APKhaos

Mike,
This is a nightmare story. Has the shop offered anything other than a claim on their insurance? Should have thought they would be doing some serious 'make good' offers in the hope that you don't sue. That's egregious incompetence at work, all right. Clean cars like your dad's are becoming rare.

Understand the vulture response, but it was a gorgeous car.

PCinDC

Wow Mike, thats awful, sorry to hear about it. At least I know to stay the heck away from there!

I hope it all works out (with your father owning that shop).

mroberts

Surely the quickest way to warm up (or overheat) a car would be to run it stationary - a lot less airflow over the radiator. They must have been having some fun. If you were jsut trying to warm up the car, wouldn't you just let it idle for 10 minutes and grab a cup of coffee or work on something else ??

That's a real bummer. I have to agree with one thing - better the 951 than the 968.

MPD47

DAMN. I'm sorry man, gorgeous color too. I'd agree with Pete. I'd be after them for a new car, not getting that one fixed, that's alot of damage. Plus then you can buy that one back and have a good parts car

tuna2

Has anyone ever seen the movie Falling Down? That would be me, Michael Douglas with the Bazooka.

The only thing I would have liked to see was the shop owners face when he got the call and came up with that BS story.

Sorry for the loss, that was a beauty, now about those wheels.........

ldt1

a couple of years ago, I put my f150 in a shop owned by a "friend" that was a cop, and he got drunk and wrecked it resulting in a dwi and losing his job. big mess end of friendship.

Mercedesben

I will stay clear of that shop!!
I use Tif's in Annapolis for all my major work, Tif is the best!!

tazman

Man that sucks, sorry to hear about what they did to that beautiful car! I would make sure they go the extra mile to make getting another car in the same condition an easy task for your dad.

Good luck!

Cyrus951

If anyone did that to my car they wouldn't live to see their next day..

Dan87951

Man thats such BS. WOW it was obvious they were joy riding it. Who knows what damage they put on the drivetrain by their joyride. I would make the replace the car with one of similar value/condition.

Travis - sflraver

I don't even feel comfortable driving someone else's car around the block much less driving carelessly enough to crash into a fire hydrant. I would be so pissed.

Burma Shave

Second vote for Tif's in Annapolis. I used to work at a bodyshop around the corner, did all their referral work. Reputable shop... at least back then (10 yrs ago).

FSAEracer03

WOW. That is very unfortunate, indeed. I'm really sorry to hear about this Mike. I honestly can't blame the guy for going around the block for a road test, but obviously this was NOT a road test! Saying that the tech shouldn't take the car out for a road test for the small work he was doing is a little narrow-minded guys. Part of the road test is to make sure no other problems are present with the car. A shop can't gain a good reputation by fixing one problem while also neglecting another.

That being said, however, this tech obviously was NOT performing a simple road test. He wanted to have some fun, and looks like he lost control of the car. That was out of line! I never like hearing about these things, and this one hits pretty close to home. Damnit, I hate when 951's get wrecked... especially when the blame lies on someone other than the owner!

Hey Mike... do you know of any good shops in the area??

EDIT: Disregard my last comments. I thought that Mike said there was cooling system work involved when all he said was "an oil change and to test the cooling system." That's no reason to justify a road test. Ooops. Once again, I'm sorry to hear it, Mike.

DHC8FO

Remember when it comes time to settle the insurance company will try to lowball your car. Have all of your records and try to find a "comparable" vehicle. I think you and I know that they will quote blue book and say that they are paying "fair market value", but the insurance is to make you "whole" or restore you to the same or better condition you were in before. I would go directly to the insurance company and leave the shop out. The insurance company will play all kinds of games to pay as little as possible, try to get the shop on your side, thier premiums are gonna go up no matter what, ya they know what they did was stupid, and if you were a valued customer, they should help you to get a fast and equitable settlement.

If they don't think your offer is reasonable, ask them to replace the vehicle with one in the same or better condition.

As far as the vehicle you could make a few $$ on the salvage.

Good luck !!!

tjbreen

Seeing that both bags deployed on a 16 year-old car has given me hope that mine are worth keeping. Was the driver injured in any way?