A Pack of Thieves

[Miriam C.]

So all the snow finally got off my car and I could get out and check out the body work. To my surprise The first time I drove it it developed a hummmm. So I took it home and of course it got cold and snowed again.

Finally I looked under the new hood. To my surprise, the power steering fluid was way low and had a leak at the top of the hose. While checking out this oddity (never did that before)I noticed an even bigger phenomenon. There was an even bigger oil leak all over my motor. My car has never leaked---ever.

So I injured my knee and couldn't walk for a week so I left it and cleaned the garage.

Well the conversation I had with the insurance adjuster came back. He insisted he had pictures of a major oil leak in my motor. I finally called him a lier and insisted on a copy of the pictures. He declined. Now I really think I want those pictures.

Now the car is in the garage and I finally checked it out. EVERY screw on the valve cover is loose. I mean I can turn them with my finger nail.

I know any sensible person would have taken the pittance of money they paid for my car and scooted. Someone would have bought the car from the insurance company, at auction, or gotten it for the storage fee.

I am beyond angry, not just at the blatant thievery but at the number of people I know who want me to believe the ice falling on the hood did this. Or maybe they needed to loosen them to fix the hood.

Beware who takes your car anywhere. I guess I should have ridden with the tow truck.

[Jiminsav]

wow..thats so wrong i'm speachless..it's a damn good thing it don't snow here, or i'd be in jail for murder.

[Miriam C.]

wow..thats so wrong i'm speachless..it's a damn good thing it don't snow here, or i'd be in jail for murder.

My first fear was that the ice had punched a hole in the oil pan or transaxle housing. There was a lot of clattering and humming. Finding someone just wanted to make a buck royally ticks me off. Cheating an older person really ticks me off. I am thinking Monday morning I will call the Attorney Generals office for where to file a complaint. It won't find the quilty party, cynical I know, but it will keep em honest for a week or two. (Maybe)

I can picture someone else having to take their car to a shop and paying to get it fixed. Around here that means another rip off. Heck they only charge a couple of hundred to change a valve cover gasket. I wonder how many shops would be honest?

I guess the only good news is I found it before I killed the car.

[Laredo]

Miriam, I missed how this started.

Does your AG have a 'lemon law' or a 'fraudulent repairs' law?

[Miriam C.]

Miriam, I missed how this started.

Does your AG have a 'lemon law' or a 'fraudulent repairs' law?

Hi Laredo,
My car had a ton of ice fall off a roof in our ice storm. The roof and hood were badly dented and the windshield smashed. The tow truck had to wench it out of the ice and it really looked totaled. They were supposed to take it to the body shop. Long and short of it. The car made it to the body shop after I called them the second day when I hadn't heard anything.

I opted to keep my car until I could find another. It cost less to fix it. I drove it home in the snow and parked it. When the snow let up I took it 2 miles to the fabric store. By then it was tappin and hummin.

I am sure there are laws against this and insurance fraud is one of them. I don't even expect to find the person. I do expect there to be a record for next time. Sometimes that is the best you get.

[Kevin A]

Miriam,

Here's a link to your state insurance commissioner.
http://insurance.mo.gov/
Here in Ca. we have a "bureau of automotive repair" I tried to find the equivalent for MO. with no luck. Perhaps someone else is familiar with such an organization in MO.

[Miriam C.]

Thank you Keven. It looks like they might be interested in folks getting stuff at auction too cheap.

It has to be that because the body shop doesn't do motor repairs and they were really cheap on the body repairs. I called around. Besides they could have tightened the screws back.

[Ira]

How old is the car?

This has a lot to do with what they "determine" to be the cause of certain problems.

[Miriam C.]

How old is the car?

This has a lot to do with what they "determine" to be the cause of certain problems.

1994 Nissan and I have done all the maintenance from day one. They just saw a Bunch of oil. Well come Monday we will see if anyone cares. Maybe I need to write the paper about the bad habits going on around here. They were only going to give me a set amount and the difference was less than $100. I am ticked about the total dishonesty and the harm it could have caused.

