Car dealer body shop fudges repair. What to do? [View all]

[spotbird]

A couple weeks ago I was rear ended while stopped in traffic. The other driver was probably traveling at 10 to 12 mph because the impact gave quite a wallop. It didn't look as bad as it felt at the scene, but that turns out to be because of the trailer hitch, most of the damage wasn't visible. We could see that the bumper was askew and a couple reverse sensors were broken or had fallen off.

Once the adjuster got a look at it he thought there would be around $3000 in damage, but said there would be more once they took it apart. The total cost ended up at over $4000. It drove a little rough when I picked it up, then it seemed fine. Also the low gas warning light was on although it had a quarter tank, but when I filled it up that light went off. I haven't been to a quarter tank since, so time will tell if it's an ongoing issue.

Today, almost a week since I picked up the car, the reverse sensor failed. So I visited the dealer's collision center about the problem. They took the car around back and returned with the reverse sensor "repaired". When I asked what they did the rep said they unplugged it and plugged it in again and then it worked.

The rep said the problem could be unrelated to the accident, and if it needed further repair he would have to prove it was related to get approval from the insurance company. I argued this problem shouldn't concern the insurer, it was the dealer who did the shoddy work. The service rep pretended not to understand my point on that one.

On my way home I stopped at the Honest Mechanic who works on our other cars. He put the car on the lift and said that the backup sensor harness was broken and rather than replace it the dealer used a plastic tie to secure it. Honest Mechanic said it will never hold like that and it will fail again. He said the gas warning light very well could be related to the accident, and that a rear shock was leaking, he said that may or may not be related.

I left a message with the dealership general manager, since the car has about three weeks left on the warranty. My question was whether it was realistic to expect Ford to pay for the repairs that the dealer's collision center botched. Shortly thereafter he must have had someone from the collision shop call me, but I missed the call. The problem is that the collision center looked me in the eye and outright lied, and I'm not sure I'd trust them to find religion now.

What now?