My car's lease was up and I had some accident-related damage on the left side and some non-accident scratches and a minor dent on the right side. You can't return a lease with damage unless you want the bank to send you a fat repair bill so repairs were in order.
I have a place in Brooklyn that I have used for years but I had just moved to NJ so I said to myself, "hey self: If you do it here in Jersey, you will avoid paying multiple tolls, you'll support the local economy, AND it's not NYC so it's gotta' be cheaper, right?" Boy was I wrong.
Branning was on GEICO's list of close-by body shops so off I went. Very comfy waiting room that is clearly an old car dealership (an omen, I think). Anyway, I asked them to check out the left side and they did...gave me an estimate of around $2,500. I was only responsible for my deductible so I didn't really care. Keep in mind, the left side had a major dent, scratches and some rust. Now (and only now) did I ask for an estimate on the other side. I figured once they had guaranteed themselves X amount of dollars that they would be billing GEICO for on the left, they might be inclined to cut me a break on the right that I'd be paying out-of-pocket.
So they bring out a different guy to look at the right side damage--don't know why but they said someone else had to check it out. My thought at the time (and still) is that the guy who does the damage estimate to be submitted to insurance has to be somewhat honest (since insurance companies know, and investigate, to make sure they don't get ripped off); but the guy they sent to look at my out-of-pocket repairs was cut from a shadier cloth and he was going to try to do a number on me.
OK, so remember...the side covered by insurance was pretty bad...and would total out at a little over $2,500. The side that I would be paying was just cosmetic. Having worked for over a decade as a younger man selling cars and running dealerships, I knew what banks look for when a car comes back from lease and I told him EXACTLY what I needed fixed. I figured if they were at $2,500 on the real damage, he would probably try to hit me with the same number (which I was prepared to negotiate down to $2,000). So...out walks the guy from a hidden room with a dejected look on his face and a bunch of papers stapled together. He sits down and now his demeanor turns to one of sympathetic concern...looks like "sales time" is coming.
"It's gonna' be $5,700," he says.
"Oh no," I chuckle. (And at this point I truly felt a sense of relief because I figured beyond a shadow of a doubt that he must have added both the left side and right side together) "Maybe the first guy didn't mention but he already gave us an estimate for the left side. That's being put through insurance. We just needed an estimate on the RIGHT side."
"This IS just the right side," he retorts. "You see you have the"--(I kind of lost his words after that because I was amused and because I felt myself get a bit flush with anger)--"doohickey which is connected to the Johnson Rod and the paint and we have to order the thingamabob matrix from the factory at the Mars colony..." not sure if that was exactly what he said but I don't think I'm far off.
Eventually my face returned to normal color again but he's still talking. I just sat there nodding and smiling. Finally, he stopped to come up for air and although I'm tempted to just GTFO since I know there is no way I can talk him down from over $5,000 to under $2,000, I have to get some clarification. "I have to say, I've worked at a lot of dealers here in the Tri-State and not only did I run hundred of cars into dozens of different body shops but as a GM, I RAN the service and collision centers in my stores so I know what cosmetic damage runs and this seems WAY OFF--"
"--what kind of damage were you repairing?" he interrupts.
"Every kind. If it was a car I took on trade or bought at auction, it had to get certified. Plus, when customers got into accidents and they know Insurance is going to pay, they usually brought it to us for repair since the dealerships always do better work than outside body shops." (yeah, that was passive aggressive of me, sorry)
"Which dealer did you work for?" he asks.
At this point I can tell he's stalling with nonsense questions while he thinks of a way to justify his BS printout so I gave a nebulous answer, "all over the place," or something like that, and I thanked him for his time and told him I would think about it and I started walking out.
Just then, Service Writer #1 comes out (seemingly from the same hidden room) and meagerly asks, "did you want us to arrange a rental so you can leave your car here?" This time I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
I drove straight to Brooklyn, paid whatever tolls I had to pay. My old guy put the left side through insurance and quoted me $1,700 for the right side. I didn't even haggle.
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