HELP! Need your guys' advice! My Porsche indy damaged my car and is avoiding me now!

Sorry for the long rant but hopefully you guys can stick through and read it all because I really need your opinion on whether I'm being reasonable in this situation. A number of you definitely use this indy and before I "out" him in every single Porsche forum I'd like some opinions on whether I'm out of line here. I'll do a cliffnotes version and a detailed version: Cliffnotes version: I had my car towed to my Porsche indy for repairs. While the car was under his care he jump started it in neutral and it rolled back with the drivers side door cracked open, causing the edge of the door to catch on the cement garage wall frame of his shop. The side of the rear bumper was scratched and the rear fender was also pushed in a little bit, as well as scratched. It has now been 2 months since the damage and no repairs have been made despite numerous efforts on my part to contact him and arrange a time to have the repairs done. I even dropped the car off with him for 3 weeks while I was gone for the holidays, but when I came back all I got were excuses as to why the repairs were not completed. Most of my emails have been ignored, and when he picks up the phone he promises to have his body shop guy schedule a date to pick up my car and fix it, but no calls are ever made back to me....... I feel like I'm spinning in circles and nothing is going to get done unless I take legal action...... Here is a detailed description and timeline of events: - Around the end of October my mass airflow meter goes bad; so I have my car towed to XXX shop. After a diagnosis (bad MAF meter) I decide to also have IMS/RMS done, as well as a few other maintenance items. - 1 week passes , I call to check to see if my car is ready. Nope..... - 2 weeks pass , I call to see if my car is ready. Nope...... - A little more than 3 weeks pass , at this point I'm getting pissed because I have a rental car and my indy knows this. The original reason I had to have the car towed in (the $400 MAF meter that could have been fixed in one day) has now cost me close to $700 in rental car bills because I was being nice. I inform my indy that I need to pick up the car by the weekend. He says it'll be ready on Saturday. - I call on Saturday to confirm that my car is ready to pick up and to make sure my mechanic is at the shop. He tells me that the car is ready but there is one little problem: the car was left in neutral with the drivers side door slightly cracked open, and the car rolled back and the door caught on the edge of the shop's cement wall frame! He assures me that He'll fix everything to 100% new condition and not to worry. I'm a bit shocked by the news but he seems to have good intentions and it is just a car, so I say okay no worries, all sounds fair, thanks for being honest and agreeing to fix my car. All the meanwhile I'm wondering what % of days out of the 3.5 weeks I had the rental car was due to him not wanting to disclose the damage done to my car..... - Right before Thanksgiving I go to pick up the car and I see the damage. It's pretty bad, but nothing that can't be fixed. I let him know that I'll be gone for most of December and ask him if I can drop the car off at that time. He says no problem. - Around December 11th I drop the car off and let him know that I'll be back a few days after Jan 1st. He says the car will be fixed by then. - Jan 5th I call to see how the car is doing and he informs me that the repairs were not completed due to everybody (him and his body shop guy) being busy during the holiday season. I partly understand, but that's also the reason why I gave him 2 weeks advance notice (around Thanksgiving) that I'd be dropping the car off at X date. Plus he had the car for 3 weeks. Do body shops close down for the entire winter holiday period? Hell no..... - He tells me that he's backed up and has a lot of cars to work on so I agree to give him a few weeks to "catch up on work" and for him to call me back when his body shop guy is able to work on my car. - 3 weeks later (around late January) I haven't heard back from him, so I email him. No response.... I then call a few days later and he acknowledges that he got my email and that he's on top of things. He then tells me that he'll contact his body shop guy and have him arrange to pick my car up. This was late last week and no word back from him so far....... - I email him this morning asking to give me the # of his body shop guy so I can arrange a time to have my car dropped of and fixed, so that way he (my indy) doesn't have to interrupt his busy schedule to take care of my repair. NO RESPONSE. So here you can see I've just about had it by now. I'm a pretty patient guy, and very forgiving at that. What I didn't mention is that my car is Speed Yellow and that all of the body paint is original and in good condition (my car has 28k miles). I've already come to terms with the fact that my original factory paint is going to have to be repainted and that the match might not be perfect. What pisses me off is that I feel like I'm having my chain pulled after I've been more than accommodating. What would you guys do in this situation? My lawyer friend said to either contact my insurance company and have them go after his insurance company, or to get a few estimates and he'll help me fill out a complaint and have it ready to send into small claims court. Here are some pics of the damage. Btw there is also a dent on the inside of the door right above the vin # area. Can this even be fixed without replacing the door?

