hey rrlund....

hey randy, what ever happened with your insurance deal on the high estimate?

I'm waiting for a decent day to take it to another shop for an estimate. The agent told me they'd pay if I took it to the crooks,but I won't do it.
My son's girlfriend works for a big auto salvage. She said she could get the parts,used,for $200 if I wanted to fix it myself.

I didn't really stay with that thread, other than to see it was about 8 grand for what looked like damage to a rear bumper. What was up with that? Was there a lot of damage you couldn't see? Maybe air bag stuff? That just didn't make any sense.

Didn't make any sense to me either. It's plastic damage,that's it. The shop they sent me to is a State Farm Prefered First or whatever the heck,where an adjuster doesn't even look at it. They make the mistake of trusting them. The guy who gave me the estimate never looked at it. He walked out in the cold in a short sleeved shirt,took a few pictures from a distance and went back inside. The agent told me that since it's not an "at fault" accident I can take it there and they'll pay the bill no questions asked. She said if I go someplace else an adjuster will have to look at it. That's fine with me. I want to talk to him about their "preferred" shop.

I took a car to a SF preferred body shop once too.
It was a GM dealership in Lansing. Car was not GM.
They couldn't get it right. Any of it.

The first "finish" date was delayed because they couldn't get the
check engine light to turn off.
They ended up trucking it to the manufacturer's dealer to have
them fix that part, which turned out to be that the body shop
had unhooked the wires from some sensors on the engine and
didn't put them back on. Then they sent it home with the lower
radiator hose loose so it leaked all the antifreeze out.

It was in and out of that body shop for four months and they
never got the paint to match.
I complained to SF, they told me that this deep in, they had
to keep taking it back to that dealership until they got it right.
Regardless of how much time I wasted or spent in a rental.

So while I was waiting for them to get it scheduled again, I took
it to another dealership and traded it in, then called SF back and
told them the dealership would never be finishing that job.

The car was 4 months old when I had the accident and 8 months
old when I traded it in. SF took them off the "preferred" list and
gave me a refund, but I doubt anything else ever came of it.

I still have SF insurance too, but if I have another accident I'll
take it to a body shop of my choice and let them send an adjuster.

That's kinda what makes me look cockeyed at this situation. It's a dealership,but not a Ford dealer.

Randy, if you want. To persue a complaint about the shop, call the home office in bloomington il, 1800 state farm, and ask for a regional claim manager in charge of the select service program. They will bounce that shop off the program.