My car got hit and the repairs got botched! DIYer SOS!

[Hautboismusique]

Hi everyone! So, I'm a fairly easy going person, but I have one simple rule: don't mess with my family, my dog, my instruments, or my car.....

Well, I have a 2004 pontiac vibe that I absolutely love (154,000 and still running fabulously!), and some person hit it while parked in the street. Not a substantial amount of body damage, but the front driver's side wheel took the brunt of the impact. The plain steel rim actually had to be replaced. Insurance adjustor didn't check out the suspension, but now that one strut is completely locked up (all others are good: no leaks, no excessive bouncing, bushings look good, etc). My baby won't hold an alignment for longer than 2months, and it pulls to the left, pretty strongly. I'm having the mechanic who did the collision repair (not my usual guy......insurance....) re-evaluate it, but I'm concerned that once again it's going to be a case of "it looks fine to me, silly girl...[insert whistling]..." Considering they couldn't even correctly match the silver paint (my light grey now has an ever so slight green cast to it on the front left quarter: *all* the expletives!!!), I think this means I'm going to be tearing my front end apart myself and replacing suspension parts, something that will make me very angry, given the circumstances. If it's just a matter of throwing on a quick strut and a new stabilizer bar, I'll be semi-happy, but from what I'm finding, I doubt that will be the only thing.

So, to the most excellent members of the genvibe forum, I have a couple questions: 1) could this strut have been taken out by a side impact primarily to the wheel it's associated with? 2) what other parts should I be concerned about? Ball joints, outer tie rod ends come to mind. 3) how would I go about checking these other components as a DIYer beyond looking for obvious grease everywhere, shot bushings? The front is rattling like something fierce: sounds like I have a sack of nailed pinned under the well even when going over slight bumps. Steering is jerky, but thinking that's related to the shot strut assembly/mount. 4) should I be especially concerned about the rack and pinion or steering column? Or not likely? 5) should I have my personal mechanic do an estimate and speculate likelihood of damages being from the hit and run, so I can go after the insurance company for not checking this out?

I do my own work, but don't have a ton of experience with chassis and suspension, so I'm kind of at a loss. Just paid this thing off this month, too.

And, something tells me all my upgrade money is going to go into fixing this back to OEM specs, isn't it....... [twitch]


Thanks all for your advice!!!

[vibrologist]

I have a couple questions:
1) could this strut have been taken out by a side impact primarily to the wheel it's associated with? Absolutely!

2) what other parts should I be concerned about? Ball joints, outer tie rod ends come to mind.
Upon an impact I would mostly worry about bent things: the tie rod itself could be bent. The steering rack could have been shifted slightly whithin it's mounting points. The lower control arm could have been bent. The lower ball joint and the ball joints in the tie rod ends could have taken damage but it won't show for quite some time.

3) how would I go about checking these other components as a DIYer beyond looking for obvious grease everywhere, shot bushings?
You should not have to do that. It was not your fault and you aren't an ASE certified mechanic with a shop! Where I live I can choose the shops who do the work on my car after an accident and the insurance will have to pay. Get to know the rules and make them follow the rules! My biggest worry is: if you fix it on your own you will have no recourse at all against unfavorable decisions by the insurance company.

The front is rattling like something fierce: sounds like I have a sack of nailed pinned under the well even when going over slight bumps. Steering is jerky, but thinking that's related to the shot strut assembly/mount.
You drive this thing to the shop and no further. The strut is part of the steering. Because it is bent and locked it can't twist either. That is why the steering is jerky. You put extra strain on the power steering driving like that. It is dangerous!

4) should I be especially concerned about the rack and pinion or steering column? Or not likely?
I consider it a secondary concern: If replacing the strut does not fix all the problems, then we need to look at a few more things. I.e.: After replacing the strut and alignment the car keeps pulling to the side. This could mean that the control arm mounts at the subframe are bent.
The further away things are from the spot that got hit, the less likely they are damaged. The steering column should be fine.

5) should I have my personal mechanic do an estimate and speculate likelihood of damages being from the hit and run, so I can go after the insurance company for not checking this out?
YES, YES, ABSOLUTELY YES!!!

I do my own work, but don't have a ton of experience with chassis and suspension, so I'm kind of at a loss. Just paid this thing off this month, too.

And, something tells me all my upgrade money is going to go into fixing this back to OEM specs, isn't it....... [twitch]


Thanks all for your advice!!!


YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO GET YOUR CAR FIXED AT THE INSURANCE' EXPENSE. IF NEEDED GET A LAWYER!!!!

[tpollauf]

By any chance did you take some photos (especially close-up ones) of this damage? If so post them here so us GenVibe experts (not me ..) can futhere asses the damage and offer you suggestions. I see you joined us last winter BUT just now made your first post! Too bad it is always something negative happening to our Vibes which forces us to get involved here. If you did not take any photos yet, it's not too late. I'd like to see the mismatch paint job myself. Get us some proof of this unfortunate accident and keep us all posted here. Thanks

[Hautboismusique]

By any chance did you take some photos (especially close-up ones) of this damage? If so post them here so us GenVibe experts (not me ..) can futhere asses the damage and offer you suggestions.....Get us some proof of this unfortunate accident and keep us all posted here. Thanks

LOL sounds kind of ominous, doesn't it? I have pictures of the damage, but unfortunately a strut wouldn't show up especially well in pictures, would it? Nor would other involved mechanical problems....

