Warning - rant ahead

I finally got my car back from the body shop on Saturday, about a week later than a revised estimate predicted. And that's just the start of my rant.

I had to give up my rental car (aka dreaded mini-van) on Monday of last week because the body shop was taking longer to fix my car than the insurance allowed. Now, before you get all upset at the insurance company, it was actually due to the body shop painting another car before mine that pushed it back. So the shop should have picked up my rental until they were finished. They didn't, so I had to borrow a car from my in-laws.

Then, I kept having to call to see when it would be finished. He said Friday. Nope. Call on Saturday between 1 - 2. I call at 1:30. Nope, just finishing up, it'll be done in an hour. I wait two hours and call, oh, yeah, we were just about to call you, it's done. So Hubby takes me down there to pick up my car.

1) Windshield is chipped. Not cracked, but chipped at the edge. It's brand new, they had to put a new one in even though I just had it replaced a couple of days after the hail storm.

2) The chrome (where it said Aura SR on the left side and the engine size on the right side) under my trunk is peeling. He said that it happened when he peeled some tape off of it. He'll order a replacement for it, but for now, it's just sort of hanging there because he doesn't want to completely fasten it to the trunk.

3) Runs in the paint. I originally only saw one on the trunk, but after I got it home and really had a chance to look at it I found two more.

4) Clear bra is not in place. I just realized this today. I talked with a friend who said these things usually get put back on about two weeks after the car's been painted so that the paint doesn't peel off if it ever has to be removed in the future. The shop guy didn't even mention me coming back in a couple of weeks to have it put on.

5) This next part is kind of hard to describe as I don't know the terms to call it. But anyway, the post between the two doors on each side haven't been properly installed. When you look at them, you can see that they are not flush with the headliner.

6) The back inside panel that is between the back window and the back doors are not properly fitted either, plus the one on the passenger side is absolutely filthy!

7) The sun roof material is not properly secured on one corner which means it could start to pull back and ravel.

I'm sure that there is even more that I haven't seen yet. I guess tonight when I get home I really need to go over it with a fine-toothed comb so that when I address these issues with the body shop guy, I do it all at once. I've already left a message with my insurance company letting them know I am not happy with the quality of work that was done and that they should withhold payment until it gets fixed. I will give the body shop guy every opportunity to fix it, but if he doesn't, then I will not only insist to the insurance company that they not pay him, but I will also file a complaint with the be.tter bus.iness bur.eau.

We are supposed to take Hubby's car to this guy too, but if he doesn't fix my car to my satisfaction then we will go someplace else.

This is the first brand new car that I've ever bought that had all the bells and whistles in it that I wanted (previous brand new car was just what I could afford). I don't want to not like my car anymore, and I'm almost to that point.

If there are any pointers or advice that you have that might help me to resolve this, please feel free to share. If you think I'm being too picky, let me know.

Car swap

My car is going into the shop next Tuesday. I'm getting a new hood, roof and trunk, and the side panels will be repaired using PDR (paintless dent repair). So I'll be without my car for about two weeks, give or take a few days, depending on how smoothly the repairs go.

I'm getting a rental car while it's being repaired. I'm upgrading so that my big butt will fit in the car. It's only going to cost me about $1.50 extra per day, so well worth it.

I thought about asking the body shop guy if he could paint my car red, but that would be additional money that I don't want to spend right now.

We just finally paid off my credit card. Hubby and I decided to take money from our savings account and pay it off, rather than keep getting hit with interest charges. So instead of making payments to my credit card over the next couple of months, I'll just put that money back into my savings account.

We're debating too whether we want to file a claim on our house. The roof got some hail damage, especially the gutters. We just had it replaced less than two years ago because of a hail storm in August 2007. I'm tired of it all!

Additional storm photos

This is where the doggies hid during the storm, under the covered back patio.

Our shredded tomato plants.

This shows the various size of hail stones that fell from the sky.

There is a car underneath that sheet of water.

Tough to see between the heavy rain and the hail.

This gives a bit of prospective to the size of the hail.

I've got the rocks, who has the scotch?

Looks like it snowed, huh?

Nasty storm clouds!

I'm sure Hubby thought this was a tornado. He's always looking for rotation in the clouds.

Mother Nature at her worst

Today we had a nasty hail storm. Remember the pictures I took of my car from my office window last winter during a snow storm? These photos are reminiscent of those photos.

These are photos of my car, taken by my cell phone, so please forgive the quality. But I'm trying to show the damage.

This was one of the hail stones 15 minutes after the storm ended. It's huge!

I'll be getting a new windshield, new tail light, and lots of body work. There isn't a panel on my car that isn't dinged up. Ugh, and we're supposed to get several more of these storms late this afternoon into the evening. Too bad we don't have garages here at work!

Hubby's truck got it too, but not quite as bad as mine. Our house, at first look, seems okay, no broken windows. We'll have our roof looked at to make sure it's okay. Needless to say, our garden is kaput! No more harvesting from it. That's what I'm really sad about. The cars, the house, that can all be fixed. But we won't have another garden this year.

Also, thank God our dogs had the sense to stay on our covered patio and they are okay.