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The Shoulder
kind-finch-088

Body shop sent 6 revised estimates in 2 weeks and now won't return my adjuster's calls??

I don't even know where to start with this. I was hit from behind at a stoplight back in the winter — other driver was clearly at fault, their insurance accepted liability pretty quickly, so I figured this would be the "easy" kind of claim. Ha.

The damage looked minor to me. Cracked tail light, some cosmetic stuff on the rear panel. Took it to a shop my insurer works with, was told maybe 10 days to get it back. Fine.

Except then the shop says they found something behind the panel that needed more attention. Okay, that happens. They send a supplemental estimate. Then another one. Then FOUR MORE over about a two-week stretch. Each one meaningfully higher than the last. We're talking the final number being nowhere close to what the first estimate said.

I was already uneasy about that, but here's the part that's really freaking me out: my adjuster told me yesterday that the shop's point of contact has completely stopped responding. Emails, voicemails — nothing. My car is presumably still sitting there.

Is this a scam? Is the shop in over their head and scared to admit it? Is this just... normal chaos that I'm not used to? I feel totally in the dark and I have no idea if I should be demanding my car back (in whatever state it's in), escalating to a supervisor, or just waiting it out.

Has anyone dealt with anything like this? What actually helped you move it forward?

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