The paint discrepancy is subtle: can only really see it on sunny days, and fortunately for my tendency to get really angry about unintentional mismatched car paint, around here, those days only come around 4-5 days per year thanks to the parallel and crappy air quality... The adjustor actually told me it looks fine, but I had two other people comment to me about it not matching post accident, without me bringing it up, one of whom does custom paint jobs and wraps for a living, and we've since viewed it in multiple situations, to discount any reflection from trees, etc. Definitely a twinge of green. Almost like they didn't clean their equipment properly before spraying that little piece.

I can take pics of driver's strut vs the passenger's side, as that seems more relevant than the body damage to the topic at hand. It looks less like "who the f--- took a backhoe to my car" and more along the lines of lots and lots of subtle things. Bumper and skirting had to be replaced, wheel had to be replaced, tire had to be replaced, wheel well guard had to be replaced. Headlight assembly had to be replaced. Mirror was completely ripped off and had to be replaced. Quarter panels had to be straightened/replaced and repainted, driver's door had to be remounted as it was catching in the bottom corner by the wheel well. Skirting around the wheel well and along the runner had to be replaced.....all and all the insurance company was charged close to $3800 to repair what they did, which wasn't everything it needed. No documentation stating that they even looked beyond the cosmetic, beyond a tire balance and alignment. And some of the silicone stripping along the edge of the new skirting is beginning to peel, too. If I had to choose, I'd rather have some of the dents back if it meant the suspension could have gotten an honest and documented look. But, considering I have full coverage insurance and NO prior accidents or moving violations EVER (I'm 28, and have been driving since I was 16, so statistically speaking, I'm about as minimal an insurance risk as a company could have), I should NOT have to choose between my car looking pre-accident and driving pre-accident. What complicates things is that this was fixed back in late march/early april, but I was extremely ill from days after I got the car back to Mid-May. I've only been driving post-repair work for about 3-4 months, and even then not much until recently. That's also why I haven't gotten to ask about all the stuff I want to do to this car: I lost my job from being sick, and all the money for the car's awesomefication went to bills. So I didn't exactly want to get back into it. I want to, in a perfect world, get way nicer and slightly larger rims: in black, put a body kit and vented hood on it, paint it a dark rich purple, improve the tuning and/or put a turbo on it, do some custom interior and exterior lighting, etc, in no particular order. Now I'm more worried about getting it back to OEM standards. One step at a time.

I feel as though there should be an extra thread on here regarding illogical, stupid, or sexist things mechanics and/or adjustors have told people whose cars are victims of yet more people's stupidity. Idiotic and/or sexist things I've been told by the adjustors (plural!) so far regarding this include, "it's not that bad" (not in the sense that it was totaled, but considering it hasn't driven correctly since, I'd say I have a horse in this race...), "it was out of toe when you brought it in, so...." (yes, probably in no small part because it was, ahem, hit right in the wheel......gah), "cars probably aren't [my] thing, so should probably trust the guys here at the service center" (cars are my thing, specifically my favorite hobby- they really, really are, and considering the next ball of stupid gushed forth from their mouths, this one really made me angry), and "the struts are an internal part of the suspension, so it is *highly unlikely* that the strut would be damaged in an accident that affected the wheel. They're pretty deep in there so a lot of other parts would be damaged, too" ([twitch].....1) they're not internal: if they were anymore external they wouldn't be attached 2) they absolutely can be, ESPECIALLY because of the direct involvement of the wheel itself, 3) there probably ARE other things wrong, seeing as it sounds like a sack of quarters is tacked to the well every time I go over even a SLIGHT bump and 4) shut up, fool, and where is an adult with even a little car knowledge I can speak to?!?........[all the expletives, ever] )

Seeing as the shop in question didn't document suspension damage nor did they document a lack thereof, this is going to devolve into a game of he said/she said rather quickly, in this case the "she" will probably become a factor not in my favor in court, if it comes to that, thanks to those sweet, sweet stereotypes..... Seriously, replacing a strut is cheaper for them in terms of money and reputation than a lawsuit, but I've already got two impartial mechanics, as well as my usual one, lined up to perform a diagnostic estimate this week. Also, I'm Irish, so letting things go isn't exactly my forte, and I'm 100% FINE with that. Game. on.

[lannvouivre]

Ask for a new adjuster who isn't a complete turd. Claims adjusters are nasty, nasty people a lot of the time. You can probably line up a Toyota dealership to inspect the damage, as the car is mechanically a Toyota. Maybe these guys should listen more to MECHANICS and less to (removed) MY WALLET IT HURTS

[vibrologist]

I agree with lannvouivre. Get e mechanic to document the damage to the suspension. Also make sure he looks at the CV joint and drive shaft. With the mechanic's documentation and a brief request to get it fixed right I would expect a decent insurance company take care of their client. Demand a written answer in a few business days. Keep copies of everything that they write and that you wrote and what the mechanic opined. Build a legal case by collecting evidence. Look if this would go to a small claims court in your state.

All the best

[Hautboismusique]

Thanks all! Have an appointment on Tuesday. Have photos and all documentation thus far, and calling my insurer in the AM. I'm so pissed off, what with the greenish fender and non-functional suspension..... Also, pics of the paint: pretty hard to tell in the photo, but it's definitely off....