As many of you know I was involved in a wreck the first part of the year. Well, come to find out the body shop that did the work screwed up. I was hit from behind so it bent the frame. The body shop tried to unbend it and they got it off. I just looked and the rear tires are toed out. The rear tires are gone. but only on the inside of the tires. So I'm going to go call body shop tomorrow and tell them what happened and see what they say. I've only only had the car back 4 months and put 2000 miles on it. But for some reason I think this may get ugly. I don't want to start a big thing with them I just want my car fixed. I will insist that they pay for the tires though.

What would you do in my place.

 

exactly what you said you were going to do.. but I would prepare for some problems.. i'm pretty sure they are not going to take this lying down.....

 

Wasn't your car totalled??

 

no it waqsnt totalled but close.

 

If it's the inside of both tires, it could just be that the alignment is off. I would think if something was bent you'd get a different wear pattern than that, but I'm certainly no expert on that stuff.

 

I fyou are saying that the rear tires stick out about 1/2" to 1" at the bottom as opposed to the top, this is normal. It's camber, although your's may be too much and causing premature wear issues. How often do you have your tires rotated?

 

I know what camber is. This is the toe angle. Its not a top to bottom angle its a side to side angle. One is pulling right and the other left. I've only driven 2000 miles since I got the car back. They rotated tires then. At first i though they were under inflated, but the wear is only on the insides of the tires. The insurance claim still isnt hasnt been settled yet so, were not sure whats going to happen. But I WILL have my car fixed.

 

Can you post pictures of your fixed car? I wanna see if it's even noticeable (after being almost totalled).

 

i have some pics at home. Will post after work.

 

well i made an apointment at the dealer to get the alignment checked out. I guess we will see how it turns out.

 

shouldn't Mb have done the re-alignment after the body shop?

My friends Golf was recenlty rear ended and the VW estimate shows VW planning an alignment after the body shops work is done.

Nathan

 

they "should" have. whether they did or not is another story. I'm having the dealer check the alignment on Weds.

 

The C230 is Unibody it doesn't have a frame.

 

Timmy, how about those pics that you promised?

 

what party of the car do you want to see?

 

Well you were hit in the front and back right? So I want to see the front and the back of your car - I was just wondering if it's even noticable that the car was hit after they fixed it.

 

ok I PROMISE I will post pics when I get home.

 

I would say your car should be totalled, cause once the frame is bend in anyways the car is considered total and unsafe to drive.

 

the only reason it wasnt totalled is because airbags didnt go off.

 

Well... the C230 doesn't really have a frame. But I think I know what you're saying. However, a good shop with the right tools can pull some cars (depends on the specific damage) back to at least as straight as they were when new. So to say a car should be totaled whenever it's been tweaked is perhaps a bit much...

Decent body shops can do amazing things. The problem is, it isn't easy to fix things right, so a lot of shops take shortcuts and do a half assed job.

 

Hmm ok? I don't see them

 

yeah what a surprise that is.

 

FWIW...and if you haven't done so already
I'm assuming the accident was not your fault.

Get reimbursed for the "Dimished Value" of your car.

If you ever sell this car in the future to a buyer that is going to do his homework, you will not get the same amount of money that you would have gotten if your car was never in a major accident. I'm sure this is not news to you.

What may be news to you is that Insurance companies will mislead you in ways to say that this type of claim is bogus, when in fact it is not. The problem is that you need to prove that your car's value decreased due to this accident.

File a dimished value claim against the other driver's insurance company. You will need to get a proper appraisal from a certified appraiser for the "dimished" value of your car due to the acident. The appraisal may run a few hundrer dollars, but well worth it if you can get back $2000-$3000.

I know a few people who have done this and the insurance companies paid out, w/ no questions asked once the proper paper work was submitted. When looking into this type of claim, the insurance comapnies gave them the run around, as well as saying that such claims were bogus.

Of course laws in your states might differ than that of Mayland or Virginia.

Good Luck

 

That is being taken care of via my attorney.

 

OK PWEB there are the pics