Alexx Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 This is the short version. My smog technician crashed my 81 Subaru DL while he was driving it. He acted like I didn't exist when I asked him to fix the damage. He then whined that the car was only "worth" $500.00 and he wouldn't pay anymore than that. I went ahead and fixed the car. It cost around $2,300. I went to small claims court and sued him! I won! I even got my check! The moral of the story is if you believe your damaged car is worth a certain amount, fix it, save the receipts, then sue. I believe I save close to $500.00 a month driving my 81 subaru versus driving a new car. Even if I had lost my court case, (and I would have been very upset) I could still make up the repair cost by just keeping the car for a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Where in california do you live? Here when they smogged my Car, the tech set the parking brake. Good thing i was standing next to him, and caught it. If I wouldnt have, he would have ruined my brakes. -Brian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted January 21, 2004 Author Share Posted January 21, 2004 Funny you mention that. The new smog place I just went to the smog guy was "trying" to get my car up to speed, I think he was in third gear and didn't realize it, or the parking brake was on or both! suddenly the car lurched sideways and almost went off the rollers! Sheesh! I was standing a few feet away in a corner with only one way out if the car had come untracked, that would have been jumping over a three foot counter door. I'm in the San Fernando Valley and the mechanic who crashed my car is also in the San Fernando Valley. As rude and uncooperative as he was, and even though it took me three years to resolve the situation, he did pay me within the allowable 30 day after verdict window. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 4, 2004 Author Share Posted August 4, 2004 Just thought I'd bump this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 Glad to hear justice was served. The nerve of some people to break your stuff and just shrug it off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 You exactly hit it on the head. Probably the worst type of victimizer is the one who pretends nothing happened. Especially when they are certified by the state, you just assume they MUST carry insurance. But smog stations allegedly don't have to carry insurance. At least that's what they told me. I'll bump this from time to time just in case someone out there is being manhandled by either an insurance company or irresponsible sort. You are entitled to get your car fixed, especially if you weren't responsible for it's demise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vegablade Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Wow, im glad were i live they dont do smog test otherwise i might be in some trouble. that what you get for cleaning out your catalytic converter and having a glass pack lol. glad you got what was owed to you though i would have done the same thing if you can you should go to a different place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 Funny thing about small claims court, after the judge awarded me the settlement, I headed towards the elevator and guess who was there. The guy had been rude in court, laughing in a mocking way when the verdict was announced and even though I won it bugged just a bit, so I decided to wait until the elevator had deposited it's current "load". I won't be going back there, that's for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHATBRAT Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Did he get fired? He should have NEVER been in the position to crash your car to begin with. I don't know about anywhere else but they aren't supposed to drive your car, Here in NJ they just sniff the pipe while it is parked and running (At least the place I took my wife's car that's what they did.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 I think he is talking about somone he hired to get his car ready to pass emmissions. The guy was probably testing the driveability of some changes he made to the carb.... or something like that. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 The longer story is that the owner let the partner run the shop during the day while he was taking care of other things. When the partner crashed the car the owner, instead of simply telling the guy to be responsible, came up with all these reasons why they shouldn't be responsible. The crazy part is if they didn't have insurance, than paying to fix my car still was saving them money versus if they had had insurance and then filed a relatively low cost claim which would have raised their premium. The partner who had crashed the car commented to me "it's a good thing this didn't happen when I was driving that $60,000 dollar Merecedes earlier today, the owner was a police officer". You'd think they would have some gratitude that by crashing my car if it was fixable (which it was), it would cost 70% LESS money to fix than if he had been driving the mercedes. The best thing I did was notifiy the bureau of automotive repair and apparently this will be on their record for three years. If they hadn't paid out I think they would have been in big trouble. The biggest lesson learned is no matter how sorry someone says they are, if they don't put in writing what happened, prepare for the worst case scenario of denial by the party at fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 I think he is talking about somone he hired to get his car ready to pass emmissions. The guy was probably testing the driveability of some changes he made to the carb.... or something like that. GD Actually what they were doing was a violation of California Law, I just didn't know it. They had smogged the car and were driving it to the test only facility to see if it would pass, get the certificate and present it to me for $10.00 extra, not allowed under California Law. It just amazed me that my car had 240,000 miles on it, (I bought it with something like 71,000 or 81,000 miles on it), and in two miles this mechanic did more damage to the car than I had in almost 160,000 miles of driving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 how did he crash it anyway? what a sad jerk. good job on your perserverance. call the BBB too and let them know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajavwnsoobnut Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 well luckily for us up here that if the vehicle is part time 4wd/awd they won't run the car on rollers due to the liability involved so they just have you rev it up and that's it no load test, no nutn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 how did he crash it anyway? what a sad jerk. good job on your perserverance. call the BBB too and let them know. After having worked on the car, the mechanic was driving the car to the test only station for the certificate when his eye caught a red Lexus passing on his right, the red lexus than had to cut over into his lane for some reason, the car in front of his (er mine), stopped short, and he hit the car that stopped short. Because I did not carry collision insurance, my insurance company would not cover the damage done to my car by this fellow. His insurance would not cover because he was "working". The shop allegedly had no insurance.... My insurance company did however cover the damage done to the car that he hit. So the person who got hit would be reimbursed by my insurance company, the driver had no liability at all, and I got to keep my car, damaged and unfixed. One glaring loophole in all of this was I challenged the other guys insurance company to prove that he was actually working at the time the accident happened. They actually had no proof, but just went by