Body Shop Weirdness - What Would You Do?

On May 17th, we experienced an awful hail storm. The Prime had lots of hail damage on the hood, the roof, both left side doors, front and rear left quarter panels, and some other miscellaneous trim pieces. Insurance handled all but my deductible. Went in to the shop June 4th. I got it back yesterday, June 14th.

When picked up, the car shows two faults so far - intermittent ability to lock all the doors with the driver's door switch, and "Window Open" at shutoff and startup when all the windows are actually closed. I'm guessing there is a plug or window sensor they didn't catch when they were rebuilding the left side driver's door.

But.... get this. Somehow, 12 miles of driving was done on the car when it was in the shop (per ODO and Trip B readouts). Their own write up paperwork supports this, as they wrote it down when the key fob was handed over at drop off. The traction battery had 23 miles left at drop off and 0 miles when I started the car at pick up. The Time duration on Trip B at drop off was 59h 03m, and at pick up was 75h 15m.

When I walked back in (not having left the lot yet) and asked why anyone would need to drive the car 12 miles, or have the car turned on for 15 hours, I was told that would never happen. No one has any reason to ever drive a customer's car, and no business doing so.

Obviously, the data shows otherwise. I have a meeting with the manager Monday morning.

How pissed would you be? What would you ask the manager of this operation? What would you do?

This is a large multi-location, and multi-state body shop chain that my insurance (Allstate) sent me to. BTW, the hail damage seems to have been repaired per expectation.

 

I thought so too. I asked about that, and I was told that under no circumstances, would the car ever need to be off premises. They have a van and a driver for those tasks, or the parts would be dropped off to the service center. Their insurance would not permit anyone driving my car, unless absolutely necessary, and only with my permission. Moreover, if they had an accident when driving it, my own insurance might not cover it (which is strange, since it was there for an insured repair).

It might be remotely possible, that they might have broken a side window while repairing the car, and had to get the car to another specialized shop. But - they are a full service body shop, so even that would be handled in-house, I would think.

There is something they aren't fessing up to.

 

And in an absolutely insane combination of unusual events, this same car was at the Toyota dealer the very day of the nighttime hail storm, for free tire rotation and oil service, and as they were lowering the car off the lift, the driver's door was open, and the bottom of the door landed on something they had on the service floor, and bent the door, outwards. When it rains, it pours (hails).



The Toyota dealer will have that fixed soon, for free, at another body shop, as soon as this current body shop mess is settled. The service manager there, who has helped me with out of warranty repairs in a previous Prius, was pretty bugged about this stupid mistake, as his dealer video of the car entering the service bay showed no damage, but going out with the door damage. Ooops!

 

Thanks. That helps, sort of. But yes, I am anxiously awaiting how this meeting goes. I'd be he is also. He drives a Tesla Model S, so he might be sympathetic about his staff using up my traction battery and having the car turned on for 15 hours.

If my car was a Tesla, and the battery went to zero due to them driving it or leaving it on, I would be more than pissed.

 

Good points, everyone. Thanks. Noticed today that the left rear window operates only from its own button on the rear passenger door, but not from the driver's door. That could create an open circuit that throws the "Window Open" at shut down. Definitely a loose connection somewhere.

The door lock issue still seems intermittent.

 

Perhaps the towing companies in Chicago, but for auto body shops? I have no idea. My policy about stuff like this is... "Don't ask. Don't tell."

 

Too late. Met with the manager this morning when I took it back for the non-working left rear window. He invited me in to his office without me even asking to see him. The window malfunction wasn't what the manager wished to address. He wanted to make sure the data I wrote down was correct; the mileage difference and the amount of time the car was left "on." He confirmed there was no reason to drive it while in their care, and none of the parts on the list would suggest a trip anywhere as parts all came to the shop.

He seemed more concerned (and a bit pissed) that something like this would happen under his watch. He did say that it wasn't beyond happening and shared stories of what he's found out about before in other incidents in his management career such as stolen phones that could be later tracked, etc. He was surprised someone had data like this to give him, as owners logging mileage before drop off and pick up is beyond rare. I mentioned that since it might be rare, that perhaps more of this kind of thing goes on without notice. He paused on that note, and said that maybe they should monitor the mileage on the cars going out the door and not just as they came in.

They have the car for another day to fix the window button, or whatever electrical malfunction it is.

 

Yes, we discussed that subcontracting possibility (accidental glass replacement / running to a Toyota dealer for some odd part, etc.), and they didn't do any of that. He told me that they would have gladly said so if that happened. Frankly, I am surprised at his candidness, as I was expecting a subcontracting explanation or the like.