stantheman Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 Close friend of mine was driving in his car, destination NOB, when he was hit by a flatbed truck whilst north of Guad. Not his fault at all and the truck driver assumed full responsibility and, wonder of wonders, he had insurance. The family had to return to Lakeside and then caught a flight NOB. Car went into the repair shop on January 16th, 2016 - note this date. The insurance company insisted that it went into a repair shop nearly opposite Maskaras Clinic, Riberas, (Senior may be a partner?). The car was a Nissan X Trail. Damage was to the driver's side rear corner of the car with the bodywork stove in at this point, the rear passenger door damaged, smashed rear side window, gas filler pipe flattened and damage to the rear tailgate door. I had offered to keep an eye on the repair and shortly after the car went into the repair shop, I stopped in and was initially assured that it would only take a week to complete the repair. Regular visits after that just saw the car gathering dust at the back of the garage and no work having even been attempted to have been done. I was constantly assured either they were awaiting a spare part or authority from the insurance company for something or other. In slight mitigation I can state that I know of the policy that the insurance company will only allow used/old spare car parts to be used in a repair and thus scrapyards from here to Laredo are sourced for them. But the constant litany of excuses and amended expected finish dates was unbelievable. The repair was eventually finished and the car ready for collection on April 18th, 2016, only took them 94 days for what was not a real extensive repair job. Would I recommend this car repair shop? - not in a million years. Also, my friend's own insurance agents in San Antonio Tlayacapan, gave a less than stellar performance during this ordeal and only got involved at all in the latter stages when pressed to do so. They were never proactive during the whole saga, always reactive to my calling in to their office. I will be contacting the Guinness Book of Records to see if this will qualify as a world record length of time for a simple car bodywork repair! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Berca Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 Good job. Got all three of the companies. Probably, because that is my agent, my insurance company and their designated body shop, too. Appreciate the information, though. Can't wait until I am in need. UGH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedros Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 What insurance company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floradude Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 Yes, what is the insurance company??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bournemouth Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 The OP might be more comfortable replying by p.m's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecoons Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 I'm assuming the insurance company was that of the trucker. You should be able to name it here. I'd sure like to know of any insurance company that insists on used parts. If I read this right, the problem was the insurance company not the local repair shop because of this insistence on using used parts. Is that correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R2D2 Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 Is this Junior's in Riberas? Sometimes the insurance company does not approve the purchase of new spare parts and the shop must wait , and it is not related directly to the repair shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted April 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 To answer all the questions that have cropped up so far: At the time of my first original post, I did not know the other driver's insurance company, but have today found out that it was Qualitas. My friend's insurance agent from San Antonio told me quite clearly at the repair shop that, as it was an old car - 10 years old - therefore only old (used) car parts would be utilized in the repair. As it so happens, the replacement rear side window that they obtained and fitted has 2 small chips in the glass. I was given the impression that this was standard for all Mexican insurance companies to fix with used parts and I don't know if there is a cut-off age of the car when this applies e.g. 2 years, 5 years, who knows and it may vary from insurance company to insurance company. Most of the repair involved bodywork which could have been started immediately and then the required replacement parts fitted later. That included rear bumper, side bumper with footstep, rear side window, rear light cluster, wheel arch mud shield, gas refill pipe and interior trim panels. The repair shop knew which replacement 'used' parts would be needed right from the start when they assess the repair, so to have to wait 3 months for the job to be finished is totally unacceptable. In my opinion, both the repair shop and insurance company adjuster have responsibility for the abnormal delay in the repair of this car. I am not going to name the repair shop involved, my original post gave 2 strong clues in a single sentence. Have a nice day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandol Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 Lots of complaints about both the insurance company and the repair shop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyg Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 My insurance is due soon (Qualitas ) after reading this posting I am considering another company. Does anyone have suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainecoons Posted April 29, 2016 Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 Is it really worth the expense to carry collision on a 10 year old car given how inexpensive body work is here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stantheman Posted April 29, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2016 MC. Don't know if it's worth carrying collision on a 10 year old car as that never came into the equation - everything was repaired under the other driver's insurance. However, when it costs 2000 pesos at the same car repair shop just to have a small dent fixed on a car door and the door re-sprayed, then a repair job such as this was must run into many thousands of pesos; definitely worth it if that's the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yo1 Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 My car was totaled by a Qualitas insured commercial truck. It was pure hell to get Qualitas to pay what they promised to pay. Had to take them to PROFECA (?). Had to fight for every medical payment. If you do homework on them you will find they aren't even in the top 10 of insurance companies in Mexico as far as compliance with the laws. AARRGGHH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newjersey expat Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 While we are on the topic, our car was very badly damaged from my trying to avoid hitting a parked car on the left, that I hit one on the right. Anyway had to be fixed, whole side of my car scratched . It would be hard to tell what I did to the other car because it really was a JUNKER. Anyway took the car to a body shop with terrible results and now it will have to be redone, Side of car is all orange peal, many scratches on side and under passenger handle. No one used the passenger side. I have had the car 2 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canmex87 Posted April 30, 2016 Report Share Posted April 30, 2016 We had an accident and found the service and results with dealing with Qualitas to be excellent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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