Post by 90GTVert on Nov 21, 2024 9:15:21 GMT -5
The F-150's tailgate was hit by another F-150 while parked at the Endless Summer Cruisin' car show. I had to leave the tailgate down because a scoot was still in the back and they're just barely too long to be able to close the tailgate. These silly 5.xft beds instead of 6ft. Anyway, it was parked with tires against the curb and the tailgate was past the white lines a couple of inches. Even with the gate down it's shorter than the same truck with the 8ft bed. Everyone seemed to think it was pretty cut and dry that they hit it while it was parked so clear as day it's their fault.
The other party left a note with a number, I got a police report to cover my @$$ and took plenty of pics, and I even had a witness go out of their way to contact me and provide pics of when it happened and volunteer to be a witness. The other party admitted fault to insurance. Super simple, right? Well, it took the insurance company a month to determine liability and multiple calls were made to put some pressure on the insurance company to do something. Oddly enough, most times that any progress was made were right after calling them.
They told us the easiest way to get it done is to go right to an approved body shop and have them send an estimate and repair it. The Ford dealership's body shop was on the list and less than 2 miles away so we just went there. Simple tailgate swap. They ordered a tailgate, painted it and put everything on it, and then the truck only needed to be there for 15 minutes for them to come out and swap the old and new tailgates.
I looked it over and the freshly painted, brand new, tailgate had fairly deep scratches and paint missing in one area. Smaller dings and knicks elsewhere. The outside looks great, and you can't see this stuff unless the tailgate is open... but this is nearly $2,000 worth of tailgate, paint and labor and it shouldn't be like that. The plastic inner panel also stuck out and the old one was never like that.
We took the truck right back and they said they would totally redo it. While it would be the only way to deliver what they should have, we told them to just touch it up if they could and secure the plastic panel better. They put touch up paint on the dings and double sided tape on the panel and we called it good enough.
Once again, I'm disappointed with how everything works. The last time I made a claim, many years ago, it took a couple of days for an insurance adjuster to come to my house, take pics and do their report and hand me a check to do whatever I wanted with. This time, 1 month to determine liability with more evidence than most would have and a cooperative party. Alleged top notch dealership body shop delivers a scratched and dinged tailgate. They really don't make 'em like they used to.
The other party left a note with a number, I got a police report to cover my @$$ and took plenty of pics, and I even had a witness go out of their way to contact me and provide pics of when it happened and volunteer to be a witness. The other party admitted fault to insurance. Super simple, right? Well, it took the insurance company a month to determine liability and multiple calls were made to put some pressure on the insurance company to do something. Oddly enough, most times that any progress was made were right after calling them.
They told us the easiest way to get it done is to go right to an approved body shop and have them send an estimate and repair it. The Ford dealership's body shop was on the list and less than 2 miles away so we just went there. Simple tailgate swap. They ordered a tailgate, painted it and put everything on it, and then the truck only needed to be there for 15 minutes for them to come out and swap the old and new tailgates.
I looked it over and the freshly painted, brand new, tailgate had fairly deep scratches and paint missing in one area. Smaller dings and knicks elsewhere. The outside looks great, and you can't see this stuff unless the tailgate is open... but this is nearly $2,000 worth of tailgate, paint and labor and it shouldn't be like that. The plastic inner panel also stuck out and the old one was never like that.
We took the truck right back and they said they would totally redo it. While it would be the only way to deliver what they should have, we told them to just touch it up if they could and secure the plastic panel better. They put touch up paint on the dings and double sided tape on the panel and we called it good enough.
Once again, I'm disappointed with how everything works. The last time I made a claim, many years ago, it took a couple of days for an insurance adjuster to come to my house, take pics and do their report and hand me a check to do whatever I wanted with. This time, 1 month to determine liability with more evidence than most would have and a cooperative party. Alleged top notch dealership body shop delivers a scratched and dinged tailgate. They really don't make 'em like they used to.
