Body Shop Refuses to Fix 1995 Nissan Maxima

[MidwestTech]

Hello. My mother and I live in Chicago, Illinois.

My mother drives a 1995 Nissan Maxima. A week ago, she was in a hit-and-run accident. The driver's side of her front bumper was hit by a truck. She managed to drive the car home.

Her auto insurance is from GEICO. GEICO opened a claim and arranged for the Nissan to be towed to a body shop called Gerber.

It seems that the damage is more than the value of the car. So, GEICO will simply give my mother a check for the value of the car. However, my mother does not want to lose the car. So, she wants to take GEICO's check, add her own money, and give the total amount to Gerber so that Gerber will fix her car.

However, our GEICO adjuster told us today (8/1/18), that he was told the following by Gerber:

The Nissan's left-side frame rail (or side member), part number 7510140U30, was crushed in the impact. Gerber is unable to obtain an intact left-side frame rail to install into the car, because Nissan no longer makes parts for the 1995 Nissan Maxima. Thus, Gerber is unable to fix the car.


I did some online searching, and I found two online shops that sell this part.

I called Gerber and told Gerber about these shops, but Gerber then said that there are *other* parts that have to be replaced and that Gerber does not have. Also, Gerber said that Gerber will not buy a frame rail or any other parts from the online shops that I mentioned above. Gerber will buy parts only from Gerber's regular vendors.

It seems to me that, when I called Gerber's bluff and found some shops that will sell the frame rail, Gerber then backtracked and came up with some flimsy excuses to avoid doing the repair.


What are my mother's legal options? Is it legal for Gerber to insist that the parts used in repairing the Nissan have to be bought from Gerber's buddy vendors? Gerber appears to have some kind of partnership with GEICO, and my mother is a GEICO customer. If my mother is willing to spend extra money to fix her car, and all Gerber has to do is buy the parts from some online retailers, then can't my mother legally force Gerber to fix the car?

Please advise. Thank you.

 

[Zigner]

She can't force them to do the work. It's perfectly legal for them to decline. Besides, would she really want them doing the work if they were "forced" to?

 

[MidwestTech]

Besides, would she really want them doing the work if they were "forced" to?

Yes, she would. This car means everything to her. She is very angry because some trucker damaged her car and got away, and because she may lose the car. Even though this car is 23 years old, this car has only 52000 miles on it. This is a very good car. She wants this car repaired, by any means necessary.

 

[LdiJ]

Hello. My mother and I live in Chicago, Illinois.

My mother drives a 1995 Nissan Maxima. A week ago, she was in a hit-and-run accident. The driver's side of her front bumper was hit by a truck. She managed to drive the car home.

Her auto insurance is from GEICO. GEICO opened a claim and arranged for the Nissan to be towed to a body shop called Gerber.

It seems that the damage is more than the value of the car. So, GEICO will simply give my mother a check for the value of the car. However, my mother does not want to lose the car. So, she wants to take GEICO's check, add her own money, and give the total amount to Gerber so that Gerber will fix her car.

However, our GEICO adjuster told us today (8/1/18), that he was told the following by Gerber:

The Nissan's left-side frame rail (or side member), part number 7510140U30, was crushed in the impact. Gerber is unable to obtain an intact left-side frame rail to install into the car, because Nissan no longer makes parts for the 1995 Nissan Maxima. Thus, Gerber is unable to fix the car.


I did some online searching, and I found two online shops that sell this part.

I called Gerber and told Gerber about these shops, but Gerber then said that there are *other* parts that have to be replaced and that Gerber does not have. Also, Gerber said that Gerber will not buy a frame rail or any other parts from the online shops that I mentioned above. Gerber will buy parts only from Gerber's regular vendors.

It seems to me that, when I called Gerber's bluff and found some shops that will sell the frame rail, Gerber then backtracked and came up with some flimsy excuses to avoid doing the repair.


What are my mother's legal options? Is it legal for Gerber to insist that the parts used in repairing the Nissan have to be bought from Gerber's buddy vendors? Gerber appears to have some kind of partnership with GEICO, and my mother is a GEICO customer. If my mother is willing to spend extra money to fix her car, and all Gerber has to do is buy the parts from some online retailers, then can't my mother legally force Gerber to fix the car?

Please advise. Thank you.

No, but what your mother CAN do, is take back her car, take the check from Geico, put some of her own money with it, and try find someone else who is willing and able to fix the car.

 

[xylene]

There are PLENTY of body shops willing to entertain an irrational customer. BUT...

Your mom does not get revenge on the trucker who hit her by behaving irrationally about an old car that will never be the same.

 

[xylene]

You are not being a good son by humoring this behavior.

Also you could find a mid 90s Maxima with mileage in the 50s. Easily. It was one of the top cars of the era with hundreds of thousands made.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Is it legal for Gerber to insist that the parts used in repairing the Nissan have to be bought from Gerber's buddy vendors? Gerber appears to have some kind of partnership with GEICO, and my mother is a GEICO customer. If my mother is willing to spend extra money to fix her car, and all Gerber has to do is buy the parts from some online retailers, then can't my mother legally force Gerber to fix the car?

Yes, it is legal for the repair shop to insist on only using parts it can obtain from its usual vendors. The shop may refuse to repair the car for any reason other than illegal discrimination (e.g. because of her race, color, religion, etc). Thus, your mother cannot force the shop to do the repair.

This kind of damage is difficult to repair correctly and forcing a shop to do it when it does not want to would be risking an unsafe repair. Your mother is acting irrationally on this. it's a car; something to take her from point A to point B. It is also not an especially rare vehicle. She can likely find others for sale that are similar to the one that got wrecked. Moreover, she can likely do that for less than what it will cost her to repair the wrecked one.

 

[cbg]

What law do you believe exists that would force Gerber to repair the car? Alternately, what law do you believe exists that grants your mother the guaranteed right to call the shots?

 

[HRZ]

I have seen very expensive nearly new cars totaled out because of frame damage that is unlikely to be properly and safely corrected .....I think Mom is throwing good money after bad but if she insisted...have her contact other body shops

 

[TheGeekess]

However, Mom can not get the full amount of money from Geico, because it's their car when they pay out a total. Mom will have to ask how much they will pay towards repair of the car, which is usually a less amount of money.

 

[Just Blue]

OP's PxHx is...interesting. Kinda an apple/tree thingy.