Sam's Club service disaster

I highly recommend you talk to a lawyer.

Having a vehicle dropped hard enough to flatten the oil pan could easily result in a dead vehicle. Suspension parts bent, body or frame parts bent, crankshaft bent, etc....

Mike

Yea. Don't ever take anything to Sams........

Seriously, since this was human error it COULD have happened anywhere you take it, even the dealer. I think you are on the right track, but I would have it thoroughly checked out by your dealer and a competent body shop. After that, it's up to the lawyers and you to decide.

At this stage, it is in the hands of someone's insurance company. Regarding what is to be done and by whom.

No doubt you are right about internal damage to things. I would suspect it bottomed out ( obviously dented the oil sump ) which probably broke the oil PUMP. The intake for the oil pump reaches almost to the bottom of the oil sump, so if that is *caved in* you can pretty well be certain that there is oil PUMP damage. Trying to run a car without a functioning oil PUMP is the end of the engine.

There could, depending on where the transmission is located, be damage to that also. There could be a cracked casting somewhere. Maybe your exhaust system is fvcked up. You could have broken catalytic converters.

In short, some of these possibilities cost a fortune to repair. Maybe it is time to get an Insurance Adjustor for Accident Claims out to the vehicle to do an assessment. That would be Step 1.

Lg

Thanks for the quick responses. Yes, it seems going to Sam's was definately a bad idea, but I agree it was human error.

My insurance company was sending a rep out to do the estimate on Tuesday, but thats when it got switched to Sam's insurance company. The body shop said they will do the estimate for Sams, but more than likely Sams will send a 3rd party out to do another estimate.

We are waiting on the estimate and Sam's response to decide if we need to bring lawyers into it.

I don't think the car is worth that much. Maybe a wholesale value of around $5K or so, but the reail is around $9K. I'm thinking with the body damage alone could be around $1500 or $2000.

I would think the struts took a good beating and they are 600$ for 4 and you can only get them from the dealer. Low volume discontinued cars are expensive to repair and maintain is what I've found out.

The th> I highly recommend you talk to a lawyer.

I'm thinking your tad bit low. I had my driver side door backed into. Panel damage and rear view mirror broken. That cost $1100 to fix. I would really be thinking $5-6k. An adjuster will not be able to determine if you have any internal damage. I would even be suspicious about transmission damage.

The more I add up potential costs, the more I think the car is totaled.

I am suspicious about transmission damage and sensor damage b/c I know how picky this car is. Thats the main reason I want them to take it to the dealer to hook it up the diagnostic machine that can read more than just the OBD-II codes. I'm beginning to wonder if it will even get that far though.

What a mess.

Theodrake wrote:

In short, it is quite possible that the maggot at Wal Shit totaled your vehicle. I wouldn't drive it anymore. I would demand another car of comparable value, and for this you will need your OWN attorney, not a Sam's Shill.

Lg

DO NOT START THE ENGINE. if the oil pan is dented, that's a sign that all sorts of bad things could have happened. You need to get an assessment from not only the body guys but a good mechanic as well. You may be looking at pulling the pan and a new oil pump, not to mention who knows what else that you missed - cracked tranny case, etc. etc. etc. that will be very expen$ive to fix.

nate

Thats exactly why I wouldn't drive the car, and I assume why they insisted. If I took possesion of the car I would be responsible for anything wrong with it. The last person to drive the car was a Sam's employee, then it was towed.

There arent that many sensors under the car to be damaged. O2 or exhaust related sensors. Most likely thats it. However, there is the fuel system wiring. In cars this tends to enter the passenger cabin, bu tin trucks it tends to stay along the vehicle frame (since it has to go to trailer tow often)

The obd2 stuff will self-diagnose and complain without help in your check engine light.

typically not the case since~1998 but ill say it anyway. Some cars have external impact sensors, and if your car does (behind the front bumper) I would want those replaced.

Typical drop test for electronic components is 1-2meters, but when you have a few thousand pounds on top of it, all bets are off.

