Diablo360

Sorry for the long rant but hopefully you guys can stick through and read it all because I really need your opinion on whether I'm being reasonable in this situation. A number of you definitely use this indy and before I "out" him in every single Porsche forum I'd like some opinions on whether I'm out of line here. I'll do a cliffnotes version and a detailed version:

Cliffnotes version:

I had my car towed to my Porsche indy for repairs. While the car was under his care he jump started it in neutral and it rolled back with the drivers side door cracked open, causing the edge of the door to catch on the cement garage wall frame of his shop. The side of the rear bumper was scratched and the rear fender was also pushed in a little bit, as well as scratched. It has now been 2 months since the damage and no repairs have been made despite numerous efforts on my part to contact him and arrange a time to have the repairs done. I even dropped the car off with him for 3 weeks while I was gone for the holidays, but when I came back all I got were excuses as to why the repairs were not completed. Most of my emails have been ignored, and when he picks up the phone he promises to have his body shop guy schedule a date to pick up my car and fix it, but no calls are ever made back to me....... I feel like I'm spinning in circles and nothing is going to get done unless I take legal action......


Here is a detailed description and timeline of events:

- Around the end of October my mass airflow meter goes bad; so I have my car towed to XXX shop. After a diagnosis (bad MAF meter) I decide to also have IMS/RMS done, as well as a few other maintenance items.

- 1 week passes, I call to check to see if my car is ready. Nope.....

- 2 weeks pass, I call to see if my car is ready. Nope......

- A little more than 3 weeks pass, at this point I'm getting pissed because I have a rental car and my indy knows this. The original reason I had to have the car towed in (the $400 MAF meter that could have been fixed in one day) has now cost me close to $700 in rental car bills because I was being nice. I inform my indy that I need to pick up the car by the weekend. He says it'll be ready on Saturday.

- I call on Saturday to confirm that my car is ready to pick up and to make sure my mechanic is at the shop. He tells me that the car is ready but there is one little problem: the car was left in neutral with the drivers side door slightly cracked open, and the car rolled back and the door caught on the edge of the shop's cement wall frame! He assures me that He'll fix everything to 100% new condition and not to worry. I'm a bit shocked by the news but he seems to have good intentions and it is just a car, so I say okay no worries, all sounds fair, thanks for being honest and agreeing to fix my car. All the meanwhile I'm wondering what % of days out of the 3.5 weeks I had the rental car was due to him not wanting to disclose the damage done to my car.....

- Right before Thanksgiving I go to pick up the car and I see the damage. It's pretty bad, but nothing that can't be fixed. I let him know that I'll be gone for most of December and ask him if I can drop the car off at that time. He says no problem.

- Around December 11th I drop the car offand let him know that I'll be back a few days after Jan 1st. He says the car will be fixed by then.

- Jan 5th I call to see how the car is doing and he informs me that the repairs were not completed due to everybody (him and his body shop guy) being busy during the holiday season. I partly understand, but that's also the reason why I gave him 2 weeks advance notice (around Thanksgiving) that I'd be dropping the car off at X date. Plus he had the car for 3 weeks. Do body shops close down for the entire winter holiday period? Hell no.....

- He tells me that he's backed up and has a lot of cars to work on so I agree to give him a few weeks to "catch up on work" and for him to call me back when his body shop guy is able to work on my car.

- 3 weeks later (around late January) I haven't heard back from him, so I email him. No response.... I then call a few days later and he acknowledges that he got my email and that he's on top of things. He then tells me that he'll contact his body shop guy and have him arrange to pick my car up. This was late last week and no word back from him so far.......

- I email him this morning asking to give me the # of his body shop guy so I can arrange a time to have my car dropped of and fixed, so that way he (my indy) doesn't have to interrupt his busy schedule to take care of my repair. NO RESPONSE.


So here you can see I've just about had it by now. I'm a pretty patient guy, and very forgiving at that. What I didn't mention is that my car is Speed Yellow and that all of the body paint is original and in good condition (my car has 28k miles). I've already come to terms with the fact that my original factory paint is going to have to be repainted and that the match might not be perfect. What pisses me off is that I feel like I'm having my chain pulled after I've been more than accommodating. What would you guys do in this situation? My lawyer friend said to either contact my insurance company and have them go after his insurance company, or to get a few estimates and he'll help me fill out a complaint and have it ready to send into small claims court.

Here are some pics of the damage. Btw there is also a dent on the inside of the door right above the vin # area. Can this even be fixed without replacing the door?

kr3678

Your pictures are so big I can't adjust my resolution enough to fit it on the screen and still read everything you wrote. If you want people to read this, post MUCH smaller pictures.

pmkazz

Bro, I would be pissed by now and would have taken the car to my own body shop for repairs. Then I would have sent him the bill with a letter from my attorney requesting payment in seven days. Next would be court.

