I'm sitting in my room in my townhouse playing a video game like a lazy college student would be. I'm playing some WWII game and I hear some glass break, I am like hmm this game doesn't have that sound in it. So I look outside to see some bottle broken in the road. I went outside to check it out and I was thinking that looked odd to see the bottles like that in the road. Then I look down the street and see a delivery truck awfully close to a townhouse's porch. I thought gosh that is weird to be pulled up onto the front yard and over the curb. Well I see the guy pull out and almost tip the truck. So I go back inside and I watch this guy pull the truck onto the wrong side of the road near my car parked on the street. I saw him lookin at the car and I was getting fishy. Well so he takes off and I walk out and look at my car and I see something that looks like bird poop. Well it's not bird poop it's dents and scrapes and hell on my car. I got in my car as soon as I saw it turned it on and gave chase to this jerk. I went three blocks down the road hauling butt to find him then I see him parked and I parked my car right across the front of him. I said to him hey I think you hit my car, he says, oh I was going to come back which I said bull. So I ask him for insurance info and he gives me an expired Geico card, I was like you got one that ISN'T expired? So I got out the cell phone and called the cops who showed up rather quickly. The cop made an accident report and exchanged info. What ticks me off is he didn't even charge the guy for fleeing the scene of an accident, not to mention how he tore up the yard down the street. I am getting an estimate tomorrow under my insurance cause I want it fixed asap. Although I figure if his insurance gives me problems I am going to bring issue to the running away from me. I told the police officer I didn't have a license on me cause I was too busy chasing the guy down to bring my wallet or lock the house. I'll attach a picture so you all can see a little of the damage. Turns out the guy claims he forgot to put on his parking brake and te door was open causing most of the damage. I need a new side view mirror now too cause the one post was sheered clear off. I had an accident last Spring when a pedestrian hit me and I got that side of the car painted. This is one crappy way to get the car repainted!

 

dude, that sucks so bad, nice car other than the scrape!

 

That blows, good thing you caught him. Sounds like he was a tad bit tipsy. Did cop give him a sobrity test??

 

The cop didn't seem to care too much other than to exchange info and make an accident report. Maybe the cop just thought he was a royal moron holding court on the street.

 

If anyone wants to see you can see pics at http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jseskes/

 

Good thing you nabbed the jackass!! Good idea about taking all those pictures, too, they might help in court.

 

lol, you're like a superhero or something!

 

That really sucks, they should have written that moron a ticket, at least. I hope you don't run into any problems getting your car fixed.

Another two tone grey Camaro! Congratulations, you are member #3 (that I'm aware of) in the exclusive two tone grey Camaro club. HrdRck305 (or something like that) and myself being the other two members. Congratulations again.

What WWII game were you playing?

 

I was playing Medal of Honor, Allied Assault. You were saying something about the two tone gray deal, was that paint rare or something? I've seen a Firebird with the same color paint just in better condition.

It sounds like I am getting all new parts except for the side view mirror which they found used. I get a new fender, and a new front bumper cover. It's still in the works if I get a new front bumper cover or not. They don't really have to replace it but the body shop thinks it would repair better if not cheaper by replacing it with a new one. The insurance company still has to say if they want to do that. The only catch is I pay like 30% parts and labor for the front cover. I figure that isn't bad at all to replace a part that was starting to crack, fade and web. Anyways they scheduled me for the 14th to come in and get work done.

I don't think of myself as a superhero, I just think I attract morons to my car. (See https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...624#post644624 for details on that last sentence)

Oh and by the way, the car had never been hit or had any body work done to it for 14 years till some jerkoff jumped into my car last Spring. The worst that had been done to the car was a few paint jobs.