Don't want their money but it would be nice if some licenses got pulled

[dhazard]

When I was about 17 I took my car into a shop to have an alignment done. When I picked it up about 2 hr later they told me that the carburetor should be rebuilt and they would gladly do it for a couple of hundred dollars, almost the price that I had paid for the carb. about 6 months before. I declined the offer, paid for the alignment and drove off. I got a few miles away and the car started to run bad, stopped and looked under the hood and could see handprints on the air filter. I took the air filter off and could see that the choke was almost closed, looked at the choke linkage and could see that it was connected backwards so that it was closing as the engine warmed up. I then went back to the shop and used the payphone that was next to the counter. My 1st call was to the B.B.B. and told them what I had just found, they told me to call the district attorney office and they gave me the number, so I asked the guy that wanted to rebuild my carburetor for a pin and pad, and he handed me one. I then called the D.A. As I was going over this story the second time I see the counter man steps out to talk with the mechanic, by the time I was done talking with the D.A. the mechanic had my hood open, the counter men had torn up my check and work order. Shortly after that a cop car pulls up, by that time the mechanic had my hood shut. The cop came in and I went over the story one more time. The counter man was trying to say that they had never even worked on the car until I handed the cop my copy of the work order and the rebuild quote. The shop was up for sale a few weeks later, never had to go to court over it, but I did get e free alignment…

[Leon]

A few years back my father called and had taken his car back to the shop because it was running bad after an oil change. He said the mechanic that did the oil change on his car told him that it needed a new engine, the #8 plug was fouled. I called long distance to talk to the mechanic and asked what tests had been done to determine what was wrong and no tests were done, but he needed a $4000 engine. I told him to put a new plug in that cylinder (as they should have done on all 8 cylinders). My father faxed me a copy of the bill and they charged to remove and reinstall the distributor! I called and the mechanic said they had to do that to get to the filter (wow - that's a good one). He took it to the dealer the next day and they took a copy of the work order and siad they were going to contact the state about it. I later got that car and ended up putting over 100000 miles on an engine that the mechanic said may not make it home.....

My father continued to go back there because they worked on weekends and it was convenient

[Miriam C.]

A few years back my father called and had taken his car back to the shop because it was running bad after an oil change. He said the mechanic that did the oil change on his car told him that it needed a new engine, the #8 plug was fouled. I called long distance to talk to the mechanic and asked what tests had been done to determine what was wrong and no tests were done, but he needed a $4000 engine. I told him to put a new plug in that cylinder (as they should have done on all 8 cylinders). My father faxed me a copy of the bill and they charged to remove and reinstall the distributor! I called and the mechanic said they had to do that to get to the filter (wow - that's a good one). He took it to the dealer the next day and they took a copy of the work order and siad they were going to contact the state about it. I later got that car and ended up putting over 100000 miles on an engine that the mechanic said may not make it home.....

My father continued to go back there because they worked on weekends and it was convenient

OMG better the devil you know, I guess. Ya know my younger sister had a $600 dollar brake job on her big van. I drove it around the block and darn near didn't make it. Went to Sears and bought them a cheap set of sockets and told them what to do. I could look from the back and see the leak. The bleeder valve was open on all wheels just a little.

No I didn't stay a day and fix it. I insisted she take it back, she insisted her husband who drove it from the shop take it back and finally after some yellin it got fixed. Isn't it amazing...

[Laredo]

If they winched it out from the ice fall, it shouldn't've had to be running.
So even if the dented hood did have an impact on your manifold/valve covers, unless the shop knowingly mistreated it you shouldn't have an oil leak there. It could easy rattle like a can of pebbles, but it shouldn't leak -- unless it was tampered with. Now, proving that ... well, if you've got all your receipts for maintenance and upkeep, you shouldn't have that tough a time.

I'm thinking you got ripped off the old-fashioned way, and this happens from time to time when a less than scrupulous mechanic or manager thinks a woman's easy pickings financially for lack of knowledge about the mechanical facts of life under a hood. So find your receipts, document your maintenance, document the damage and the history of who had your car when -- from the tow truck guy to the body shop. Get on the phone with the AG's office and/or the BBB/county attorney where you live (was the shop in the city limits? can you file fraud charges?)

I lost a really nice little car several years ago, taking it to a shop to have a head gasket replaced. I drove it in; it had to be towed out 20 days later, and before my complaint got to court the place went out of business.

[Miriam C.]

Laredo,
I know when my car sounds wrong and it isn't hurt. I will replace the valve cover gasket (do they still call them that) because of the oil. It should't be a biggy and there is no one here I trust to do it for me. My car should never been started for any reason before the adjuster got there and he documented the oil every where.

I will make a fairly public stink. Maybe save someone else a dollar down the road. I still have to track the leak in the power steering fluid but that is the top of the hose and I have a feeling the clamp is stretched or the hose plugged. Then I will start on the stuff I planned to do when this junk happened.

[asianflava]

OMG better the devil you know, I guess. Ya know my younger sister had a $600 dollar brake job on her big van. .

Those brake job places run the biggest scam. Every single person I've known that has been to one of those places needed either a caliper ortor or both replaced. So much for an $89 brake job.