Your pictures are so big I can't adjust my resolution enough to fit it on the screen and still read everything you wrote. If you want people to read this, post MUCH smaller pictures.

Bro, I would be pissed by now and would have taken the car to my own body shop for repairs. Then I would have sent him the bill with a letter from my attorney requesting payment in seven days. Next would be court.

Quotes source post: 9236447

Hey sorry about that, thanks for the heads up! Smaller images are now posted.

Quotes source post: 9236456

+1, But if you have an attorney friend I would ask for his advise BEFORE I did anything! Good Luck (but keep your cool, even if it is tempting) jmo

That's some lousy times you've had. Check with the porsche dealership service department for places you can trust for repair and advise on getting him to pay. I'd think the dealer would be happy to do an estimate for what they can do at the very least. If the shop wasn't bonded or insured it might be a big illegal thing the guy is hiding from the local government guys by stalling you. In the long run it just makes it worse for the guy though.

This is a pretty big/reputable Porsche tech in my area, which is in a major metropolitan city, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's not insured; good call on pointing that out. It kind of makes sense why nothing is being taken care of. The way I see it is that even if somebody he knew was going to "hook him up" with a good deal on labor it would still be in the $x,xxx range. There's a well known body shop not too far from here that is always filled with Ferrari/Maserati/Porsche and other high end cars. I think I'll be going in tomorrow for an official estimate.

It doesnt sound like there is any dispute about what happened. Call your insurance company, file a claim, and Let them go after the guy through subrogation. Ive had to Do that twoie and it never cost me a dime. That's what your premiums are for. Assuming you have good insurance. Actually, just tell the Indy you are filing a claim and he can deal with your insurance company. That might do it.

Quotes source post: 9236760

Yeah that's what my lawyer friend advised me to do. My deductible is $500 so I won't be out of pocket too much, and I suppose I can recover that cost in small claims court. The only thing is that I have a clean record and I don't want to start filing claims and potentially have my insurance premiums go up. But you're right, I guess that's what I have insurance for.......

Call the police and make it a legal issue that he HAS to respond to... Police reports go a long way when it comes to car damage.

What shop did this to you? I have a similar experience from Rennwerke Porsche in Elmsford, NY (John aka "Cheech" Fernandez)... liar, thief (yes, he actually stole parts from me), rude, and a general jerk

God knows you have done everything the legal way and given the shop every chance in the book to play fair with you. I know you are not asking me what I would do but I am taring mad reading about this incident. I would face this guy and give him a piece fo my mind. That repair work should have been a priority as they caused the damage. I would have a pocket tape recording during the confrontation. I have one Irish temper and would very quietly verbally blaze at this owner. I know it wouldnt do any good but I would feel a lot better for blasting him there and then for ****ting all over me. Calling him all the Effin Bs under the sun. And if any of them wanted to take the argument onto the car park then i would accomadate them for a good reason. Quite honestly I would hope for this to happen and would have a friend in another car filming the incident. I would not be afraid to be taken to court for assault but would make him attempt the first strike. But thats just me. Then I would park my damaged car on his car park or outside his shop and use a large placard cursing down the shop. I would do this until my legs fell off and at the same time I would be taking the correct legal action to get the matter resolved. Even when all has been resolved I would make a web page about this shop naming names and blasting them to kindom come. Even then much of my spare time would be spent outside that shop with my placard. Now I know a lot of our readers will not agree with my actions and my good wife would certainly not but thats what I would do **** or bust. BTW I did all this to MEINEKE over a jeep deal until an AREA Manager some 2 years later offerred to take me for coffee to resolved the issue but more importantly for me to remove the web page. It was then and only then that I removed my web page. I had proved my point and no doubt had lost them a lot of business. I told them to stick the coffee offer where a monkey sticks his nuts. Good luck my friend ...