 

I went and got the accident report today, the guy driving the truck was charged with hit and run. Turns out he had got out of the truck to unload some things and instead of leaving it in park he left it in reverse!!! I am thankful for the officer but he shouldn't go into the insurance business, he said there was $500 damage to my car and $5200 to the person's lawn down the road. Perhaps the guy did hit the townhouse cause on the diagram it shows marks looking like a hit on the townhouse. Too bad he was off by about another $1500. At the end of the accident description it says this, "Driver of vehicle-1 (the truck) then failed to report accident in full. Block #24 - townhouse". Haha just reading that he forgot to tell the officer about hitting the townhouse which I guess he did. Just tells you how much I didn't know till now, afterall I was inside when it happened

 

Wow, so you heard the full story (glass breaking) and didn't even know it! You only saw your 1/2! Don't know why I find that interesting, but I do. Good thing the house stopped the guy; I wonder what else he would've hit (or who he could've killed) if the truck just kept going. And actually, good thing he did hit the building, because the cop might not have charged the guy with hit & run otherwise.

Can police even make damage estimates like that? I don't think that would hold up to any insurance company, or ANY court, because the officer would have to be schooled in building damage and car damage. What did your insurance company say when you called 'em?

And I totally forgot about the guy that jumped on your car... hey, well look at it like this, at least you're not doing any damage, it's everyone else!

 

MOH, excellent game. Perhaps one day, I'll be fortunate enough to shoot you (if you play on-line). My GameSpy name is mwin, though I usually just play straight through the game (but I mwin is my name in the game, too).

I don't think the two tone grey is really rare, I just haven't seen many people on here with it (and all three of us have '88 Camaros). Perhaps someone else has some more info.

 

Like 45mins after it happened I was talking to my agent. The estimate is over $2000, and my insurance company was all about paying for it to be fixed. I just hope this other place is just as happy to fix the same things as my insurance is. Again I did nothing wrong and I've got everything going my way it seems for now. Let's just hope it stays that way.

 

Police have to put down some damage estamate, and on all my reports (plus some I have worked on at work) they were WAY off. Like one cop listed 5000 damage on a 2002 full size ford van, when it was totaled. Um, I know its a ford, but they cost more then that!!!!. On mine, they listed 1200 damage, and car was totaled and list price on it was 7600 bux. So, trust me, nobody really goes buy that part. All anyone looks at is whos at fault, and how??

Yep, that diagram shows him hitting the house. I don't see how it would have went at an anagle like that?? And if it was a "true" accident and he forgot to put it in park, why did he run off??? Scared?? I don't think so.

 

Sounds like the dude was drunk. Yet another car raped and the police don't seem to understand the young thirdgenner side. I seem to be the only one who has not had their car scraped, scratched, broken into, vandalized, or damaged. I have some dents in my door and scratches on the body, but that was caused by me. I am only 5'7" so a thirdgen is large to me.

Sorry to hear about your ride.

 

Well the guy's insurance company is paying for it all. They are getting me a new nose piece, but they are just going to rework the bottom ground effects which should be ok. They also are using a used fender and side view mirror which I am going to look at before they put it on. I won't let them put on some rusted or crappy used parts if that is what condition they are in.

 

I took the car into the body shop on Monday, I should get it back next Monday. I am getting a brand NEW nose and fender it turns out. The only used part is the side view mirror and I am getting the passenger's side mirror painted as well. I got a Dodge Stratus rental, ahh nothing like the Camaro.

 

Nice to here your getting hooked up right. Let us know how it goes.

 

