'm wrong). He offers no real explanation and says after it's done on the frame puller he'll know if there's more damage or not, saying something about "There may be floor damage." I've never even heard of a frame puller, but I don't particularly like the sound of my Z being on one.

I call again today, get sick of his BS about the frame puller, and call my insurance agent to send someone up there to check it out. When they call he tells them he needs an adjuster to "survey further damage." This is where I'm at right now, and I should know more tomorrow after the adjuster goes up there.

At this point I'm thinking that this body shop has no idea what the hell they're doing. I assume they found additional damage not on the estimate and tried some lame manuver to attempt to fix it or cover it up since they'd already put work into it and didn't want it to end up being irreparable. It sounds like they tried to stretch the frame and ended up ripping up the floor of the car. My problem is I can't go check it out and this guy won't tell me what's actually going on.

Any ideas on proper recourse here or what may have actually happened in the bodyshop? I can only assume.

 

my vw was on the frame puller for a rear end acc. it got pushed in a bit and they had to pull it out. i hope it doesnt f up your wheels, mine got the $hit scratched out of them from bein on the puller..

 

bump... come on guys, anyone have any idea what the hell the frame puller is?

 

funny thing is my Z is also on a puller as we speak. My accident was June 27th but is in the 17k range. I have also been playing phone tag and getting very stressed over the lack of work done on my car. I want them to take their time and get it right but they go weeks with nothing. The frame puller is a lift machine/computer that is used to straighten your frame and alignment.

Good news all my phone calls resulted in them "moving things around" to get my car on the puller a week sooner than what they had told me...

 

Yes, you do not have a frame as such since the Z is unibody (frame and body in one assembly) but it is straitened with a tool/machine commonally referred to as a frame machine. Body is anchored solid to a base and high pressure is applied to spacific points to realign body. ie Bend back to original position. Just like alignment techs there are the good ones and not so good ones - machines and techs.

I recommend you make sure your insurance agent understands that you expect the car to be "as new" and if it is not you will not take possession of it. Do it in writing or document all conversation back to the agent in writing with a letter: THis is to document or converstation of x/x/x to insure complete understanding- Where we agreed to the following conditions........ REMEMBER TALK is JUST TALK.

 

I left out the most important. Be polite and professional. Get people to buy into helping you. Mr X, I need your help.....bullying doese't work. If you don't get satisfaction from your first line contacts go to highter athority until you do.

You need to know who's responsibility is it to insure the job is done right.

one last thing from me: BE POLITE and PROFESSIONAL!

 

Who are you dealing with at HG?
I have been buying from them for years and will not switch just because of the excellent service I get there.
I bought my Z there and have had no problems with routine service. On my Maxima, I have had other problems/accidents and they have always been good to me.
You need to talk to Bobby in Nissan Service and ask him to check on the car for you. Tell him the only Red Z in town (Clarksburg) sent you.

 

Sorry Pgans, I just saw your message.

I'm dealing with the guy who runs the body shop. Bill I think.

The problem is that they are taking an unreasonable amount of time to repair the car--it was wrecked in early June and the estimate only listed around $6500 in damage. On top of that, they give no estimates as to when it will be done. They're already two weeks off of their initial time estimate they gave when I chose them to do the work with no end in sight. I just hope there are no problems when I get it back because I'm like a 7 hour drive from there.

Meanwhile I'm driving this old POS Saturn that I'd been trying to sell around in Raleigh, where the temperature was around 103 today. Not fun.

 

body shops suck, my WRX sat in a body shop for 2 months, they like to hold it as long as they can, they will get more money from insurance company for it sitting there

 

bump...

These *** CLOWNS still haven't done a damn thing to the car. I have someone from my insurance company calling and putting the heat on, I call probably 2-3 times a week, and it's always the same sad story. "Weeeelll, we're workin on it. We think we got all the parts ordered now." I'm thinking their version of "working on it" is standing around the car sipping Budweisers ala Hank Hill.

Is there anything I can really do here, legal action, etc? There is no way in hell a $6500 repair should be taking this long. They have had the car since beginning/mid JUNE. They still don't even have the front suspension rebuilt, from what I gleaned from the limited information they'll tell me + insurance company info. Initially they had told me the front suspension would be rebuilt so the car would be driveable within two weeks... it's now been two and a half months and it's still not driveable, to my knowledge.

I'd almost forgotten that I actually own a Z, that is until the middle of the month when $350 and $100 get withdrawn for a car payment and insurance. To top it all off, I get to imagine my Z sitting out in the weather for 3 months (I'd kept it covered/garaged since purchase).

Sorry for the rant. These guys are pissing me off to no end.