Safelite screwed up....bad

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

The more I think about the relatively invasive nature of the damage/repair, the more I am inclined to agree about involving insurance.

Could this even be welded without removing the dashboard? 

I would call your insurance and the local news station immediately. 

Go read about that eagle collision case that was mentioned earlier. 

This car is totaled and will never be safe again. 

In reply to Javelin :

that eagle collision incident....yeah.....now i'm a little freaked

Y'all must be seeing something I'm not. 

To me, zoomed in to 300%, it looks like the 30 gauge sheet metal flange at the base of the windshield that the cowl fastens to has been cut. I don't think I would call that a major structural part of the car. If that is the case, there is no way they will total the car. It is repairable to as good as new. 

If the cut goes through the firewall and behind the dash, then I would have some concern about the integrity but that doesn't look to be the case from what I can see in the pictures. 

I'd really like to see some better and more detailed pictures. Are there any close-up pictures that weren't taken with a potato? 

camopaint0707 said:

 I'm also to the point I think safelite needs to step and offer to cover our gas for the duration of the rental as well.

Why would they cover the gas? You'd be putting gas in the 4Runner if you were driving it. Demanding that would make me laugh at you if it was me

In reply to Toyman! :

It's an iphone, as are most pictures taken by people these days.  It's the metal at the top of the firewall that the windshield sits on.  Most of the glue is removed at this point. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

because the absolute hassle this is causing, because of the time I am now devoting to getting this fixed properly.  Because of their egregious screw up.  Because that might make me think twice before wanting to go down the route of lawyers when they decide they won't cover to fix this properly.

You aren't going to get them to cover gas expenses. It's just the nature of the beast. As others have said you'd be filling up your tank regardless of what car you're in to do whatever it is you need to do. Concentrate your efforts elsewhere. 

Disregard any assurances the dealer or safelite makes to you at this point and demand action. Have them cover the costs of getting multiple estimates on the vehicle from reputable body shops that the Toyota dealer in town uses. Don't let anymore work be done until you have those estimates and assessments on the extent of the damage. 

Get your insurance involved. You pay monthly premiums to have their services. Utilize it. 

The last thing you want is a compromised vehicle with a shoddy repair that just causes perpetual issues for the life of the car. 

In reply to DirtyBird222 :

I agree.  At this point I just frankly don't trust them to look out for my or my families best interest.  They're more just trying to get this fixed and get it done.

If you do start talking to insurance, also ask about diminished value, since it'll likely end up on a vehicle history report.

In reply to camopaint0707 :

The pictures must have lost a lot of resolution in the upload process.

As to Safelite, of course, they are trying to get it fixed. They don't want this problem any more than you do. They want to get your car fixed and returned to you so they can move past this and go back to what they do. 

At this point, they promptly notified you of the problem, located and made arrangements for a professional shop to have it repaired. The shop has made a recommendation on how to repair it. Safelight is going to pay for all the repairs. That seems pretty stand-up to me and there isn't a lot more that Safelite can do. Do you have indications that the shop they contacted does substandard work? 

If you don't like the way the repair is proceeding, you need to talk to Safelite and tell them what your expectations are. You will need to be realistic about your expectations. If you want Toyota to look at it and recommend a process to repair it then tell Safelite that. This is what I would do. I would be willing to guess that they will agree. If they balk then you can turn up the pressure some. 

If you work with them to get a satisfactory resolution to the problem you will be better off than if you tie it up in discontent, new stations, and lawyers. Then, all bets are off and this could drag out for months. 

In reply to Toyman! :

i expressed my concerns to the safelite district manager when he called about the low estimate i was shown for the repairs and nature in which it would be repaired.  which is when he went into his speech over how that's how it's done etc.  currently with two other shops estimates being double this amount, is why I am very skeptical of safelite, their repair shops, or generally anything they say

It's been said before, but I'll reiterate.  This needs an authorized Toyota dealer to be involved.  I would want to make sure it's repaired the way the dealer says - or it's not worth fixing per the dealer.

In general, I agree with Toyman.  It's just a car, a machine.  It just needs to be fixed, and Safelite is owning it and making a suggestion.  But it needs to be fixed correctly.  I would want the manufacturer input since it is in a delicate area.

Fueled by Caffeine said:

I said it before.. but use your isnurance company and their lawyers.. do not go this alone.

Just in case, even though Fueled by Caffeine said it twice, call your insurance company.

Or better yet, what did you insurance co say?

Toyman! said:

In reply to camopaint0707 :

The pictures must have lost a lot of resolution in the upload process.