Quotes source posts: 9236816, 9236897

I'm in South Florida btw. I'll reveal the name of the shop soon enough. It all depends on if this guy has the ***** to let it drag on to a court date. I will update you guys soon! Haha that's the extreme version but I like it. I probably would have flipped out like that if it was a newer 997 or GT3, etc. I still don't appreciate the way he's handling this and if he makes it more difficult to collect my money than it has to be I might go ahead and make a blog about my experiences with his shop. Internet marketing is my trade and having SEO work done to get my blog in the #1 position for his shop name is EASY. It's something I'm considering at the moment!

Quotes source post: 9236816

Would not have expected this from Rennwerke.

I would not let the Indy choose the body shop. If it were my car, I'd file the claim with my insurance company and then take it to the best place in town. The other option is to pay for it yourself and then take the Indy to court to recoup your costs. Also, look into paintless dent removal for that area on the fender arch. It's hard to tell from pictures, but a good one might be able to get that out without disturbing the original paint. You want to preserve as much original paint as possible. Good luck to you!

Dude, you are one patient guy. I lived in SoFla for 10 years and couldn't wait to get out of there for just this kind of thing that seems to happen all the time down there. Me? I would send my buddy over there to break his legs! But the reasonable thing to do is file with your insurance and have them deal with it. When I have had to do that in the past, I didn't have to pay the deductible and it had no impact on my insurance rate. I had a Jag when I lived down there and was very happy with Alpine Jaguar, although I never used their body shop. Good luck!

#1 Police report.#2 Insurance claim, and then you'll see results Good Luck

I stopped reading after you let him keep the car for 3 weeks to do the intial repair/IMS. Then you let him give you the runaround for doing the body work repairs for an additional 3 months. Are you kidding me? Go through your insurance company. It is no different than if someone hit you in a parking lot. They will cover it and make a claim against HIS insurance company. You should not have to use your deductible and since it is not your fault it won't affect your record. And for G-d sakes man, do it today!

Thank you guys for your input! I called my insurance company this morning and they are taking care of everything! The lesson learned is not to be too lenient when it comes to these types of problems. One week turns into two, then three, etc..... Never again!

What a slimeball! I would go there and deal with it on the spot face to face and I wouldn't leave untill it is resolved 100%, like he said.

Quotes source post: 9238252

Good job! Next time, never wait that long! Keep us posted on the process/outcome.

I always feel guilty when confronting people is this manner, as this type of action is always a "last resort" for me. However, I realized that since I was notified of the damage NOT ONE FREAKING PHONE CALL was made to me by my mechanic in an effort to fix my car, and only 1 of my 10-15+ emails were ever responded to. So much for feeling bad...... And now after my insurance contacts them I've been receiving emails and calls all day lol.....

You were way too reasonable on the wait. Hope the car comes out nicely. Be absolutely sure you are happy with the paint color match in sunlight on a clean car before signing off on the repair.

You're totally unreasonable......to wait this long Glad you're covered by your insurance company. Keep is posted.

Quotes source post: 9238519

People's behavior when $$ may leave their pocket is amazing. Spread the story about your treatment to other potential and existing clients. A dropoff in his business will be a solid payback.

Go in person and make a stink. Failing that, inform him that you will proceed with insurance. GL

(Unless I've missed it), WHY have you NOT identified this scum shop?!

Quotes source post: 9239210

As of now things are settled and my car is going to be fixed 100% according to my terms. Aside from this issue I've had no problems with the shop in question or the quality of their work. This does not absolve them from what they did wrong, but I'm not going to ruin someones reputation, along with the reputation of their business partner who had nothing to do with this incident, now that they've finally stepped up and admitted responsibility and are taking actions to bring this matter to a conclusion. I'm not a vindictive person by nature so this is the way I choose to do things for now....... The party involved knows what he did wrong and hopefully he will run his business differently in the future and pay more attention to the needs of his customers.....

