Tennesse
2005 Cobalt
Non insurance repair
Ok, My car recently had some frame repair and body work done(dropped car off 10/14 and picked car up 10/18) The front frame rails of my car got messed up sliding into something in the snow, I took it to body shop that had good reviews, they gave me an estimate on the the body work and the time need to measure and pull the frame back into tolerances. I was ok with the estimate and left car there so they could proceed and start work, I had asked the shop owner to call me before he began to begin frame pull and let me know how bad the frame was after he setup and measured. He did not ever call me, and proceeded to work on my vehicle. I call in Thursday and he said car would be done friday. So I went to the shop, looked at my car everything looked fine he explained that the frame could not be fixed 100% and he "made it work",I swiped my card and paid for the repairs. After leaving the shop I took my car to the car wash and washed it off, and started to notice many many flaws with the repair. First off I noticed that the headlights where not properly flush with hood and bumper covers(on my car the headlights rest on the frame rails which indicate they are way out of spec) second, where they had pulled the frame rail out and sprayed it with black spray paint they got a bunch of spray paint all over my radiator. thirdly he made a metal bracket and installed it under my car to hold the bumper into the proper shape(was made out of a random piece of metal?!? instead of telling me I needed a fender liner which was cheaper than the labor he charged me to ghetto rig a piece of metal) Next I can see where they removed a bolt on my fender and slid it over out of alignment to make the bumper look like it was fit correct. Finally as the night when on I had to use my headlights and they are aimed and not aligned right. So I am not happy with my repairs, I did not pay them money to do a fly by night job. I read a few places that I need to go to other repair shops and have an estimate done to fix what the first shop messed up. Then to take the car back to first shop and explain the issues and that im not happy.
I am worried that since I already paid them they wont fix the shaddy work, also the shops estimate was off and I ended up having to pay alittle more (which I expected) But again the shop didnt do a good job and I would like to have it fixed properly which is what I payed for. What is you guys advise on what I should do when monday comes around? I have not yet talked to the shop about issues, and have not talked to any other shops, Do I need to take legal actions first? I really dont want the same shop to touch my car seeing now how bad of workmanship they have, but I feel if they are pressured they will fix it right, but i dont want to be charged anymore money for a job that wasn't done correct. I am willing to go to small claims court and fight this, I just want my car fixed right and not have to spend more money. Also I asked him for the frame sheet to show how bad the frame was messed up, and he doesn't have any which makes me believe the job was just eyed and not properly done. So that my issue sorry for the long post but I figured I would put all the info on the table to get the best help I can.
So any advise is great.
Thanks
2005 Cobalt
Non insurance repair
Ok, My car recently had some frame repair and body work done(dropped car off 10/14 and picked car up 10/18) The front frame rails of my car got messed up sliding into something in the snow, I took it to body shop that had good reviews, they gave me an estimate on the the body work and the time need to measure and pull the frame back into tolerances. I was ok with the estimate and left car there so they could proceed and start work, I had asked the shop owner to call me before he began to begin frame pull and let me know how bad the frame was after he setup and measured. He did not ever call me, and proceeded to work on my vehicle. I call in Thursday and he said car would be done friday. So I went to the shop, looked at my car everything looked fine he explained that the frame could not be fixed 100% and he "made it work",I swiped my card and paid for the repairs. After leaving the shop I took my car to the car wash and washed it off, and started to notice many many flaws with the repair. First off I noticed that the headlights where not properly flush with hood and bumper covers(on my car the headlights rest on the frame rails which indicate they are way out of spec) second, where they had pulled the frame rail out and sprayed it with black spray paint they got a bunch of spray paint all over my radiator. thirdly he made a metal bracket and installed it under my car to hold the bumper into the proper shape(was made out of a random piece of metal?!? instead of telling me I needed a fender liner which was cheaper than the labor he charged me to ghetto rig a piece of metal) Next I can see where they removed a bolt on my fender and slid it over out of alignment to make the bumper look like it was fit correct. Finally as the night when on I had to use my headlights and they are aimed and not aligned right. So I am not happy with my repairs, I did not pay them money to do a fly by night job. I read a few places that I need to go to other repair shops and have an estimate done to fix what the first shop messed up. Then to take the car back to first shop and explain the issues and that im not happy.
I am worried that since I already paid them they wont fix the shaddy work, also the shops estimate was off and I ended up having to pay alittle more (which I expected) But again the shop didnt do a good job and I would like to have it fixed properly which is what I payed for. What is you guys advise on what I should do when monday comes around? I have not yet talked to the shop about issues, and have not talked to any other shops, Do I need to take legal actions first? I really dont want the same shop to touch my car seeing now how bad of workmanship they have, but I feel if they are pressured they will fix it right, but i dont want to be charged anymore money for a job that wasn't done correct. I am willing to go to small claims court and fight this, I just want my car fixed right and not have to spend more money. Also I asked him for the frame sheet to show how bad the frame was messed up, and he doesn't have any which makes me believe the job was just eyed and not properly done. So that my issue sorry for the long post but I figured I would put all the info on the table to get the best help I can.
So any advise is great.
Thanks