Car repair (insurance-paid) help?

[Carol]

A few weeks ago, I was in a minor car accident where I rear-ended someone. Everybody was fine, and the other SUV was barely damaged (much larger than mine). I wasn't going fast but I tore up my front end a bit because the Hondabanger nosed under the other drivers tank, er, BMW.

I recently got the car back and thought they did a beautiful job with the repair. The paint is indistinguishable.

Monday was the first hot day of the year (86 degrees). I got in my car, it was hot as an oven but...to my shock, I was getting NOTHING from the AC. Not even a whimper of refrigerant was there.

I don't believe that I'm out of refrigerant due to the age of the car. I've known friends that with Hondas that have driven their cars for several years without having to have the cooling system checked...mine is only 3 years old.

I'm concerned that there may be some element to the cooling system - piping or whathaveyou - that has lost its integrity enough to leak all of its coolant. I know the AC worked fine before the accident.

Has anyone ever faced this sort of secondary repair issues, especially with something thats a bit harder to "prove"? I have called the body shop back (the manager and I are playign phone tag) but any additional advice would be most welcome. Thanks

 

[Kacey]

When I about 18, I was in an accident in which I ran into another car (she was making an illegal left turn - her fault) - it wasn't until we got my father's car back that we realized the odometer cable had broken. If I recall (this was over 20 years ago), my father finally gave up and paid for it himself, because it was reported at the time of the accident, and they wouldn't accept it as accident-related damage. Sorry I don't have a better outcome to share with you.

 

[Carol]

Funny how this worksl...no sooner did I post it.....and my cell phone rang - it was the body shop manager. :lol:

The manager said my AC unit was damaged in the wreck so I actually have a new condensor under the hood now. The manager apologized and said it sounded like it either wasn't charged properly or a hose had a bad fitting.

So - the insurance company doesn't have to be approached, I just have to pick a morning to go back down there to get the work done and be prepared for a couple hour wait. He offered me a discount on a remote starter (which I had enquired about) for my trouble. Sweet!

 

[Bigshadow]

Funny how this worksl...no sooner did I post it.....and my cell phone rang - it was the body shop manager. :lol:

The manager said my AC unit was damaged in the wreck so I actually have a new condensor under the hood now. The manager apologized and said it sounded like it either wasn't charged properly or a hose had a bad fitting.

So - the insurance company doesn't have to be approached, I just have to pick a morning to go back down there to get the work done and be prepared for a couple hour wait. He offered me a discount on a remote starter (which I had enquired about) for my trouble. Sweet!

Fantastic! I was going to reply but I saw that they called. They are generally very good about that stuff. If you have premature failure of something that could have been damaged during the accident even 8 months from now you should be able to take it back to the shop and they will square up with the insurance company. At least this has been my experience in that situation.

Keep all of your paperwork and contact information for the various people.

 

[terryl965]

Funny how this worksl...no sooner did I post it.....and my cell phone rang - it was the body shop manager. :lol:

The manager said my AC unit was damaged in the wreck so I actually have a new condensor under the hood now. The manager apologized and said it sounded like it either wasn't charged properly or a hose had a bad fitting.

So - the insurance company doesn't have to be approached, I just have to pick a morning to go back down there to get the work done and be prepared for a couple hour wait. He offered me a discount on a remote starter (which I had enquired about) for my trouble. Sweet!

That is greta news see everything is fine in the end for once.

 

[Kacey]

That's great, Carol - I'm glad things are working out for you.