Just don't do with us what you did with him to pee him off to trash your car Probably took time to get a cut from referals to the body and paint shop so you were real fun Or life just sucks sometimes All happy faces now......well......unless you ticked off a paint and body shop owner

Quotes source post: 9239517

Ah, so you are getting some response, hopefully it will last through the damage being repaired successfully. I had a very unpleasant buying experience from a Canadian Rennlist member a couple of months ago when the item he shipped me was broken in a couple of places even though he claimed in his ad this item from a 997 he just bought "looks new, probably never used", the ironic part is that the picture he showed in his For Sale thread already showed one of those broken area but it wasn't obvious unless one looked at it very closely. You can imagine my dismay when he flipped out on me to say I need to file a claim with CanPar the shipping company, I told him I am not going to defraud CanPar when the item did not break during shipping! He continued to refuse refunding me the purchase amount for several days then suddenly he refunded me a small portion through PayPal with the comment: "I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I AM DOING THIS, BUT..." I informed him I could use the pouch for this item so I propose he refund me all but $40 which was very fair for the pouch, he refused and added some nasty comments that he knew I was trouble when he first started dealing with me. At that point I informed him I will pursue PayPal claim if he does not refund what I had requested which was the full amount less $40 for the carrying pouch, he replied that he " will do the same!" to which I can only shake my head on the stupidity of his comments and actions. I took a day to get all my facts together, and was just about to go through PayPal claim when he miraclously refunded the amount I asked less $5, perhaps just to make a point that he "won", and he added the comment: "HAPPY?" with the refund no less, I could have responded with a lot of nasty comments but I decided not to waste my breathe. The point of my rant above is that I seriously thought about identifying this member here too even after he had made the second refund, but decided against doing so at the end since he's sold other items recently to other Rennlist members without issues, so I suppose I understand where you are coming from, but I think we are both a little too nice about our respective situations. Rest assured if I ever hear another member having problems with this seller I dealt with, then I WILL provide full account of my experience dealing with him without a second thought!

Diablo, you're gonna have to change your username - you're being too nice. File the claim with your insurance company - that type of claim won't raise your rates as it wasn't your fault. He's probably not fixing it because he doesn't have insurance and doesn't have money to pay to fix it. This economy has been hard on everybody, even an established shop. But you've given him plenty of opportunity to fix it - so just come to grips with the fact that he's never going to get it done. You can pursue him in small claims court, but frankly it's probably not worth your time if you're just trying to recover a $500 deductible. I would calmly tell him in no uncertain terms that this situation is unacceptable and that you are going to let the local P-car community know about it by posting the incident on all of the online P-car forums if he doesn't cover your out of pocket by March 1st. Remain professional, but be insistent. He probably won't pay your deductible either, so be prepared to follow through with publicizing the incident. You seem like a very reasonable person, so I'll bet you don't really want to do that. But you really need to warn others, so tell your story and then move on.

It wasn't his fault so the deductible shouldn't apply.

I really hope the paint comes out perfect! That's the only thing that would bug me now!

I would depart from the worthwhile ideas above to this extent: Step 1. Carefully document/photograph all damage (probably already done); Step 2. Source a paint and repair estimate from a shop you think will produce best results; Step 3. Contact directly his liability carrier and deal directly with them - any reputable shop will have a policy with significant limits. No idea about Fla., but some states permit a collision claim (it's a collision not comprehensive - it's your car & a driver with permission) to count against your policy. If you don't find adequate relief, an enterprizing atty. should be able to recover repair costs, diminished value, replacement car rental, etc.. Your patience is commendable; you'll know when it has been exceeded. GL

Well, as it stands unfortunately my deductible is going to apply, however my indy is going to cover it. Insurance will take care of the rest I suppose.....

I live in S Florida. Would love to know who this bad shop is so I can avoid him and be the first to boycot. Also, remind me never f--- with Hurdigurdiman.

Quotes source post: 9240255

In my experience your insurance company charges you the deductible and then pays for the repair. This is assuming the other party has not admitted liability in which case their insurance pay the bills. Your insurance company then negotiates and/or litigates with the other party's insurance carrier over liability. This can go on for months or even longer. If they win that fight and the other company eventually ponies up, you get your deductible back.

How did this ever resolve?

ya, nice thread resurrection pushingmylick. would also like to know the outcome. ive got some great stories re my old 911