davidbijan

If you live near Memphis and need your MB repaired avoid this body shop. My car crashed into a ditch and sustained right sided bumber, fender, mirror damage according to the body shop. They charged my isurance comapny 4500 for repairs, plus 500 dec.
In their initial assessment of damage they did not inspect the undercarriage of the car and missed bilateral rocker damage, fire retundant skirts with gouges in material under vehicle, rear bumber snapped out of place, color mismatch of paint, deep gouges in bottom right front bumber, that they just sprayed a clear coat on. My car was spotless, 6300 miles on it not one dent. I got it back incompletely fixed, overcharged, not assessed properly by adjuster and body shop. Their excuse for not looking at the undercarriage was they did not have a lift that day. How damn long does it take to roll one car off a lift and put mine on to look for all this missed damage underneath. Pure incompetence!!!!
I have to resolve this with a second body shop in my home town 165 miles from Memphis. The thing that gets me the most is J Stewart is a listed certified Mercedes shop, recommended by the dealer in Memphis. I feel cheated by Joe Stewart body shop, and the adjuster by the insurance company. And before you blame me that I should have been there for the initial damage assessment keep in mind i live 3 hours away and the car was towed to Memphis with no rental car at the time. I trusted these people and got screwed over. When they claim to be a certified MB body shop that gives no guarantee your car will come out they way you would expect it. These mechanics are no better than a mechanic that works on multiple brands like Lincoln, Cadillac, Chevy. And yes they also get original parts just as MB cert shops do. Sooooo Mad I devalued my car by crashing it, they devalued it by screwing it up more, that the second body shop wont touch the parts they worked on (paint job).

djrabbi

should have avoided a price of $4500 since I was in a fender bender where fender needed repainted, new door, mirror, and bumper being repainted and it was $4500 for that small job....

davidbijan

They have offered to remedy the missed worked at a local body shop of my choice,after I called the owner the MB dealership in Memphis, and he backed me up as a customer. Thank you Gunter of Mercedes of Memphis.

davidbijan

and Thomas Hammond best MB dealer in Memphis. A little whacky but that alright LOL.

tiggerfink

My insurance company settle with Joe Stewart.

newyorktoLA

(((( What are you planning on doing now???

CEB

This post clearly shows that many posters are unfamiliar with how insurance works. It is really quite simple.

After an accident, the insurance company sends out an appraiser to look at the damage. Based on that identified damage, the adjuster works out a cost estimate that is supplied to the body shop.

The body shop strips down the car to begin repairs and coordinates with the insurance company on hidden damage (there always will be hidden damage) and the insurance company authorizes the additional repairs or sends the adjuster out again.

Once done, you accept the repair. If issues come up later, then you report those to your insurance company and the original body shop either completes the repair, or pays another body shop for the repairs.

Here is what most people don't understand.

Your agreement is with the insurance company. The insurance company has an agreement with the bodyshop. You do not have an agreement with the bodyshop and your legal interaction is limited to accepting or rejecting the final repair. For everything else you should be dealing with the insurance company.

Your agreement with the insurance company is that they will return the car to you in the same condition it was in prior to the accident - no better and no worse. You need to resolve this with the insurance company.

That is not to say that the body shop deserves no blame (It appears they did a bad job) but the OP shares blame in that he didn't understand how the process works and what his obligations (and rights) were.

davidbijan

CEB i disagree by putting blame on consumers not knowing how to to deal with cut corner body shops. If you would have read my op i clearly advised the adjuster i suspected undercariage damage and joe stewart did not assess this. The farmers agent was lazy. He missed an additional 1500 in damage and then joe stewart claimed i did the damage prior to this the accident.The bottom line is joe stewarts is crap and i only got them to remedy the problem whem i got gunter the owner of mb in memphis to get involved. Farmers responsibilty was to assess the vehicle properly which they failed to do. When you take a new 65k car in for repairs and you get it back jacked The body shop sucks and so does farmers. If you live in memphis do not take your car there. They overcharge and quite frankly suck!!! Btw a salesmen at mb memphis told me if they dont refer to joe crap body shop they get in trouble.

CEB

You're initial post was all about how the bodyshop screwed you and the insurance over - how they 'charged' the insurance and how they 'failed' to find damage.

I reiterate that your agreement is with the insurance company. If that is what you wanted to explain in your first then you failed.

You seem angry and seem to be posting without thought and - quite simply - you sound like a little kid with a temper tantrum because your favorite toy was broken.

What I wrote was 100% accurate.

davidbijan

Im not angry at all just stating my opinion. I expected the insurance company and the body shop to fix those "hidden damages" that quite frankly were quite evident. If expecting repairs to be done properly the first time is childish and thoughtless so be it. i was assured bob stewart and farmers would put the car on a lift to look for underlying damage. They did not. I discovered the damage after i got the car back. I guess since i drove over 300 miles back and forth several times and missed work it entitled me to be a little annoyed and pissed that my "favorite toy was broke. Thats the kid in me

CEB

Of course you should get the car fixed to the previous condition, but you seemed to have overlooked the fact that the bodyshop only charges what the insurance pays (plus your deductible)

What should also be understood (but is often overlooked) is that most bodyshops will cut corners - again because they can only charge what the insurance company pays.

The initial estimate from the appraiser will always be low because they hope that you'll take the check they cut you and run.

davidbijan

^so true