QuestionQUESTION: I brought my car to Town Fair Tire today to get new tires. They have ramps and lifts for low clearance cars however they did not use those for my vehicle. I have a Saab 9-3 aero which is pretty low and when the mechanic was backing my car out (he floored it) he got the bumper caught on the ramp and the whole front bumper cover ripped off and he tore up the bottom of my car..wires, fog lights, and damaged a lot of the paint on the bumper. However town fair said they were not liable because my car has an "after market suspension" and offered to fix my car but at a shop of their choice. I want to send it to Saab and get oem parts. Whats your opinion on this matter?
ANSWER: Hi Tom,
The shop is liable. They should have known about your suspension. Yours can not be the first car with low suspension they ever worked on. It is their job to know.
You have the right to have the vehicle repaired at the shop of your choice. You should take the vehicle to your Saab dealer. If they have a body shop they can give you an estimate, if not they can refer you to a body shop that they send their customers to. Then you would present the Tire store with the bill. Even if they accept the estimate, do not sige any release form until after the repairs are complete and you have a final bill. Very often additional damage is found in the course of repair. If you sign a release form, they will not have to pay for any additional damage found. Also ask the body shop to estimate for you the number of days to complete the repair. The tire store will also owe you for a rental car for the time the car is under repair.
If the tire store argues with any of this, you can put the claim through your collision coverage if you have it. Then your insurance comapny will deal with getting reimbursed by the tire store. Of course in that situation you would have to pay your deductible and wait to be reimbursed when your insurance company is reimbursed.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Town Fair towed my car to the shop of their choosing and the shop began work on my car without my consent, I did not sign any papers. I called corporate and the person I spoke to said they could only fix it at a shop of their choosing saying that I was not considered an actual customer because I bought the tires for wholesale prices and again stated that because my car was low, they were not liable. He told me that the shop was good and that they only use o.e.m. products. I went to the shop however and the owner told me town fair would only cover aftermarket products. If they had taken my car to the Saab dealership like I had asked this would not be an issue because Saab only uses o.e.m. products.
Do you think I should consider filing a lawsuit?
AnswerHi Tom,
I don't know if you need to file a law suit at this point. You should tell the shop that you want a detailed computerized estimate of all of the work they do. In a addition, you want copies of all of the parts invoices they used on your vehicle. When the repairs are done, you should then select a body shop to re-inspect your car and tell you if the repair work was done well or if there are any issues. If there are any issues, you would need to have them written down and take the car back to the original body shop demanding that all of the issues (if any) are corrected. If they refuse or do not properly take care of any issues then you may need to file suit against bothe the tire store and the body shop that they chose.
As far as aftermarket parts are concerned, in most states if your vehicle is over 1 year old or has more than 12,000 miles on it, they are allowed to use after market parts unless you can prove that they are inferior.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
