Rear ended...having trouble with body shop

Hi!

I was rear ended a few weeks ago and I'm having a hard time getting things repaired correctly.

Initially I noticed some minor rear bumper cover damage and that the trunk latch stuck a little when I opened and closed the hatch. Also, the next day the car wouldn't start. The body shop replaced the bumper cover and they said they "adjusted" the latch. They charged the battery and said that an interior light was left on, which I don't believe. They also reported to the insurance company that they don't believe that the latch problem was due to the accident. I mean, really!! The insurance company doesn't even buy that one and is paying to have it repaired.

A few days after picking up my car, the hydraulic lifts on the hatch started going out and eventually wouldn't lift the hatch at all. Back to the body shop, but a different one this time. The new body shop looked at the hatch door when I dropped it off and showed me that it wasn't lined up straight (the gap on one side was quite a bit larger than the other).

I'm about to pick up my car and I'd like to make sure everything was done right this time.

Has anyone had this happen?
Should I ask to have my hatch door replaced?
What about my battery?
Do you think the latch "adjustment" contributed to my hatch door being tweaked to the side?
Anything else I should have checked out?
Any other advice?

Thanks!

 

That's great advice about the hinges, I will be pouring water!!

Bisco, I am not aware of my rights but I just spoke with the second body shop. They told me that they also don't think that the hatch not closing properly was caused by the accident. They told me that the first body shop got the latch to close properly by adjusting the door over. They adjusted the hatch door back over "as much as they could" while still letting the latch close properly. And get this, they also told me that the hydraulics breaking were "not at all related to the moved hatch door". They said that it was all on a ball joint system and it wouldn't happen. I think this is all absurd!

So I called State Farm and they told me that since two different body shops said that the latch wasn't related that they are done with me. I can say for a fact that it is related because it happened at the exact same moment that I was rear ended! They say a claims specialist will call me back. Ugh

Any advice?

 

Thanks for the advice, I'll call the insurance commissioner. I had a routine MRI done for my MS a few weeks after the accident, and the results mentioned that I have a bulging disc on C5/6 (the previous year's MRI hadn't showed this). I thought about the rear end when I saw the results but figured since I wasn't in any pain and I didn't want to deal with anymore of this, I'd ignore it. Now, since I'm having to deal with all of this crap anyway, I'm wondering if I should bring it up? I don't want to be sleazy but I guess this isn't going to be easy anyway. Any thoughts on that drama, ugh?

 

I wasn't hit that hard. Only the bumper cover was replaced, and it didn't look that bad, just dented in the middle. And of course the latch problem.

I didn't ask my doctor about the spine, she was looking at the brain. I just noticed the spine info when I was reading the radiologist's report. Checked it against last year and they hadn't reported the bulge. No guarantee it wasn't there though. I guess I could start by asking the radiologist to take another look at the previous year. I wish this all would go away!!

Thanks for the advice, it really helps to know that I'm not the only one that thinks these body shops have been ridiculous, so I'll keep fighting that!!

It should be interesting when I show up to the body shop with that cup of water