I was in a front-end accident in April 2009, and my insurance company sent me to River Oaks Chrysler for repairs. I had major damage to the front passenger side, but I was assured and felt confident in dealing with Dennis that everything would be taken care of. He immediately put me in a rental, was extremely personable, and I had felt like I could trust them.
However, I got my car back and things were never the same. First, they hadn't repaired a bent wheel, so upon accelerating, I had horrible shaking in my steering column. Took the car back, got the wheel replaced, and then I heard noises that I had never heard before. There was a definite clunking sound periodically, especially when I made turns. I was told there was nothing to worry about. They had test driven the car, everything was fine.
TWO YEARS LATER in March of 2011, I was making a turn into a gas station and the passenger side of the front axle dislodged from my car. I immediately called the insurance company, and upon their advice, took the car back to River Oaks Chrysler so that they could honor their warranty - this was obviously a result from that collision, as I had had no other damage to my car since then. Sure enough, a bolt had not been secured properly, causing the axle to fall out, creating other damage as it went. (I love to wonder what my fate would have been if I had been traveling faster than 10 mph.)
The repairs were made for free, I was put in a rental car for free, and I eventually got my car back... only to hear a different kind of knocking this time. But after all of this b.s., I was pretty much used to my car not being in pristine condition. I was again told that they made sure to check out everything! (But they missed a headlight that had been jarred out of place. I had to take the car in to have them put it back.)
Now, just a few months later in October, I started to notice my transmission slipping, and I was leaking transmission fluid. When the axle incident occurred, I told them that I noticed a great deal of transmission fluid on the ground. But I also realize that my car was creeping up on the 10-year mark, and maybe, just maybe, the transmission issues could be from normal wear and tear... that was until my car came to a gear-grinding halt at an intersection.
I again called the insurance company and several mechanics. I was told by a reputable transmission shop that it sounded like it was an issue with the trans axle. If I was able to push the car while in park, it wasn't the case of my transmission just dying. After more than a week of hassles, the car went back to River Oaks. They failed to put me in a rental car, they failed to tell me that they were taking responsibility and fixing my car. I played phone tag for over a week trying to get information from them. When I was finally told that they had replaced the trans axle at no cost, they then told me that busted engine mounts were the cause of the problem, and that I would need to pay $650 to fix them. ""They should've been replaced at 60,000 miles. It's something that should be normal maintenance."" I called them on their lie.
The engine mounts should've been replaced after the accident, as they are there to protect the engine in the case of a collision as shock absorbers. They did their job, and they then needed to be replaced - kind of like a fiberglass bumper. Good for one use. But, for the past 2 years, my engine has been knocking around, getting worse and worse. And now they wanted to lie to me and tell me it was routine. Ha! I asked them if my car was able to drive, and I came to pick it up. When I asked for paperwork to document the repairs, Marty told me there wasn't any, and he walked off.
My insurance company is now taking care of the repairs at another shop. They acknowledged that the engine mounts should've been replaced the first time around. You've really got to wonder about a business when an insurance company, of all things, makes them look like pond scum.
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