A followup to my posts from last May,when a near collision with a bear ended badly for my mint 85. Despite all my requests and demands from day one that the car be repaired back to the original condition in which it arrived,ir seemed to be destined not to happen. I got occasional calls from the middle man /customer rep,asking me such questions as "what kind of exhaust tips do you want on it".They just didnt seem to get it,despite the owners assurances that he was a "car guy" and owned a Zo6.

I stopped in after 6 weeks one day to find about 2 inches of dust and crud covering my almost new red interior and dash,the lazy bastards couldnt take 5 minutes to tarp it off after they removed the glass top and hatchback window.Ouch


After 3 months I got a phone call informing me the bill was
$16,000 and the car was not done yet.The estimators figure in the beginning was $6700!!! Ouch again. The good folks at Haggertys really stepped up to the plate for me and did some serious reaming to the shop and the independant estimator they used.This resulted in the shop then "discovering" some hourly rate mistakes which brought the total down to just under $15000,which just happened to be the total amount of coverage I had on the car. Thank you Haggerty AGAIN>.....


So finally we reach the end,after 3 plus months.Haggerty AGAIN stepped up and asked me to go check out the car before they released the funds. So I head over to the shop and the owner is showing me the car,which looked good,paint was very well done,however,when we got to the rear I was extremely dismayed to find a third brakelight staring at me from the center of the rear fascia.85 was the last yr. before the extra brake light was required.To add insult to injury,the boneheads had used a fascia from an 88 RAGTOP,which used the fascia location.In 86 they started ragtops again but the coupes used the hatchback glass as the light locale.They told me they might use some used or leftover parts,which I was cool with,assuming they would be CORRECT.

So anyways,I wanted my car home...out of that place,and they admitted their mistake and promised to fix it. I wanted my car back so I oked haggertys to pay them so I could get it back and return it later for the brake light issue.

The car is back home in the garage,and I will be returning it at some point. I should say that the work otherwise was absolutely perfect,the car had white pearl paint which they redid beautifully and they ended up replacing the gas tank and some suspension parts,as it was entirely rearend damage,and they repaired a chip on the front end which was not related to the accident.

I am wondering how some of you out there would feel about this issue of the "extra" brakelight.It is not entirely "original" (pearl paint),and it will never be a show car,it is a 46,000 mile mint condition vette.Well very nice to mint,somewhre in there.But to me,that extra light on an 85 says "this car has had body work", to other vette guys who know their vettes.So how about it?

 

I'm not sure that because you have a 3rd brakelight, it says that you've had bodywork. You could easily have added it for several reasons; safety or to make the car appear to be a later model. You see - it doesn't mean that you had to have bodywork.

If you like the look, keep it. If you're not going for a stock, NCRS judged car, if it were me, I'd keep it.

 

Hmm sounds like a clear case of not asking for permission to use totally different MY parts. They knew it was wrong but probably determined asking you for forgiveness is actually easier especially since you might not have noticed first.

It sounds like you mostly happy with the work they did but they made a pretty damn bold assumption you would be happy with the overall quality of the work. Here is another view, the estimate with 50% over what they told you it would be. $100 to $200 is an underestimate yours was a galaxy apart.

The car is not going to NCRS and it has a really nice pearl white paint now. But is that really the point? They had your car for so long at this point you are just happy to have it back (be honest). Another bold assumption on their part which is horse caacaa. Take it back and get it done right. WTF are you compromising? When you come to sell it the new owner may think WTF did you just throw this combination together. Just my .02 "quit getting fu**ed at the drivethrough" Best line ever. Joe Pesci

 

If you like the 3rd light keep it, if not take it back and have it done right.

If it was me, I'd get it done right, they way it was before the accident. But how long will that take???

I understand you wanted it home after 3 months, but if YOUR not happy, get it done right.

Huge price difference from estimate to actual repair....???....

 

The only way to get rid of the brake light is to replace the bumper.TAKE IT SOME WHERE ELSE AND HAVE THE BUMPER REPLACED.What was the cost of the bumper on the invoice?The shop used an incorrect bumper but your going to have to fight them on this.How did you find this place,was it through Hagerty?

 

How did you find this place,was it through Hagerty?

It seems that Hagerty needs to raise the bar in the selections of the shops to send there customers to, especially with the high end, collectable type of cars they insure.
It seems to be a consistant battle when one of our cars has an incident that insurance needs to handle. There seems to be a constant negotiation with- what you need/want to have done, compared to what the body shop can do, compared to what the estimator wants the body shop to do.
I would think(and hope) that 99% of us do not think of our cars as just transportation. It's a part something that we've always wanted to own. But, to some body shops, it's just another job. Hopefully you'll never have to go through this again.

 

How did you find this place,was it through Hagerty?


Actually,Neither Hagerty nor the estimator would give me any help in choosing a shop.......their reason being that if (or when) things went south,they would then be blamed.And repairing a classic is a case where a client really needs help in finding a shop.

 

Well, since that's the case, now that you have your car back, it might be wise for the future to do some body shop research in your area. So that way if anything like this ever happens again, you can have a definite place in mind to take it to. I did that in my area. Asked alot of questions, but eventually ended up with a place that did a superb job on my '94. So nice in fact that I had to buy a beater for my daily commute.

 

Your car never had a third brake light. My question would be; How did they hook it up, electric-wise?

 

That was one of the first things I asked the owner,he said they just spliced into one of the two original brake lights.

Im on the fence on this thing....I read and re-read the comments and opinions posted,they all make sense,even though some go in opposite directions.


The NCRS yearly event is coming up, I am close by,and I think I will hit that and some of the local drive-in weekly/monthly gatherings and see what kind of feedback and commentary(both solicited and un-solicited,if any) that I get. I called the owner the other day to make sure he hadnt forgot my name since he was paid off,and he is standing behind his word in taking care of it, at my convience.

 

It Could be worse..

My '85 coupe has had (by the PO) the high mounted 3rd brake light (presumeably correct for an '86) added to the hatch. The issue is that the way that light assembly bolts thru the hinge plate requires a slightly different contour to the piece of glass itself - there are/should be cutouts/scallops in the glass to clear the mounting studs. The '85 glass does not have them.

What "they" did was fab up a mounting arrangement that relocated the mounting studs "up" about an inch to clear the '85 glass. Pretty cheesy. I've tried to make it better, but there's not a lot that can be done without replacing the glass with an '86 or up to get the whole deal back to "stock".

Like I said - it Could be worse.. Oh - Wiring. The added on lamp for Mine does have what could pass for OEM wiring. At least the lead coming up into the halo Looks stock, and wherever they found to splice it onto an existing brake lamp wire is not obvious.

 

you have a problem unless they bought a stoplight discriminator.
The stoplight element is also used for a turn signal. I bet if you had someone step on the brake, and turn on a turn signal, either right or left, your third brake light is going to flash..... with or without your foot on the brake.
Try it. It just might put you over the edge if it flashes, to get a lawyer to write you a letter of dissatisfaction with an implication of a small claims court visit.