Community Chat

[rockygems123]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

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@rockygems123 wrote:

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@BlueFinch wrote:

@rockygems123  Good luck. Let's hope that when you finally get it in the shop in January, that you get it back in less than six weeks. 

All the body shops here have oceans of cars in their lots waiting for repairs. Seems a lot of people ARE having difficulty driving these days. 

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@BlueFinch 

Thank you.  A friend just called from Sacramento CA and he said his repair took 2 months.  Speedy lol.

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@rockygems123 

One contributing factor is that people are keeping their cars longer, and just getting them serviced and repaired.  The cost of new cars is ridiculous so even those interested in a new vehicle take a good look and leave with sticker shock.

Hence, it's a good time to be a mechanic or anyone who does car repairs.

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@Tinkrbl44 

So true. And I understand used cars are through the roof, I guess like everything else.  Better to work with what you have I guess.

[ID2]

We needed a new bumper on our truck. Went to the dealership, ordered it. It came in 2 days later. We had our new bumper on our truck and driving away within 3 days. We live in rural up north MI.

[LizzieInSRQ]

Better get confirmation on how long his insurance will pay for your car rental. Usually there is a limit in policies.

[gardenman]

A lot depends on the car involved. If it's a common, slightly older car, parts tend to be more readily available. If it's a more uncommon car, and either very old or very new, things get more challenging. Very old car parts tend to be sold for scrap as there's a limited market for them. Very new cars often don't have spare parts readily available as few have been wrecked and the carmaker is still more focused on churning out the new cars than churning out replacement parts. If you have a popular Ford or Chevy that's three or four years old, getting parts (new or used) is often very easy  If you're driving a rare Ferrari like the 250 GTO where only thirty-six were made, getting spare parts is much more of a challenge.

[Stray]

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@rockygems123 wrote:

A driver of a big huge truck tore off my front bumper as I was parked at the post office yesterday.  Luckily there were witnesses and stayed with my vehicle until he emerged from the PO and we swapped information.

On the way home stopped at a reputable auto collision repair center, the earliest it can be fixed is January!

The insurance claims adjuster said this is normal for these times, lack of parts was cited.  I would assume available labor would figure into this too.

The collision guy said frequency of car damage is exponentially higher post pandemic, looks like people are having difficulty driving.

Be careful out there!

Luckily my car is drivable as the collision center put the bumper back on, hopefully it'll stay on there till January.  As it wasn't my fault the other driver's insurance will pay for a rental car no matter how long the wait.  Have heard though that rental cars are in short supply.

Always something these days to surprise us.

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@rockygems123 - maybe the new legislation will relieve the problem.   The small independent auto body shops state they don't have adequate information from companies to repair cars & some pieces like a bumper are owned by the car producers & dealerships get parts easier.   Our own experience last year May support that view.  Our lease had run out & my husband wanted to repair damage to the front bumper before turning it in.  We went to our usual independent auto body shop & he has always been very reputable & fast turn around.  It seemed he had less help but said there were part shortages & to bring the car in after the winter????   So, he gave us an estimate & we went to the dealership repair shop to compare & he said there was a shortage as stated, he had a lot more help too.  He said he'd call when the part came in.  About a week later, he called & the car was repaired in three days.   It seems independent auto repair shops are being squeezed out but the legislation is supposed to help them. 

[Laura14]

I had to wait for the gondola from Italy to repair my Fiat a few years ago when a pickup truck ran me over. They quoted me almost two months. Hazards of foreign car repair. 

Luckily I know my Italian peeps and the parts were in and my car was back within 2-3 weeks.   

[Trailrun23]

Am sorry this happened to you.You are fortunate the other driver was insured. That is often not the case here. The news here did a story on a guy who has a brand new Infiniti and the car was hit by hit and run driver. it's not driveable and the parts won't be coming in until February at the earliest. Insurance only pays for 30 days of rental car, and he is now having to make payments on a car he can't drive and for a rental. The dealer wouldn't even give him a loaner. He even offered to buy a new car from them and they could take his car as trade. They said it wasn't worth much with so much damage so they wouldn't take it as a trade- in. Shame on that Infiniti dealer!