Guess what? My car’s back, good as new! Well, some people might dispute that, stating that body shops can never actually return a vehicle to pre-accident condition because they can’t duplicate certain factory procedures. But…my Honda Civic looks great!
As you recall, I hit a deer on June 7 and caused quite a bit of damage to my car. I walked away without a scratch, but the Civic sustained $6,000 of damage per the estimate at Nagy’s Collision Specialists in Doylestown, Ohio. I chose Nagy’s because Ron Nagy is a friend of mine, and I knew he’d do right by me. Plus, they’re Honda certified.
Now, about that estimate. It was very thorough, accounting for every nut, bolt and clip. Frame setup and measure. Alignment. The works. I showed it to other shop owners and they agreed practically nothing was left out. Plus, everything was written OE. For these reasons, I thought I would certainly face friction from my insurer, GEICO.
But I didn’t. In fact, the manager at Nagy’s told me he waited three days for GEICO to reply about coming out to see the car before emailing them once again. The response? “Just run it through.” Wow! They didn’t even come out to see the car! After all the horror stories I’ve heard from you guys about customers getting steered and lowballed, I was shocked. They never tried to steer me, and they didn’t haggle about the estimate. I even got an OE radiator!
Someone suggested, “Well, GEICO probably knew who you were!” I don’t know. But I was prepared for the worst, and ended up having a smooth experience.
