flobert

Wife was driving her work 96 T+C the other day (the high end one) and
yes i kow its not specifically a dodge, but I know you lot here, and
caravan/T+C differences are non existent, yeah? anyway, she was at a
juction, about to turn, and someone cuts across her, forcing her to
swerve. She hits the curb, and the two passenger side tyres are
damaged, and go flat. There's a firestone place about 3 doors away, so
she crawls there, and gets the tyres fixed. Now her boss is claiming
that shes done extensive damage to the vehicle in that, according to
his mechanic, and it'll cost $5000 to repair.

Night before, though, knowing she was going a long ways away (working
in an area some 100-odd miles away) checked the tyres, and fluids on
the van. (Its the 3.8 V6). TRansmission fluid was off the bottom of
the stick, oil was off the stick, expansion bottle was empty thogh the
radiator had fluid to the top.. The two front tyres were at the
treadwear markers, and the rear passenger tyre was at 22psi (which I
pumped up). She doesn't usually bring the van home, so i don't get to
check it more often, she only had it because it was already loaded,
and she was to leave at 5am. I'd have filled up the fluids myself,
only It was 10pm, and I didn't know what were the correct ones to use,
there being no user manual in the car, so I sent an email to the wifes
superior saying what it needed.

The accident happened at about 3pm, in the middle of Atlanta, so high
speeds are not likely either. According to the wife, the sidewall on
the back tyre went (probably weakened by the low pressure they had it
at) and the front popped its bead.

In short, is there any other kind of damage that these vehicles are
susceptable to in this sort of incident. I'm thinking the mechanic is
either trying it on, or he's including work for damage done to the
vehicle by the poor maintaince. Its got 168k on it (roughly) and the
transmissions going out. I've gone through the TSB's ( 131 of em) and
the recalls, and can't find anything that is any kind of match to
whats happened. Any insight guys? (specially you glenn)

Flobert

david

So what. Who owns the van? The Boss or the Company. Either way he has to
claim it with insurance. So what's the big deal. Tell your wife to report
the accident to the police. And then you have an accident report. her boss
cannot do anything except go thru insurance. Call a lawyer and have him call
the boss, if he's a dipshit about it. If your4 wife gets harassed, sue his
ass!

nospam.clare.nce

It is quite possible the rear axle has bent and the front knuckle or
strut - but unlikely if there was no rim damage.

I've seen a lot of them curbed to the tune of over $2000, but $5000 is
ridiculous.

sarge

Not sure what your wife's company policy is but my wife works for a new car
dealership and if they get in a wreck that is deemed their fault they pay
the deductible of 1000 dollars.

My old job, I wrecked two squad cars. One was my fault when I fell asleep
at the wheel after working and 18 hours shift and hit a parked car. The
second one was not my fault when I was rear ended while working an accident.
Some drunk got magnetized on the top lights and plowed into my rear end. We
were under contract agreeing to pay the deductible if you were at fault. It
was also a 1000 dollars. They how ever never went after it unless you had
multiple at fault accidents.

Ask for an itemized estimate and tell him you want a second estimate from a
different mechanic of your choice. To me it sounds like the boss is a real
asshole and his mechanic is overcharging. Firestone would have told your
wife if she had additional damage to the van before they would have replaced
the tires.

Worse case scenario is to hire a lawyer to handle the dispute and sue his
ass if he fires her.


Sarge

xmirage2kx

worst case she damaged the suspention and the wheels. now i guess that
could run $5000; but unless thoes componets are whats being quoted she
didnt do it (atleast not with this accident) it does take a pretty
good blow to cause both tires to go flat (i slid into a curb at 50mph
and didnt flatten the tires, just bent everything attached to them).
on the plus side its a company car, insurance will cover it. it could
have a neg effect on her preformance at work, but in no way are you
required to pay for it.

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