[Proe]

My friend has a 2014 Forester XT and he got into a freaking accident hitting at the concrete center divider at an angle on the left front first then the car just swung to the left. The whole left side of the car hit the center divider and that caused massive damage to the car suspension components and others as both left front and rear wheels were not only all pushed in a bit but both front and rear wheels were not functioning. The side curtain airbag was deployed. That resulted in $17,000 repair cost.

Questions to you are:
1. The repair shop told him that there was no frame damage but on the final invoice, it has items like frame tool set up, unibody pull and other items that I think are related to frame repair. Also, the guy told him that "the whole thing was off".

Do you think the guy was telling the truth about "no frame damage"?

2. I checked the car after the repair and I noticed couple of things (without the knowledge of the accident, I would not think there is anything wrong about left side of the car).
a. Hood is off to right side so very slightly.
b. The contour of the left side is significant not as smooth as the right side.
c. The gap between the tailgate and the bumper is smaller than the gap on the right.

Do you think those issues are due to poor repair or that is possible the best they can do?

3. The X-Mode now is not working as you press the button, there was nothing; no beep sound at all. Also, the date on the display was displayed to 1/7/2012, which tells me the battery was disconnected one time as they did put a new battery in.

Any idea on what might cause X-Mode not working? Could it be just a loose connection or broken button with easy fix or could repair shop disable the X-Mode then reset the computer to cover up error messages related to X-Mode, which could be expansive to fix?

4. Would you still drive the car or would you sell the car?

Thank you very much

 

[CinderBlock]

Surprised that didn't didn't total it. I would go back and ask why everything wasn't fixed. The X-Mode should go back in and be fixed. And based on the description of the accident, I would guess that the frame got messed up. As far as everything else goes, that's probably the best it's going to get. I wouldn't really want it as my daily driver, nor would I want to sell it to anyone either...

Bottom line, that car will never be the same as before. My brother's Colorado hydroplaned backwards into a ditch, and the shop supposedly fixed everything. But the drivetrain was never as smooth, and his mpg's took a hit.

 

[GeoJosh]

3. The X-Mode now is not working as you press the button, there was nothing; no beep sound at all.

Since X-mode is a function of VDC, I would worry that VDC is not working properly either.

This would be enough for me to not drive the vehicle.

I would hate to sell it, but I would get insurance involved again considering it was not fixed properly.

 

[MrJeff]

I wouldn't keep/buy a car that had more than $1k of body shop repairs. Basically, if it needed more than a bumper cover, I wouldn't hang on to it.

 

[adc]

I wouldn't keep/buy a car that had more than $1k of body shop repairs. Basically, if it needed more than a bumper cover, I wouldn't hang on to it.

I suppose if you are independently wealthy this could be true. But what you are saying makes no sense (to me).

 

[deciphe]

I wouldn't keep/buy a car that had more than $1k of body shop repairs. Basically, if it needed more than a bumper cover, I wouldn't hang on to it.

Man i wish i had your money.. wanna share some... that is quite a crazy statement because almost any repairs even some bumper only repairs would be more then a 1k.
:icon_rolleyes:

 

[ArcadeTom]

Technically speaking, since the Forester uses a uni-body construction, there was no frame damage. He didn't say there was not structural damages.
The first thing that needs to be done (or that should have been done) is to call the insurance company and file a claim on the work. The insurance company should make the shop to make it right or tell them both you will contact your state's Insurance Comissioner's office.
If the panels are not aligned correctly, someone operating the frame machine did not know what they were doing. If the X-Mode is not working, then someone who was not qualified to work on newer cars shoudl not have been working on it.
I would not drive it. Make the Insurance Company eat all costs from this point out.

 

[14TouringXT]

I personally would not be driving that car...

 

[Superru]

4. Would you still drive the car or would you sell the car?

With that much damage I would sell it.

I wouldn't keep/buy a car that had more than $1k of body shop repairs. Basically, if it needed more than a bumper cover, I wouldn't hang on to it.

We respectfully disagree with that philosophy. Our 98 Forester has a new rear quarter panel, bumper, rear door and lateral link. It cost over 3K. Years later we are still so glad we didn't let them total it.

 

[tintfreak]

with that much damage........
consider using it as a boat anchor?

 

[TheVerge]

Anybody with a brain and carfax isn't going to buy it. You'll get pennies unless you don't disclose. Then you might get a lawsuit.

 

[ryan_calif]

$17,000 and no structural damage?? Something doesn't seem right...

And no, I would not drive that thing. It's a brand new car and now it's forever tainted... future reliability will be a big question mark.

 

[ForcedInduction]

So....what I am trying to figure out is whether your friend was in a single car accident (him/her only) sliding and hitting the divider...etc......that's what it seems like from your post.....17K is a lot of damage nevertheless....if that is the case....then what you are saying is he/she should "sell it".....well I hope by "sell it" you mean sell it with FULL DISCLOSURE.....