Well let's see where I left you off. When I left you off in my adventures my car was being "fixed". However, I did not know that the body shop I took it to sucked so hard. When I first picked up the car I found many things wrong. They had peeled paint off my hood and roof with a power washer, my mirror remote was loose and the trim piece around it broken by their technicians. There was gray primer on my black trim around the outside of the driver's side window. I did not take the car back that day and I had them fix what I was upset about. So well I come back a few days later and pick up the car. I am driving home and the check engine light comes on. I am rather ticked off cause I have a feeling it was them and I find out oh yes it was. I popped the code and it was the wiring harness not being connected to the air intake temp sensor. Then I find A LOT of bolts missing from my car. I found bolts missing from the braces on each side of the air box and half tightened bolts. My brand new nose emblem was scratched. Get this, my grille was held in place only by the license plate holder. They had FORGOTTEN a TON of hardware. I was to pissed off you have no idea. Then they painted half of my roof half *** cause of their using a power washer on a poor finish to begin with. He tried to tell me it was tape that pulled it off. He also told me the remote for the mirror was supposd to be loose. I opened up the mirror remote trim piece to find it installed improperly and missing a piece I found under my passenger's seat. I found a bubble in shiny non-oxydized paint on my sail panel put in by them and their power washing. So I take the car in again telling them all their stupid mistakes and how my window is making air noise as well. So they said they would fix everything and I was like alright. Yet again I come back and I think everything is fixed. They painted behind my driver's side-view mirror that they claimed would not come off and could not paint behind. I was pissed cause before they did what I told them to do I could tell it was previously a red mirror from a Camaro or Firebird. I asked the guy did a tech check for air noise and he said yes. I drive the car home and the tech must not have had his hearing aid on. I hear wind noise like no other. So yet AGAIN I bring the car back AND I point out that their is still a bow out in the top of the door causing the outer seal strip not to seal and they should have replaced that too. Instead they tell me that there is no bow and push the window out making the window more out of alignment. So they were pissed and didn't want to do anymore work on my car so I called the insurance company. The insurance guy comes out and I show him more nuts and bolts missing from my car and ones in the ground effects that are not tightened. I showed him the window as well and he seemed to not be able to see what I saw. Well so he takes pictures and said he would talk to the body shop. So I didn't like his response to my problems with them so I take the car over to a RESPECTABLE body shop I couldn't go to cause of some insurance lists. They looked at it and said they would have got me a used door, and said how they saw a bow out in the door and that the window was misaligned. This body shop even recommended that I replace the seal strips which the other body shop did not even replace after I offered to pay for the part. So right now I am waiting on the body shop and insurance company to work something out. It sounds like nobody wants to do anything and right now I am left with a bowed door, misaligned window, loose screws in the ground effects and missing ones, one loose screw in a fender brace, and screws missing under the headlights to hold the nose to the car in those places. I don't know how this body shop operates but it's POOR and they must hire MORONS. The other body shop I took the car to said they juse use a regular hose on the car and no power washing. After the paint on the roof got peeled I told them no more power washing and they hand washed it. Even this body shop's hangtag in the window said do not power wash for 3 months, so I don't know what they are doing with a power washer there. They claimed they needed it to get off plastic mask but I think that was BS like a lot of things they tried on me. I brought in a printed diagram from that Camaro Parts CD that one of the thirdgen members sells of my grille. THEY PHOTOCOPIED THE DIAGRAM!!!! I was like crap if they are doing that this is not good. Even with the diagram they did not use the right hardware, it works, but it's not the right OEM stuff. I'll tell all of you before you go to a body shop check them out, don't be in a rush to get it fixed or you could end up like me. I am going to get this fixed one way or another, this shotty work will not go unnoticed. They ran into the wrong guy who knows his car way too well and obviously better than any of their technicians and owner.

 

Man , what a nightmare. I see it almost on a daily basis. People bring their cars in for rattles, noises, etc. Ask them straight out, "has the vehicle ever been in a collision". Most of them say no because they know it will void their warranty. Check car for noise and there will be missing parts, loose parts, bent parts, etc. These bodyshops work the insurance companies for every penny for every part they can find damaged, then don't replace everything and pocket the money. Insurance companies need to wake up, it's costing me money too. The bodyshop at my work is good, they do a good job. Just goes to show you not all butcher's work in the butcher shop.

 

Right, the insurance company pays for all new parts, you take it about anywhere but the dealer, and they will straiten the used parts.

I worked at a shop for a while, he would strait up tell the customer "do you want to re-use the parts or new parts??"

He did what they wanted.

Like a van that came in, dented over the rear fender. Told the guy, that would be SOOO hard to cut out and replace, he would rather bondo it, the customer agreed, and thats what the customer got.

