NTB damaged my body - how should I approach this? (1 Viewer)

[nicholas]

According to USAA, this is actually the law.

As I see it, this situation is no different than if someone backed into my car in a parking lot and did some body damage. The damage is done, and the offending party is required to pay fair market value for what it would cost to return the vehicle back to the condition was in.

Whether I choose to actually repair the damage is up to me. NTB should not have the right to damage my vehicle, and then not pay for the damage they did if I don't choose to repair it.

And mall cruiser might be a little - I do a lot of fowl hunting so I'm offroad quite a bit in the winter. But it's mostly mud and fields and not banging around on rocks and trees. Sliders would actually help for some of the areas I like to access.

In that case I would check the drains, have them cut you a check for a full dealer approved repair, patch up the rockers yourself, snag some sliders and have fun duck hunting this winter.

I agree, it is not different than a regular traffic accident/claim. They have the insurance and it sounds like you will be taken care of since you have done your homework.

Keep us posted.

 

[89s rule]

Fix it yourself get sliders and pocket the rest. Its a 10+ yr old vehicle that declines in value every year. Get a leg up while you can.

 

[tamu79]

USAA rocks...

I had my own insurance company (USAA) tell the other insurance company for the at fault driver that they were ready to take the claim against them over in 'subrogation' if they did not fix the damage that their client did to my car promptly.

That changed the attitude of the other insurance company from not cooperative to very, very cooperative. They did not want to fight USAA, but they had no problem delaying repair or playing hardball with an individual.

I recommend calling USAA and just ask them about "Subrogation", then call the other company and tell them to you want your car fixed to the highest standard, and you want a rental, or you will have to subrogate the claim....and watch their attitude change...

 

[Filmpros]

You may or may not be right ... I have no idea. However, I can say you seem like a laid back guy...nothing wrong with that. I would have gone off and I can honestly say I am genuinely upset just looking at those pictures ... and it is not even my truck..!! I really feel bad for this guy.

However, no matter how they did it .... they are getting off easy with just name calling.

I have dealt with car shops and dealerships before...if they let the truck leave that way ... and did not say anything ... then good luck getting any simple resolution.

At best, if they do admit it ... which will be interesting to see ... they will want to hire a local hack do a half assed repair job. Forget it ... I would not let them touch the truck again.

Get your own shop and if you can't find a really good one use a BMW Certified Body shop ... they at least don't suck and will do the job right.

My guess is that this will require legal action to get it done right. I have had to take car dealers to court before and I have NEVER lost in court against them.

PS: What is NTB so I know to never go to one?

I'm in no way on the side of the guy who did the lifting, I just don't like all the name calling. For one, from the post, it looks like only the front arms contacted the body. I would put money that the lifts they use have inner an outter adjustable feet on each lifting arm and both unused feet on the front arms where not put in the fully low position. The rockers are not that strong, and I would think any direct lifting force would have done a WHOLE lot more crushing very quickly.

Just inform the shop and let them know they need to correct the damage and go from there. People make mistakes, overlook things and stuff happens. The thing that really bothers me in these situations is the lack of accountablity and honesty. No need to get your panties in a bunch because the damage is done, just get the issue rectified.

 

[turbocruiser]

Wow I really feel for ya on this one. I'll just add another $.02 to the pot.

To fix that repair the right way is way more than $1200 dollars. I have pretty extensive experience with bodywork and paintwork as one of my other interests is restoring classic cars. To really do that right they need to carefully cut out the inner and the outer rockers, treat the inner cavity of both, slowly stitch weld them so that things won't warp and also so that the treatment on the inner cavity of both isn't burnt off, then they gotta treat the outside surfaces so that rust won't occur, then texture, then paint. That's an awful lot of labor really. The only thing that "saves" much labor there is that it isn't necessary to "block" the part out and do all sorts of priming and sanding, priming and sanding. Now, granted that this "right" way is pretty purist but I'm just saying that clamping and cranking isn't gonna address the inner cavity correctly. Additionally as others mentioned, past the cosmetics of crushed rockers, you gotta think about the body mounts and make absolutely sure the stress they experienced didn't do damage. I would think that they're all alright but that's based on the fact that others have smashed the s**t out of their rockers on rocks while wheeling and I cannot really remember an associated failure of mounts? That might be something to search here but anyways, I'm just saying that there is a lot more involved than simply clamping and yanking and that I would not accept that any at all for the fix. I absolutely agree with everything that NorCalDoug wrote and I think that you are only going to get one of two "fixes" but in either case I'd really recommend going through this process insisting that the estimates as a starting point for presenting settlement really reflect what it will take to get this back to where it was prior to them putting your rig up that way. Either way it works you can't go wrong getting three estimates that reflect the more accurately $2500 to $3000 that this will take to fix. HTH.

 

[bderks]

Well, this still hasn't been resolved.

When I turned in the estimates, I told the manager I expected the check to be cut to me, and for their insurance or corporate office to call me if this was an issue. He assured me that they would.

2 weeks later, I still hadn't heard anything so I called and spoke with a different manager (who actually seems like a really good guy). He said he'd look into it. A few hours later he called back and said he has an email verifying that the check has been cut to me and is on the way.

1 week after that, still nothing. So I call, and he looks into status again. At this point he says it looks like the check was cut directly to Molle Toyota the previous week. I explain this is unacceptable and tell him I will contact Molle and see what can be done.

Molle has no record of the check, so I call the manager back and explain the situation, and I expect that check to be cancelled and another to be cut directly to me. He states that "policy" is that checks cannot be cancelled, but he'll look into it again. I let him know that as far as I'm concerned, NTB has just made a $1250 donation to Molle and my issue still isn't resolved.

So that's where we are today. I told him that NTB has one final chance to make this right, then I'm getting my insurance involved - which I'm sure could raise the cost since the estimates I have do not include rental car costs for the 5-7 days the dealership would have my car.

 

[ed97fzj80]

USAA. Subrogate. Yesterday.

 

[valkyrie610]

No kidding...

bderks, you can't say you weren't warned how to avoid this clusterfxxx.

Good Luck.

 

[Kernal]

I'm with Slee; exact same thing happened to me at a dealer, different vehicle. I just happened to notice it as I picked up the vehicle, so caught it before I drove away. The service manager asked the junior mechanic how he lifted it; on the rockers.

 

[bderks]

I DID contact USAA when this first occurred, and again on Wednesday. My agent called the manager and ascertained that NTB corporate is paying for the damages, not NTB's insurance company. My agents advice was to try and resolve it directly with NTB first.

If USAA handles the claim, my $1,000 deductible would apply, which would be credited if they were able to get NTB to pay for the damages. I'm not sure how hard USAA would be willing to fight over $1,000, and I'm not willing to take that chance.

Thus the cluster fxxx that ensued. What I'm hoping is the Molle Toyota will finally receive the check, which they can then cash and cut a check directly to me.