the guys story. I left the car with this place for a few days, how do I know that he wasn't making a 7/11 run off of company time? So it appears if one wants to weasel out of a situation with your own insurance company, just say you were working, but don't supply the statement in writing to your own insurance company! The reason I wanted the written statement was I could use that in court against the company. The biggest lesson is if you don't carry collision insurance and you let someone else drive your car, you are very vulnerable to any damage that occurs to your own car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaSkeet Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 funny that this topic came up... i have been taking my subie to a place called 'auto performance' that specialize in imports such as hondas toyotas and mazdas. i had some a/c problems that had to get worked out. i took it to the guy and he said that all i needed was a recharge. he busted out a can of r134a, and right when he was about to put it in, realized that it was an r12 system. so he converted it by spilling the remaining r12 into the air (ahem, illegal) and put in the conversion kit. he then pumped the r134a into the system. when i turned it on it didnt work. his excuse was 'you have to give it a little time for it to get used to the new chemical.' then i didnt know better so took his word for it (not that i could understand him in the first place since he had a thick accent). a week later i brought it back because the a/c still wasnt working. i had narrowed the problem down to it being one of the switches, so he said first of all, 'this has nothing to do with the r134a i put in, so i will be charging you to fix it.' this was not true. before the a/c problem there was a coolant leak and a broken water pump that he fixed. i dont know what he did, but when i brought it in to do that the a/c was working fine. when he gave it back was when the problems started to happen. anyway, he did the work and gave it back for $220. his excuse for the high cost was 'i had to replace all the wiring in the switches.' which he didnt do, by the way. i should have checked it WHILE i was at the shop, but stupid me i was so excited about my car finally having a/c that i completely let it be. when i checked it yesterday (since, once again, something wasnt working) i noticed that none of the wires were replaced, just taken out. he had bypassed the pressure switch and the only wire he actually used was a small blue connector wire probably 8" long. it was right on the top left of the hood next to a fuse (i think the 4wd enabler fuse, if ive read correctly), so it couldnt have taken too much time to get in. and he didnt have to diagnose the problem, we already knew what it was before we took it in. i also noticed that he took off the magnet reader on the front of the compressor and never put it back on. in the times that i used the a/c it very well could have blown. and heres the kicker: when i asked if i could use a card to pay, he said he only took cash. i got the cash and payed him, waiting for a reciept. it never came, so i inquired. the answer, 'oh, we never give receipts when paying with cash.' hmm. sounds a little odd to me. so i got him to scribble down whatever he says he replaced and the prices down on a piece of paper. my question is: do i have enough evidence to take him to court, or should i not even attempt it? one thing's for certain, i will not be taking my car to a mechanic for a long time. its all DIY for a while. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 5, 2004 Author Share Posted August 5, 2004 MY God it doesn't get any sleazier than that! You probably need to go a dealer and find out how much stuff the previous mechanic has put out of spec, get that report written on your receipt, and either report the first mechanic to the Bureau of Automotive Repair (I think every state has one) or see if you can get your money back first....and then report them to the bureau anyway. You can't get a receipt because you paid cash... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desertsubaru Posted August 5, 2004 Share Posted August 5, 2004 Wont take my car to mech in A.Z they have bad rep about fixing the problem you brought it in for then break something else so you have to bring it back. Thats what i love about subes so easy to work on!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKIRA Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 we don't get our older cars emission's checked, in pa if you put less than 5,000 miles a year on your car you can get an "emissions exempt" sticker, so you don't have to get it done, so my brat, loyale, and dads truck and TR7 get their guage packs replaced when they get close to the 4500 mile mark, when inspection time comes, the olds pack goes back in and it looks like they only have under five grand on them. p.s. pa doesn't do smog, they just check to make sure the emissions are there, but my brat is missing most of it's as do the rest of the "exemptables" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NV Zeno Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 Don't be afraid of professionals. Wally's (I think he's still on Sahara) is one of the best indy shops around, specializes in Asian cars. Very reputable. Not the cheapest, but honest and fair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baccaruda Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 call the better business bureau, any auto related agencies you can think of, and the state attorney general. most lawyers will talk to you on the phone for a few minutes for free too. if all else fails, you could "redecorate" his shop in the middle of the night (JOKING) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaSkeet Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 hmm... redecorating sounds fun... i think im just gonna forget about it rather than spend the next 3 years of my life trying to get him to cough up the moolah...im going down there today to get my nuts back (sounds a little weird there) that hold that magnet thingy in place so i can use my a/c safely for my 45 min. trip downtown to a tint shop (limoru is what im calling it from now on...not). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexx Posted August 6, 2004 Author Share Posted August 6, 2004 If someone else is going to fix what the first mechanic broke, then have it documented on the receipt they give you. Then just write a one page report to the bureau of automotive repair about what happened to you with the first mechanic, including the part about being forced to pay cash payments and then getting no receipt. That's how change happens, otherwise all we do is spend our time going to a new sandbox thinking it won't have any crap in it when we never take the time to clean up the sandbox we were just in. The key is to not have a personal confrontation with the previous mechanic, just do it the way the "educated" people who run us do it, which is with paper and the written word. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SubaSkeet Posted August 6, 2004 Share Posted August 6, 2004 paid him a visit about the same time you posted that message... i believe it was the last time ill intentionally see him about my car. i got him to bolt that magnet thing back on (all he could do was complain, but had to do it because if he didnt he knew i had grounds for a suit) and took off with my a/c to get my limo tint from a friend. drove home from the tinters in a nice, cooled, blacked out car. i almost cried when i saw a fellow subaru (think it was a legacy) abandoned on the side of the freeway... i was tempted to pick it up but it was gone by the time i came back. poor subie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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