Lookit there...the pretend-engineer who cannot even begin to diagnose his own Chevrolet and has 17th-century-quality knowledge of how electricity works is a sudden expert in what did and didn't get damaged when the Burger King rejects at Sam's Club dropped a Mazda.

Fascinating.

Not to mention pathetic.

If they end up fixing it, i would certainly take it to a independent frame shop that has a frame bench and fixture for your car (if you can even find a shop like that) and have them closely inspect the car for frame and unibody damage. If the unibody is torqued, its possible your alignment may never be right. But they probably need to fix what's visual before you get to that point.

My advice? take lots of pictures and get written statements from ANYONE who touches the car. That may help you later if you have to hire OJ's lawyers.......

Of course it being wallmart, they will probably send it off to CHina to be repaired....

Bob

question for the OP...

so the wheels and tires were off the car when it fell....

were the drums or rotors or whatever hit the ground bent or otherwise damaged?

Did anything else besides the 4 wheels and the oil pan hit the ground?

Mark

I am sure that he will find that he needs new rotors, and maybe wheel bearings, once the car is fixed enough to test drive it.

nate

First, be glad no one was injured or killed by their negligence.

The two insurances will battle this. Your company, if your covered, should represent your interests as part of your policy. Determine your coverages.

If you obtain an attorney, he's not going to be free, and being no personal injuries were sustained, there will be no recovery of expenses to offset his fee.

I would not expect them to pay you more than the car was worth. Its a 2000, less than 100k on it, you should find out the value of what was before the incident. If they buy you a new car, your damn lucky becuase they don't have to. They are obligated to cut your a check for what the value was of what they broke. Market value plus any improvements you had on the vehicle. They can total it out if the repairs are greater than the value prior to the incident, and your gonna not get enough to buy a new one.

Much like an auto collision, there can be unseen damage which surfaces later on. Thats too bad once you have settled, you've settled, so don't sign off on this until your satisfied. If they offer you more than the car was worth, be glad and get a reliable used car at a good lot or auction.

They can offer to fix it all but YOU pick the shop to have it towed, evaluated, fixed and have them go over it good.

They are looking out for their bottom line and not you. Find out what the car was worth. Thats your baseline.

A hoist cannot lower a car fast enough to do that kind of damage. It could have slid off if the hoist wasn't set properly but the way you describe things that isn't what happened either. I don't doubt they damaged your car, just wondering what really happened. Bob

I don't know about their insurance company, but I can tell you what happened when my '95 Acura Integra GS-R was stolen, stripped, and declared a total loss. The adjuster looked at it and decided that the cost to replace and repair the wheels/tires, seats, instrument cluster, P/S, A/C, etc. would be more than the value of my car. Whoever stole it did a real piece of work. The thieves even took the four factory alloys with tires with tread, and left cheapie steel wheels (with bald tires) and the compact spare.

The procedure was to look at a variety of local ads for similar Integras. They based the offer on an averaging of local offering prices, which was given to me for my perusal. I got an offer for about $7400 for my car (with 135K mi), plus a prorated refund of my registration fees (and here's the kicker) my prepaid insurance back. I was thinking of selling the car, and the offer was frankly more than I think I would have gotten. The adjuster said as much.

Now - you're not dealing with your own insurance company. My insurer was the California State Automobile Association, where I've always had good service with my claims. My insurance rate didn't even go up, although it did recently with a stupid at fault collision.

However - given that you're dealing with another insurance company, I agree that you should probably retain a lawyer.

I have a lot of experience with smaller body shops. I would insist that your vevicle is taken to and repaired by a Dealership. Dealerships are very expensive because they have a lot of overhead, latest diagnostic equipment, and their reputation is very important. They will also insist that everything is checked out because they have more to loose if it isn't.

Just my 2 cents

When I was young and my father was having his car serviced at Montgomery Ward, I heard a loud crash when a parallelogram-style lift suddenly fell 3-4 feet with a car on it. I think it was the kind of lift used only for wheel alignments.