As for power washer, WTF. The highest power I use on mine is the spray ones at the DIY washes. I wouldnt even think about using one of them heated power washers the hardwear store uses on my car.

 

I've used the DIY power washers where you pay like a dollar for a few minutes. The thing is I am not an idiot and I did not hold the thing right close to my paint for a while to get stuff off and I held it far away. I did that once and ended up touching up the area. The paint on my car was oxidizing on the surfaces but geez at least there was paint. I still think the dent in the door can be fixed just some people don't want to be put out.

 

I don't know how it is in Virginia, but in Ohio the insurance company can not tell you where to take your car. There is a local shop in town that I take all my cars to. I had a 92 sunbird that everyone loved to hit and it went throught them three times and never had a problem. I just had some work done to the front end (new bumper cover, grondeffect, passenger fender) With parts and labor it came to over $3300. The insurance company is going to love me but every thing was replaced that was broken and it looks like it just came off the dealer showroom floor. The moral is if you can choose the shop your car goes to, find someone you know and trust and let them know you want only the best.

 

Well I don't have to go to any particular shop. Just by going to the ones on the list of the insurance company you have further power to get the job done right supposedly if not done the first time. I talked to my insurance agent today and he was going to call the body shop owner to talk about this and see if he could help out. We will see what happens.

 

I was thinking the exact same thing, TS b4c... supposedly that's a lie put forth by the insurance companies, because they've got a deal going with "their" bodyshops. In NJ, you can go anywhere you want... glad to hear it's the same with other states.

Holy crap Josh, what a frickin' nightmare!! You held out better than I would have, I think I would've decked someone. Did I read that right? Did they powerwash the car AFTER painting it??? That is incredibly stupid!!

I would refuse to have any more work done at that place. I think the fact that they put on used parts is enough to have a lawsuit brought up against them. Hey.. maybe you could do that... around here, you can get a free consulation with a lawyer. You make an appointment, then go in, tell them your story; if they think they can win AND make money off it, they'll make their offer. If not, basically, "no hard feelings, we can't help you, good luck with it." I even got a free pen at my consultation before I met with the guy (had him handle my speeding ticket, given to me by a ***** cop)!

Reminds me of a friend; she got sideswiped on a highway. The guy admitted to the cop it was his fault, he wasn't looking. I offered to take her to my bodyshop, she said her family used this one bodyshop for everything, and they knew the guy, and he'd treat them right. Okay, no problem. Well the car comes back with fisheyes in the paint!!!!!! Fisheyes!!! Brand new paint!!!! WTF?!?! That, AND, the door won't close easy. Brand new car, and you gotta slam the door. So I point all this out to her and her dad, figuring they'd bring it back. After all, not only did she get hit and the guy's insurance should cover everything to get her a PERFECT car back, but, the body shop owner is a friend. Well, they didn't bother to go back. Car's still messed up. It just blows my mind that a shop would even let a car go out the door like that! I know for sure my shop wouldn't do that.

Brought an ex-girlfriend there once, she rear ended another person, and messed up her new car. Not only did the car come out perfectly done, but, the guy was able to bend the radiator support back, made it look factory perfect (no dents, new paint), AND gave her some money back from the quote. The original quote (done by the insurance company adjuster) had an extra $150 in it for a new radiator support. That was somewhat ridiculous, the support was only bent back in an upper corner a few inches, and apparently the body man saw the same thing I did. LOL, he probably didn't even want to replace it! So she put the $$ towards the deductible.

Good luck man, keep us posted on it!

 

dude i woulda so killed him!
i have a firebird in the same color
i'll try to get a picture sometime
high five for doing what i would do
chase the @$$hole
i remember something of that sort happened to my bike
i heard a van pull up and i was playing a video game.. don't remember way to long ago(i didn't drive yet)
my mom was out and i had no key
i ran out the backyard, and leaped over my fence... (i still can't repeat the leap to this day)
and ran up to the guy telling him it was mine.. then he says oh sorry i thought it was in the garbage, and i jsut took it back, and decided i made a mistake and didn't want two
first of all the bike was at the front door.
second of all i was a kid, and this is a grown man, and another grown man driving... i got lucky i guess.. he coulda stuffed me into the van.

well forget about it.
it'll be as good as new
like your color, and nice camaro

 

Yeah Tom you heard me right they power washed it after they painted it. It says on their literature not to power wash or go to a drive through type car wash for 3 months. I pointed that out to them and they seemed to just balk at it.