As to Safelite, of course, they are trying to get it fixed. They don't want this problem any more than you do. They want to get your car fixed and returned to you so they can move past this and go back to what they do. 

At this point, they promptly notified you of the problem, located and made arrangements for a professional shop to have it repaired. The shop has made a recommendation on how to repair it. Safelight is going to pay for all the repairs. That seems pretty stand-up to me and there isn't a lot more that Safelite can do.

They also lied about what happened

In reply to camopaint0707 :

Is the shop in question owned by Safelite? If so, I'd question their repairs as well. Around here Safelite doesn't own any body shops.

I'll reiterate, if you don't like the way the repairs are proceeding, you need to communicate that to Safelite and tell them what you think is acceptable. Be reasonable, be straightforward, and tell him what your expectations are and ask that they be met. 

Telling them you don't trust them with anything and they don't care about you and your family is not a reasonable way to communicate what you want. It's also almost certainly to be taken as hyperbole and won't get you anywhere. 

There is no wasted material on a modern vehicle. Steel type, thickness, and stamping form are all analyzed to the nth degree. Anything that changes how a stamped steel panel acts in a crash is unacceptable. No way in hell a Hyundai dealership body shop knows how to fix this. If you have a Toyota dealer nearby have it towed there and their body shop evaluate the repair. That is the correct estimate to put it back like it belongs using the correct procedures. Use your own insurance at this point, SafeLite can't be trusted.

I mentioned the John Eagle Collision case because not nearly enough people know about how modern cars are put together for crash safety. You can't just weld in a patch panel anymore, you have to replace the entire piece with the exact number of welds (or glue) as the engineers intended. If that firewall panel buckles in a T-bone hit because some hack welded in a patch panel like it was a '85 Camaro, whereas the stock panel would have held, that's the potential problem.

Good luck.

In reply to Toyman! :

No, the safelite is well, a safelite.  The shop they went to is a hyundai dealership quite literally 700 feet as the crow flies.  

Slippery said:

Fueled by Caffeine said:

I said it before.. but use your isnurance company and their lawyers.. do not go this alone.

Just in case, even though Fueled by Caffeine said it twice, call your insurance company.

Or better yet, what did you insurance co say?

Have you talked to your insurance company yet?

Peabody said:

Toyman! said:

In reply to camopaint0707 :

The pictures must have lost a lot of resolution in the upload process.

As to Safelite, of course, they are trying to get it fixed. They don't want this problem any more than you do. They want to get your car fixed and returned to you so they can move past this and go back to what they do. 

At this point, they promptly notified you of the problem, located and made arrangements for a professional shop to have it repaired. The shop has made a recommendation on how to repair it. Safelight is going to pay for all the repairs. That seems pretty stand-up to me and there isn't a lot more that Safelite can do.

They also lied about what happened

Whats the lie?

In reply to Javelin :

They suggested still trying to resolve it with safelite directly because at this point safelite is cooperating and isn't trying to say they didn't do it, or pay for damages or anything that extreme.  I asked well what if I use another shop and then safelite won't cover more money, at which point then they said I'd need to file a claim.  So currently I'm waiting on estimates from two body shops I know and trust to see if there is a dramatic price difference and nature in which the repairs will be done.  Before moving forward.

Peabody said:

Toyman! said:

In reply to camopaint0707 :

The pictures must have lost a lot of resolution in the upload process.

As to Safelite, of course, they are trying to get it fixed. They don't want this problem any more than you do. They want to get your car fixed and returned to you so they can move past this and go back to what they do. 

At this point, they promptly notified you of the problem, located and made arrangements for a professional shop to have it repaired. The shop has made a recommendation on how to repair it. Safelight is going to pay for all the repairs. That seems pretty stand-up to me and there isn't a lot more that Safelite can do.

They also lied about what happened

You guys are super quick to assume the worst about everyone. It must make it difficult to negotiate. 

At a guess in this case, you have a manager or franchisee who has probably never changed a windshield in his life reporting information he has little familiarity with. While nylon line is frequently used to cut urethane around windshields, there are places it cant be used.  Frequently the dash area is one of those areas because it damages the dash. BTDT. It left me wishing my windshield knife was air powered instead of meat powered. 

camopaint0707 said:

 They claim they cut nearly 2 feet of metal at the cowl/firewall with nylon string

Seems legit

In reply to Toyman! :

I have it from the lead technican of that shop, on record, that the tech had been using nylon and nylon is what cut the metal.  How it cut steel is still something I find hard to believe.