Diablo360

Hey sorry about that, thanks for the heads up! Smaller images are now posted.

jdjones2010

+1, But if you have an attorney friend I would ask for his advise BEFORE I did anything! Good Luck (but keep your cool, even if it is tempting) jmo

Pac996

That's some lousy times you've had. Check with the porsche dealership service department for places you can trust for repair and advise on getting him to pay. I'd think the dealer would be happy to do an estimate for what they can do at the very least. If the shop wasn't bonded or insured it might be a big illegal thing the guy is hiding from the local government guys by stalling you. In the long run it just makes it worse for the guy though.

Diablo360

This is a pretty big/reputable Porsche tech in my area, which is in a major metropolitan city, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's not insured; good call on pointing that out. It kind of makes sense why nothing is being taken care of. The way I see it is that even if somebody he knew was going to "hook him up" with a good deal on labor it would still be in the $x,xxx range.

There's a well known body shop not too far from here that is always filled with Ferrari/Maserati/Porsche and other high end cars. I think I'll be going in tomorrow for an official estimate.

SSST

It doesnt sound like there is any dispute about what happened. Call your insurance company, file a claim, and Let them go after the guy through subrogation.

Ive had to Do that twoie and it never cost me a dime. That's what your premiums are for. Assuming you have good insurance.

Actually, just tell the Indy you are filing a claim and he can deal with your insurance company. That might do it.

Diablo360

Yeah that's what my lawyer friend advised me to do. My deductible is $500 so I won't be out of pocket too much, and I suppose I can recover that cost in small claims court. The only thing is that I have a clean record and I don't want to start filing claims and potentially have my insurance premiums go up. But you're right, I guess that's what I have insurance for.......

82_930

Call the police and make it a legal issue that he HAS to respond to... Police reports go a long way when it comes to car damage.

82_930

What shop did this to you?

I have a similar experience from Rennwerke Porsche in Elmsford, NY (John aka "Cheech" Fernandez)... liar, thief (yes, he actually stole parts from me), rude, and a general jerk

Hurdigurdiman

God knows you have done everything the legal way and given the shop every chance in the book to play fair with you. I know you are not asking me what I would do but I am taring mad reading about this incident. I would face this guy and give him a piece fo my mind. That repair work should have been a priority as they caused the damage. I would have a pocket tape recording during the confrontation. I have one Irish temper and would very quietly verbally blaze at this owner. I know it wouldnt do any good but I would feel a lot better for blasting him there and then for ****ting all over me. Calling him all the Effin Bs under the sun. And if any of them wanted to take the argument onto the car park then i would accomadate them for a good reason. Quite honestly I would hope for this to happen and would have a friend in another car filming the incident. I would not be afraid to be taken to court for assault but would make him attempt the first strike. But thats just me. Then I would park my damaged car on his car park or outside his shop and use a large placard cursing down the shop. I would do this until my legs fell off and at the same time I would be taking the correct legal action to get the matter resolved. Even when all has been resolved I would make a web page about this shop naming names and blasting them to kindom come. Even then much of my spare time would be spent outside that shop with my placard. Now I know a lot of our readers will not agree with my actions and my good wife would certainly not but thats what I would do **** or bust. BTW I did all this to MEINEKE over a jeep deal until an AREA Manager some 2 years later offerred to take me for coffee to resolved the issue but more importantly for me to remove the web page. It was then and only then that I removed my web page. I had proved my point and no doubt had lost them a lot of business. I told them to stick the coffee offer where a monkey sticks his nuts. Good luck my friend ...

Diablo360

I'm in South Florida btw. I'll reveal the name of the shop soon enough. It all depends on if this guy has the ***** to let it drag on to a court date. I will update you guys soon!


Haha that's the extreme version but I like it. I probably would have flipped out like that if it was a newer 997 or GT3, etc. I still don't appreciate the way he's handling this and if he makes it more difficult to collect my money than it has to be I might go ahead and make a blog about my experiences with his shop. Internet marketing is my trade and having SEO work done to get my blog in the #1 position for his shop name is EASY. It's something I'm considering at the moment!

chsu74

Would not have expected this from Rennwerke.

kr3678

I would not let the Indy choose the body shop. If it were my car, I'd file the claim with my insurance company and then take it to the best place in town. The other option is to pay for it yourself and then take the Indy to court to recoup your costs.

Also, look into paintless dent removal for that area on the fender arch. It's hard to tell from pictures, but a good one might be able to get that out without disturbing the original paint. You want to preserve as much original paint as possible.

Good luck to you!