I sure see a lot of strange things working in the automotive repair business. Here's an instance that happened this week. A 2008 Yaris with 32000kms was towed in. The appointment stated "Vehicle will not move when placed in Drive". The owner was still at his home. We pushed the car into the shop and put it on the hoist. Here's what we think happened (the owner wouldn't come clean as he wanted Toyota to cover this). It appears the car was stuck in some very deep snow. The right front tire was bald-almost to the cords. I suspect he revved the hell out of the car until the tire wore through the ice and onto bare pavement. The car must have been buried in the snow as it appears he smoked the tread off that tire. Here's where it gets fun. The differential portion of the transaxle was destroyed. It was so bad you could move the axle shaft up and down about 3 inches at the transmission. Both axles had spun so fast that the cv boots split open. The joints were damaged as well. Not only that, the ac compressor blew up from the engine being revved (and likely held) to the rev limiter. The estimate? $7400 worth of damage! That didn't include the damaged front facia. All the owner would admit is he was in deep snow "the other day" and "Today it wouldn't move". He can't afford the repairs so he had the car towed home. I suggested used parts of claiming it through his insurance (heck, if people can claim insurance when they drive through their garages, why not for this?) He didn't want any part of it and was mad that I wouldn't cover it under warranty.
That was almost as funny as the lady who came in today and asked how to wash her car. She said she went to the car was and put money into the machine and used "that wand thing" to spray it off but the car looked the same afterwards. We explained she needed to use soap etc. "Oh" she said.
Love the story... Most of us don't realize that when one wheel is not spinning(turning) the other is turning twice as fast.. So(in the old days) if you have your Dads 69 427 Laurentian stuck, and you wind "her' over to 60-70 mph, when you are stuck, the turning wheel is going 120-140 MPH! I had a customer who was mad at me, because the new J78-15 Snow tire on his Caddy (it was stuck- he was drunk) wound the tire to God only knows how fast, and it blew apart!! No Problem! but it blew off the fender skirt, and blew the inner fender into the trunk, and blew the trunk lid open... It was kinda funny! I sent him to his insurance... He made a reference to my mothers origin, and left..... lol
I should have taken photos when the car was on the hoist. Sadly, it was towed away today. I was bummed as a $7400 repair would look good on my paycheck.
I worked for a year on the service counter at a Chrysler store...I too could not believe what some people wanted covered under warranty. It's warranty coverage not Stupid coverage!!
About 1981 I sold a headliner as part of an insurance claim. When the tire exploded from spinning, shrapnel from all the affected parts, (sheet metal, back seat etc) damaged the headliner. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the carnage.
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
LOL. that's a good one, never seen a yaris Blowd up before.
What was he thinking??
Had a granny drive in a MR2 yesterday, says car won't go into gear, so I go over to the car and jump in, it's a 5 spd car, what the heck is granny doing driving this car, Supercharged even, LOL. Go to drive the car and clutch is smoked so bad the car barely moves at all, crap she drove this car to the shop, LOL. This Lady is in her late 70's.
Sounds like just another day for a soldier on the front lines of the automotive service world!. Regardless of the damage being caused by him, unless a real reason this guy can't process an insurance claim maybe all that's wrong here is he needs help through the process?. Considering the car as being ditched and/or stuck in snow by the driver w/ the facia and drivetrain damage all being a resulting part of the accident, processing it all on one claim including towing cost doesn't sound impossible for an insurance adjuster to accept...especially being it's Christmas!. Foolish driver yes but that aside it sounds like the possibilty still exists for you to overcome the whole situation for your customer w/ this job being paid by insurance plus the guy's service and brand loyalty forever after?.
Merry Christmas!. ~
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I like real cars best...especially the REAL real ones! ----------------------------------------------------------------
Most of them are book smart (doctors, lawyers, teachers) but not street smart. I had a doctor come in last week (still in scrubs) all in a panic. "The car wouldn't stop and I almost went right through an intersection. It made a terrible grinding noise". It was the ABS activating on sheer ice. She wouldn't believe my explanation so I had to take her out in her car and demonstrate it.
CDN2PLS2 wrote:
And I thought Only the Smartest people drove Toyotas.
As for parts, the reman trans was $3400. A pair of axles was about $950 and the AC compressor was $1300. I quoted three tires (one tire looked new, 2 were down to the wear bars and the right front was almost to the cords) which were about $350. I figured an oil change was a good idea ($39) too. The rest is labour. I told him we'd do a compression test of the engine at no charge before going ahead with the rest of the repair.
Todd remember the cobalt SS with the fried clutch and bald tires? they couldnt understand why you rejected the warranty claim!LOL I think it still had shoe polish on the window from the night before. If I recall the boy friend used the car and the father was pissed.
Yep. Daddy lived in Toronto and his daughter drove the car. Turns out her boyfriend "enjoyed" driving it as well. The clutch was nothing but hair and the tires were bald. Remember the front brakes? Gone and the rims were covered in brake dust. Dad's anger towards me settled down when I emailed him photos. He called me with his credit card number...
Most of them are book smart (doctors, lawyers, teachers) but not street smart. I had a doctor come in last week (still in scrubs) all in a panic. "The car wouldn't stop and I almost went right through an intersection. It made a terrible grinding noise". It was the ABS activating on sheer ice. She wouldn't believe my explanation so I had to take her out in her car and demonstrate it.
CDN2PLS2 wrote:
And I thought Only the Smartest people drove Toyotas.
And they demand 2-3 times the money we earn. No wonder it takes them 7 years to go to school, I thought that there was just that much info to learn.....
