Christopher McKinney
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Florida
I went to a restaurant on 1/23/23 to grab something to drink and use the restroom. I returned to my car, started it, put it in drive and stayed on the brake as I was looking at my phone trying to select which song to drive off to when a reckless driver came speeding through the parking lot, swerved around the Ford Explorer that was parked two spaces away from me and ran into the front of my car, and sped away so fast I didn't even have a chance to get the license plate as I was trying to wipe the orange juice off of my face. I assume once they noticed my car they tried to turn to their van to the right and miss it however my MINI cooper S was completely shielded by the Explorer and at the speed they were traveling they had no chance of avoiding my car completely in that which looked like a chysler town and country. They struck the front drivers side of my car head on while turning towards their right so most of the damage was on the front drivers side of the car and the only airbag that deployed was the passenger steering wheel airbag. I called the police however after waiting for over an hour I drove home very slowly. Thankfully I had full coverage with rental reimbursement with geico, or so I thought. It took Geico 2 days to get a damage adjuster over to my address to look at the car. He immediately got the ball rolling for me and had it towed a couple days later, 1/27/23 to an auto repair shop in the area. He is an adjuster from a bit further North of where I live but he said they assigned my claim to him due too the adjusters in my direct area being too busy. He asked me what shop I wanted it towed to, I told him I didn't really know of any in the area however I would look on google for some with good reviews. We ended up towing it to this guy's shop that had 5 stars on google and claimed he had dealt with some geico claims in the past. Once the car was towed to this shop I was given a rental vehicle from Enterprise. A few days later the guy at that auto repair shop started texting me about not yet receiving payment so I contacted the damage adjuster. This went on for a few days, me getting texts from the shop, the adjuster telling me he couldn't find the guy at the shop to pay him, etc.... Finally the guy gets paid and he texts me saying he talked to geico. I call him and he tells me he is commencing with the repairs. 2/7/23 rolls around and the guy at the shop starts asking for pictures of the vehicle prior to the accident. I provide pics and again asked him for a copy of the original quote he did to handle all of the repairs and sent him my email address. He never sent me anything and next I heard from him he was telling me he had the vehicle towed to the MINI dealership to finish up the repairs since there was a part he could not get. So my rental reimbursement is running out because they had me in this fancy new Ford expedition since everyone thought there's no way it's going to take over 2 months for them to fix this car. Well I got into it with enterprise during this since they wanted the car back and I still didn't have my car or any word on when it would be finished. I got the rental extended on more than one occasion. I then started calling the MINI dealership which was more than an hour away from where I live. I spoke to the claims adjuster and she suggested I go and pick up my car, and if it's able to be driven just take it back when they finally get the part from Germany they are still waiting for. They tell me at the mini dealership they cannot release the vehicle to me because Geico still has not paid. So I drive an hour back home, defeated. Finally everyone starts communicating and Mini gets paid and they say they will deliver my car to me. It finally gets here on 4/12/23 on a weds, I'm exited. I go outside and look at my car, my excitement is replaced by utter disappointment. The body work is terrible. The aftermarket hood doesn't fit right, the chrome accent pieces are scratched up, the new hood has little craters and dents in it and the cheesy paint job looks like a single coat enamel not base coat clear coat. I get inside and start it, I'm greeted with a check engine light and airbag light. I go to drive it around the block and it won't even pick up speed. There have been no mechanical repairs as far as I can tell. It's pulling hard to the left, the wheel is shaking, the car won't gain speed, the transmission doesn't want to shift, I'm horrified. I call the damage adjuster, no answer, no call back. I text him, no response. I call the claim adjuster, she doesn't call back either. I finally reach a different adjuster who is mad for me and sends a message to my damage adjuster and his boss, and tells me to call him back if I'm not called within 24hrs. That next morning my damage adjuster calls me with apologies that he didn't receive my message. That's ridiculous, I texted him and everything. Anyway, I tell him how terrible the situation is and he's like, "oh man, oh no, oh man" then he says, I'm really sorry, I have to look over everything and then I'll give you a call back this evening. That was two days ago on 4/18/23 now it is going on 4/21/23 and I'm so fed up. I have a busted car in the garage I can't drive. I'm getting the worse service imaginable. My car was gone for almost two months and it looks like crap. I feel there's even more work to do now than there was before it was towed from my driveway. What should I do here? Thank you so much in advance, I am really at wits end.
