Now pulling hard left in 4WD

[smurfslayer]

Didn’t you have a choice of body shops?

I had an unfortunate collision with a deer a ... well, a long time ago and it wrought about 2k worth of damage including the hood so I had to enlist a good body shop. Fortunately, I had two shops close by that painted most of the local hot rods, rest-o-mods, restorations, etc. Both family business, +1 generation each so a solid track record. I picked one that I was able to see some of their work. I solicited them, and they volunteered - here, take a look at a few of our project cars, we all are into cars. Most bays had cars in some state of repair including a stunningly, absolutely peerless ’60’s Chevy; Fully tubbed, cage, you get the idea. They had a sign that left no doubt about their mentality - you may get it faster somewhere else, but we’re craftsmen and will do it right. They also disclaimed any non factory “insurance” part.

That’s what got delivered when they got parts, a “quality replacement” hood. Don’t know who made it, but the owner called me straight away and said he’d probably not be able to get this to line up right. He finished it up and brought me in with the hood primed. Put dial calipers to it and measured the gap, showed me hood measurements down to the hundredth of an inch and it was out of spec. He said, if you agree it’s out of spec I’ll call allstate and tell them the part won’t work.

I got a Ford part, got it replaced, repainted and it was sharp. I hate to see a good vehicle worked on by people who are just uncaring.

 

[theman1990]

Yeah...... I took it to best body shop in Tampa (have seen a lot of their work, VERY impressed every time) and they gave estimate that totaled it. USAA Refused that estimate and said they will only accept a total loss estimate from their "accredited center". Of course, theirs said was repairable. New frame, new fender (no other body damage other than minor scratches) and all new left front suspension from transfer case on out (half shafts, brakes, arms, hubs, everything.)

It tracks straight and drives well in 2H. The problem only arises in 4A (can drive all the time like that), 4H and 4L. Not as noticeable at take off, very noticeable at 30mph. No faults showing on computer. Feels like VERY bad torque steer you get in an old souped up FWD car...

 

[smurfslayer]

Well, now they have more repairs to do, just like Allstate did for me, years ago, albeit on a much, much smaller scale. As with Allstate, their $2500 of repairs ended up costing north of $3200 all said and done and would have cost about $2600 if they had only not tried to cheap out on non Ford parts.

I made a point to tell my agent this, but I’m pretty sure that made zero diff.

Sometimes the cheapest insurance rate isn’t the best deal. The key thing here is, the “at fault” insurance carrier and driver --own-- this problem and you’re going to have to compel them to pony up.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this is going to be easy. Insurance companies have a nearly bottomless pit of money to leverage against you in order to delay, obfuscate, delay some more, low ball, delay some more, refuse, delay some more, negotiate in bad faith, delay some more, discuss a settlement, delay some more, get court continuances, delay some more, day before or day of trial offer a pittance settlement.

This process can take up to 2 years.
if you think this one is bad, Geico covered my mom and jerk who rear ended my mom’s car, injuring her. They refused coverage because the other driver was not supposed to be driving the car. Rather than pay out, like they should have, they refused to pay on either policy - she had full coverage - and made her take them to court. Day of trial they offered a settlement. Lawyer said “Well that’s nice, buy my client has had pain and suffering, log delays, overdue bills, my expenses and - we need to cover the lesson for you to not do this again.” It wasn’t a fortune maker settlement, but she did get money out of it. Not as much as to make it worth it, but the key here is that they were able to play the delay game well, almost 2 years.

You need a lawyer, and you need to make it very, very expensive for the other driver and their insurance. Prohibitively so.