You take the Carfax hit the moment an insurance company is involved. Don't think the shop doing the work matters.

 

You need to immediately look into claiming the lost value on the car and check to see if the title got branded. (They won't tell you they are doing it.. )

 

thank you all for the ongoing interest and info...

so I took the car to the dealership this morning at the recommendation of my insurance. they found numerous issues with the work, mostly fitting issues with the new parts and mostly cosmetic, but most concerning was that they didn't replace the wheel involved in the collision.

they put the car up on the lift with me there and we inspected it together, the wheel is totally screwed up bent. they said they didn't think the car was safe to drive in its current state and the alignment is totally screwed up.

they're going to do a formal inspection and diagnostic and get back to me. in addition, my insurance is sending another inspector to take a look.

i thought title branding was only in cars that were totaled or scrapped?
how would I go about claiming the lost value on the car?

edit to respond to badself:

I'm learning I should have taken it to the dealership first. they said doing it this way would be faster. what a load of BS.

You mean trading it in for a new one?? do you think that's a good option?

 

hello guys, I have an update and a couple questions for ya’ll.

I ended up taking the car to a dealership to get inspected after I got the car back from Gerber.

We inspected the car together and found all kinds of miscellaneous issues.. a lot of small fitting problems but most concerning were the bent wheels. They were practically oval, and the body shop didn’t think to replace them.

The dealership replaced the front wheels and tires (paid for by Gerber, to their credit, the regional manager has made no fuss at all about getting the issues with their repair work straightened out) and did an inspection.

Then, it went to another body shop (Fix Auto), where they refit all the new parts and made everything align way better. They were very careful and conscientious, and the car looked cosmetically fantastic. They also cleaned up the wheel well that was involved in the collision and the person I dealt with there was very careful and paid close attention to detail, that inspired confidenece.

After all this new work from the dealership and the second body shop I finally got the car back on Friday (nearly 4 months since the collision!) Been paying close attention to driving behavior and noise, etc., and everything seems to be fine…

Then earlier today, I’m merging right, and I look at my mirror only to to see that there’s no mirror. (This was the door that was replaced.) It’s hanging by a wire from the fixture.

Okay, I imagine it’s an easy fix, not related to the suspension or drivetrain or anything, but I’m starting to think that this car will turn into a big money pit after this collision. Who knows what else could go wrong now?

I had planned to move to Montreal next month but now I’m not sure I really trust the car to do the drive. And once I’m in Canada I doubt my insurance will warranty the collision work if something else goes wrong.

I’m starting to think it would be better for the financial long term and my mental health to trade in for a new one.

Anyway, if anyone has anything to weigh in I’d greatly appreciate it. this is my first car and I’m not too sure how to proceed.

thank you so much.

 

Montreal is not known for smooth roads. Sometimes it's worse than Detroit.

Hope you get things rectified.