Anyways the insurance guy gets back to me today and he's like yeah they have a bunch of other students cars they need to finish before break. So he told me they probably could not get to it till December. I was like holy crap I cannot believe this, they want to inconvenience me for 2 months??!? To add onto all this the guy at the body shop asked me if I could do without a rental car, I was like uhm uhhhhh I guess? I was ticked off so I went to my insurance company State Farm and talked to my agent about this body shop. I told him all this stuff and he was saying how ridiculous it was. He couldn't belive the power washer thing either he was saying how he has never heard of that. I told him I wanted to take it somewhere else but the insurance company would not pay for it anywhere else. So my insurance agent told me he was going to call the body shop owner and talk to him about this and have him call me on Wednesday. I don't think I should have to wait for other people's cars to be fixed especially when it's their fault. My insurance agent said the guy at the body shop SHOULD have asked me if I NEEDED a rental car, not if I could do without one.

It was raining today too and boy I tell you that door is swimming in water. I opened up a few of the drain plugs to let water out and low and behold what else did I find? Another loose screw in my door came out the drain hole. The screws I told them that were sitting inside my door and that they told me was my locking mechanism, BS. Took them a few tries to find those screws I easily saw without even taking the door apart.

One thing I told my agent was also they used hardware that was not OEM. For instance I gave them the diagram of the nose clip and grille. It had all the correct hardware part #'s and sizes. Well they put in stuff that holds it in but it's not the right stuff. For example philips head screws where there should be hex screws, or hex screws where there should be torx and so on. Or another minor thing is where they had black screws they have shiny silver ones.

Hopefully the owner calls me with good news and I could get the car fixed and be done with them. I am still thinking of filing a complaint against them with the Better Business Bureau, cause work like this should not go unnoticed. Who knows all the little people who do not know as much about their cars who have been screwed.

PS: Tom the only used part they used was the driver's side view mirror. I got a new front nose clip the gray part, they reworked the bottom silver part. They also replaced my fender with a new one. All of the parts were GM parts. By the way they were supposed to wait 24 hours to put the striping on, oh well they did it the same day it was painted.

 

My insurance agent called me today and told me that they were jammed with cars and December 2nd was the best they could do. Needless to say I am not happy but nothing else I guess I can do. He also told me something I did not know nor did the other insurance company tell me. My agent told me that the body shop was told if they could not get the door to pre-collision status then they could get a used door. I really don't like the idea of a used door so I would hope they could get my door back to the way it was. There is too much more they could screw up with a used door transfering parts and my window glass.

 

Man, I hope they get your car fixed, and right. They might have fubared more up when putting the wrong screws in the wrong place.

 

Well I had the last straw with this insurance company and the body shop today when the insurance company told me they would not pay for a rental car. So I went and filed a claim under my insurance policy. I'll have to pay my deductible that I lowered last spring. I am going to take it somewhere where they can fix it properly and satisfy me. At least I know with my insurance if the shop messes up I can take it to any other shop I want to finish the work.

 

I have an unusual request. Could anyone with a digital camera and a manual remote control for the driver's side view mirror take a picture of theirs for me? I don't think what mine looks like should be how it is. It looks like I can see the cables all attached to the **** and like there should be a black cover over it. It's hard to explain without a pic I guess. Thanks.

 

Well I am not going back to the bad body shop. I have an appointment for December 9th for my car to be repaired correctly and fix what they did wrong. You know they tried to stick the back end of my ground effects on with double sided stick tape? Isn't that a joke?

 

:nono:


I just got a mirror in, if you need a pic still. Let me know.