Put yourself in the position of the poor person buying this vehicle without being aware of the 17K fiasco its been through......how would you feel after you paid X amount of money to get screwed over.....I am sorry but that is ridiculous.....

 

[MrJeff]

If you guys saw the corners that get cut when insurance companies decide how a car gets "fixed," you wouldn't want it either. Before the economy tanked in 2008 or so, it wasn't so bad.
I would love to see a crash test of a vehicle that has had $17k worth of body repairs. The best thing your friend can do is trade it in and take whatever hit he needs to get out of it.

 

[wr moore]

Sometimes it's not the insurance company's, it's the body shop padding the bottom line.

I put my younger son through ICAR certification. In order to cut weight, a good number of structural parts are now made from thinner sections of high strength steel. This stuff can't be straightened without negatively affecting the strength/structural value. Doesn't mean it doesn't get done.

 

[katekebo]

With so much damage the car should have been totaled.

Your friend should take the car to a different reputable shop / dealer and have it inspected, with a written report of any issues that are not in perfect order after the repair. It will cost him some money, but it's money well spent - at least he will have an independent opinion if the car is safe to drive. Asking people on this forum for an opinion without being able to have a detailed look at the car won't help much.

If the report identifies any serious issues, your friend should go back to the insurance company, and demand that car should be totaled. He may need to lawyer-up, but safety is more important than money.

Based on the limited information available, I would say that the car is no longer safe.

 

[MrJeff]

Sometimes it's not the insurance company's, it's the body shop padding the bottom line.

I've seen this happen also. It is a shady business. Insurance companies give better scores to shops that consistently produce lower priced estimates, have lower cycle times, and use less expensive parts. Those 3 examples alone should be enough to put anyone off from trusting the industry.

I wish those schools gave students more hands-on time. Like any other business, the more product they can move, the more money they make.

 

[pleiad7]

I've seen this happen also. It is a shady business. Insurance companies give better scores to shops that consistently produce lower priced estimates, have lower cycle times, and use less expensive parts. Those 3 examples alone should be enough to put anyone off from trusting the industry.

+1

My husband used to be in the Subaru parts business and saw a lot of shady practices by body shops as well. Some shops would place an order with the Subaru dealership for genuine parts, and then cancel the order once it had been confirmed. They would then present the order of factory parts to the insurance company for reimbursement, and proceed to purchase cheap aftermarket replacement parts to actually fix the car with.

 

[Proe]

What I hear is pretty much what I told him.

I told him that I no longer trust the repair work then the car even though we drove the car to LAX and found no issue, so the car drives fine. But, the issue that he is going to have is when something goes wrong in the future he is not going to know if that is due to accident or poor repair work.

Then going back to insurance company would not make situation any better as we don’t know if it was repair shop cut corners if indeed that was what they did or it was the insurance company told the repair shop to cut corners if indeed that was what happened.

He did call the insurance company and mentioned about the issues and the insurance company basically told him to bring the car back to repair shop and they will send an adjuster to "audit" the work done by repair shop instead of having the car inspected by Subaru dealership as he suggested.

I can only imagine how that will turn out if the repair shop did not do everything they said they would do or they did not do the repair properly. Even if insurance company would later agree to get the car fixed right at Subaru dealership; it still does not guarantee that the car can be fixed right. The fact is that the car will never be the same with that much of damage plus who knows what other aspects of the car are affected by the accident and repair.

I told him that selling the car to private buyers would not be a such good idea and nice thing to do as you don’t want anyone to spend over $25k on a car then they later found out it has that much damage on the car. Now, that reminds me why you always want to include "sell as-is" clause in your sale contract to protect yourself from situations like this.

As there was no record of the accident and there was no info on the repair yet, he was able to sell the car to a used car dealership with roughly $9k loss including deductible, depreciation, and those fees and tax you pay when you buy the car. I think considering all things, it was the best outcome for the situation.

The used car dealership appraised the car in 30 minutes and offered I think a pretty good trade-in value. Then used car dealership would later do 150 point inspections before they decide if they will sell it or auction it off to other dealerships if there is any frame damage. That made both of us feels a lot better.

He did tell used car dealership that he hit the left front of the car, so technically speaking he did not lie about the accident when they asked but then he did not tell them the car had $17k of repair on the car.

The funny thing was he told used car dealership about the damage on left front then they later put down something like driver side fender repainted, driver side panel repainted, and radiator support repaired under structural damage. I mean how they know what to look as the car looks brand new. In a sense, I felt like they put down what my friend told them, so they can justify what they offered if he started to argue with them about the offer. I wonder how much better the offer would be if my friend lied about the accident.

Speaking of resale value of the new Forester, there is no info about reslae value on website like Edmunds, KBB and NADA. I suspect it is so brand new that the resale value info is just not available at this point. Just heads up to those who might thinking about trade in or sell their 2014 Forester.

Thanks for all the comments.

 

[Cerberith]

Hmm, so some poor mug is going to end up with a dodgy car buying from the dealer network because your friend didn't do the right thing and sort it out with the insurance company. Maybe karma will see his family in a similar car in the future ...