Car Repair Disaster

[Priestj]

I'm in a bit of a pickle when it comes to my car which is currently receiving repairs. I was in an auto accident back in April (the 22nd) which caused a lot of damage to my car. I drive a 2013 Kia Optima, which I am leasing, and was T-boned right in my driver door. I walked away just fine, but as you can imagine my car was practically totaled.

After getting towed to a local auto body shop, the estimated repairs put it under the totaled value and we went ahead with repairs. Originally the vehicle was approximated to be done with repairs by the end of May (understandable for the extensive damage) however my car is still being fixed with an unknown completion date. It has been 11 weeks since my accident and it seems that every week past the original completion date there have been more and more things wrong with my car that were not initially foreseen. I have spoken with my insurance and have verified that the repair costs are indeed over the original totaled value, but since we're so far along with the project that there is no giving up at this point. The cherry on top is that I have received minimal customer service throughout this process. Half the time I've had to get my insurance agent to call them to even get updates as they never return my calls.

Do I have any rights or protections that may help me? I don't trust that the auto body shop to do their job anymore and honestly I don't even want my car at this point. When my lease is over I won't want to buy it out as it's resale value will be shot anyway.

 

[Slassco]

You may want to check with your local Dept. of Ins. Most states do not allow repairs to exceed a vehicles value. Regardless of the point of repairs.

The insurance company is obligated to pay for repairs already done, and pay for the full ACV to you. Depends on the state.

Here in NC I have done exactly that before. Hidden damage popped up after the repairs were almost done. We had to stop repairs, pay for what was done and then settle the total loss with the owner.

 

[INSUREGEEK]

I am a former P&C agent, and now a body shop manager.

I'd request that whomever is handling your claim (adjuster? agent?) meet you at the shop. Don't bother to make an appointment with the shop. You want to arrive unannounced. It is your car and you have every right to be as involved in the repair process as you want, and to understand the delays.

The shop might be having an issue getting parts. Kia parts can take forever if they are being shipped from overseas. I've had to wait 3-4 weeks to get parts from Kia before. If the car requires frame time that can be an issue too if the shop is busy. The shop could also be subletting work which puts the job on someone else's timeline.

Like Slassco I've had cars get totaled when repairs were 99% complete because something else popped up at the last minute. It's my experience that the insurer will work with the owner of the car on a solution in that case. It really depends on the numbers side of things.

Good Luck!