 

Dale,
I just need a picture of the **** if it's no trouble. I want to see if mine is different somehow. I think eventually I should just order a new one and have someone paint it. I went to the junk yard and saw a Firebird with the mirror, too bad the glass had a broken bracket on the back or I was about to pull it off the car.

 

Josh, held the web cam over the '92 service manual pic. Hopefully it'll show what your looking for.

RBob.

 

Thanks RBob

 

Josh, How did you not kill somebody?
Definitely contact the BBB and report the insurance company and the body shop.
Good Luck.

 

I could contact the BBB but they would just try to resolve the conflict between us. Since I would not want the body shop to ever touch or see the car again it wouldn't make sense to have the BBB involved. Instead I have my insurance company involved and they will want to recover their money they spent on the corrective body work. So I figure having a big insurance company on them and my car getting fixed will be just good enough. Right about now I just will settle for the car to be fixed and have nothing to do with the other body shop or other insurance company.

 

I had the car finally repaired at another body shop. This place did everything correct except they need to adjust the window and that is it. They aligned the nose correctly unlike the other shop, they put in all the fastners correctly, and they even aligned my side view mirror correctly. I'll go back Tuesday morning and they are going to align the window so everything seals right. Finally this stuff can end. That other body shop who did the job incorrectly needs to try another business cause they destroy cars. Finally I found a body shop who knows what they are doing and how to do it right.

 

Glad to here you got it all fixed right.

I wonder if you can place add in paper that is not directly bashing that other company, but to "warn others" about the shotty service you recived.

sounds like this new company has it going on, and if adjusting the window is all that is need, that will be a walk in the park for them. I'm also sure they knew how pissed you were at other companys and attempted to do an extra fine job for ya.

 

Dale, I am glad it's fixed too The window is just sitting too high and outward too much. That misalignment is the work of the other body shop, those crooks. But finally things are looking good. These guys told me they used to work on a lot of third gens and they seemed to know their stuff so I was pleased.

 

I got the final work done last Monday. I installed a new weatherstrip cause it was just so fudged from all the work and the misalignment of the window for so long. The only problem I have now is with the side view mirror that they replaced with a used part. The mirror glass looks like someone used sandpaper on it and if you catch it in the right light you see a 6 digit number in the glass. So my insurance is sending out a guy to look at it so I can possibly have it replaced with a new part.

The other issue at hand is how they painted half of my roof and there is still paint missing from my hood. Also the bubble they created on the passenger's sail panel that needs to be repainted. I'll see what the insurance company can do about it. I talked to a lawyer and he seems to think I have a good case. So if it doesn't work out with the insurance, I'll try the legal way to have this all corrected.

 

Keep fighting, expect no less then what car was before hand. Thats what insurance companys are for!!

 

Well here is some new news. I called up the insurance company to see what their progress was on getting my deductible back. It seems they are doing pretty good and are expecting a check from the body shop who did the horrible work. I get to talking to the woman at the insurance company and she was telling me what they were dealing with. It seems the body shop was trying to give the insurance company trouble too!

So she tells me that she is going to have their body shop inspector call me and talk to me about the issues I have with them. She thought he would be very interested to know what kinds of things I have had to deal with. So it is still entirely possible I could have my car put back to completely normal even though it has been about 7 months now. While I was complaining on the phone I felt why not get it all out? So I told her about how another body shop's work to my right fender was starting to rust and it has almost been painted a year. She said we will address that too so I was rather pleased. I have a nice lovely letter all set up for that body shop too that I guess I will just hold onto for now. The woman also said I should not have had to spend my own money on parts such as trim that the body shop broke, a retainer for my remote control for my mirror, and weatherstripping for the roofrail. So perhaps I will get justice in the end we shall see.

 

Talking about horror stories, a guy back into my car at the post office when my sister was driving. nailed it right between the rear left wheel and the door, pushed it in 3 inch, the body shop did a sh*ty job fixing it but someday I want to restort the car right. Someday.... Anyway people can't drive, the guy was a total moron.