Body shop blues
 

Well, it's been 8 weeks now and my wife's '04 X5 is still in the body shop because of a rear end collision caused by an uninsured, and unlicensed driver. Just as an aside, the driver was also an illegal alien (another issue of debate for immigration reform IMO). Anyways, I originally took it to a local body shop that was recommended by our insurance co., but after 5 weeks, they were unable to fix the rear bumper, rear lift gate, and tail-lights. we ended up taking it to another shop that our dealer uses, and they found out that the first shop didn't change the seat belt tensioner, tried to reuse the bumper absorbers, and that the X needed a new lift gate. Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to warn everyone to not assume all body shops know how to work on the X, or that your insurance co. will recommend a competant shop, and that you should ask the shop manager if they are familiar with the various safety features of the X before leaving your prized vehicle with them.

I'm really sorry that you had to go through this.

My uncle owned a body shop in Los Angeles for close to 40 years, so I have an understanding of how it works. Here's my take on body repairs -

The failure of getting your car repaired correctly and in a timely fashion in an insurance job is also a reflection of your insurance company. The job of the claims adjustor is to determine the extent of the damage and to approve and authorize the type of repair work to be performed. For example, if removing and replacing the bumper absorbers with new OEM parts does not appear on the adjustors work order, the work won't get done. It's the job of the adjustor to advisie and authorize the necessary work. Insurance companies are more guilty of short cutting the repair orders than the body shops. There are adjustors who simply don't do the right thing.

The lesson here is that when you have an insurance claim, you should be present during the claims adjustment evaluation session to protect your interests or instruct your insurance company to review the repair order with you by fax or phone prior to approval. You also have a right to obtain multiple estimates which you should exercise

asawadude, I can understand your point, but I think most people would have a hard time understanding exactly what parts need to be replaced vs. reused, and most certainly aren't going to crawl under their vehicle or disassemble body panels to see what needs to be fixed. Isn't that why we trust professionals to advise us on what needs to be done? I agree that our adjuster didn't do his job. In fact, he apparently inspected the vehicle 2x and said everything was fine when there was another $3000+ in damage the 2nd shop found. I wonder how he explained that to his supervisor? I bet they really don't care unless we, the customer, complain. IMO, the insurance co. was just looking to get the work done for cheap, and had we not complained, we would be driving around with all that damage still. I'm not saying all body shops are bad or that all adjusters are lazy. Just make sure the shop you pick knows its stuff and don't let your insurance co. talk you into accepting sub-par work.