This is all starting to sound very sketchy.

I called the shop in st catherins, to speak with the owner to find out when my car was going to be back here. Then it turned into a conversation about how much I'd want in total for the whole car.

So I said I'd want around $8000. Then he said "I usually don't do this, but how about if I give you $2000 on top of the $5200 that your insurance is offering, and we keep the car here and you transfer the ownership to me"

So.. the day before my car is supposed to arrive, it gets broken into, and now the guy wants to buy it from me? Yet the "thieves" didn't steal any of the gauges or my SAFC II?

Anyways, they are keeping the car there indoors over the weekend and I said I will let him know by Monday. But I'm getting my car towed back here on Monday regardless so I can see it.

I talked to my shop about it and they said that they could possibly offer me the same deal. Obviously the sketchy-ness would be gone if it was a local deal.

Maybe they don't have the proper insurance at that shop, and they are trying to stay out of hot water?

This is extremely well below average. I haven't even heard of Scottish & York before reading Mike's experience.

I can't say that we are angelic here, I mean we are a business but we are a Mutal Company, not a Corporation which means the only people we are responsible to, are our actual clients themselves.

From the very beginning I could see exactly what they were trying to do with Mike and unfortunately he doesn't have someone on the inside to 'go to bat for them' like I would here for my personal clients.

This is, far and large, the worst, piss-poor service I've ever heard of. From the moment Mike made the claim, they've been treating him like a criminal rather than a client they are protecting.

What in the hell?

I am going to assume that the shop doesn't have the proper insurance on their property. If this is true you could squeeze alot more than $8000 out of them.

Mike are you handling all of this yourself?? you should consider getting your parents involved also. This is starting to sound like they are taking advantage of you because of your age.

tell the shop you want 3000 cash on top of the 5200 and you'll call it a deal.

^^^ What James said.

3K on top of $5200 payout and wash your hands with the whole deal.

Yeah my mom is helping out a lot with this. I'm secondary on my Eclipse even though my mom doesn't drive it. So they are talking to both of us.

I'll call the shop in st catherins on Monday and tell him I won't take less than 3k for it. Considering my car does have some modification done (rims, tires, gauges, suspension, fmic kit), and I want to be able to buy one that is not completely stock.

Too bad you don't have access to a lawyer (like a family friend) that could show up with you next time to show you mean business

If you get $8K+ from them, there’s lots of Spyders in the states that are in clean shape. Heck, for $15K you can get an Spyder GSX (converted)

Heh. Slightly below average, Grant. I stand by that. I think everyone has horror stories about insurance claims. Although I think insurance companies probably have just as many horror stories about US. *Laugh* I just had my rates lowered by RBC to $1435/yr for 2 cars, full coverage, with another $100 taken off when I pointed out my wife was NOT a 7* driver with me being only 6*... But I rue the day I have to make a major claim with their call center.

The worst part on the 'take the money and run' scenario, is that there'll still be the matter of that claim on your record AND the tickets. The deeper you get in, the harder you'll find it to get picked up by another company.

You don't have to get it towed, but it'd definitely be worth it to rent/borrow a car to drive down there and take a peek at it.

^^^
It's a comp. claim, Troy, remember - that shouldn't affect the rate.

'Shouldn't' is the key word. Companies take any claim into consideration. I made one comp. claim on my Talon for a break-in, and it was always mentioned when renewing for each year after. It still shows on my RBC record, even though it was 7 years ago...

My mom mentioned that we have a 'first claim protection' anyways. So my rates won't be going up.

Theres a bunch of nice 2g's for sale on Tuners, ranging anywhere from $7000+ but then I'd have to deal with getting it shipped / registered here. So I'm thinking if the $8200 would even be enough.

Yeah I could toss in more money if needed, but I don't really want it to be more than like $1000ish

Comprehensive claims NEVER affect your rate directly from ANY company.

Wow Troy, you really are jaded towards my industry, eh?

Would it help if I told you that I worked for RBC as well prior to State Farm? It was brutal there, we were constantly told to upsell and cross sell, regardless of the clients needs/wants to better our bottom line.

I hated every minute I worked for them because I honestly felt like a theif. At least here at SF, I can see the difference personally to how clients are looked at/viewed through the eyes of the company.

But I don't want to turn this into an RBC vs. SF debate, I just wanted to say that no matter what, they cannot raise Mike's rates UNLESS they prove he was misrepresenting what happened for this claim.

So, the car was at the shop that they wanted you to bring it to?
And oh just conicidence the car got broken into for only a radio. and the shop wont pay for it.

AND OH, the car suddenly has crappy compression, and metal in the oil?
SKETCHY

I would ask for the police report. because like grant said, they have insurance for that kind of stuff.

I would also do my own compression test on it.


What sounds likes going on:
shop works closely with insurance company.
Insurance company isnt stupid, they know how much the cars worth...
they ask to bring it to "their shop"
Shop thinks to their self, we can make some money off this. gives an estimate and insurance says cars writeoff.
if you take it they hit jackpot.
You said no, so they step to next level.
Cause more problems, break in and add to the needed repairs.
I dont understand them saying they cant insure it..
They are probally through the same freaking insurance company anyways,
but they see if your dumb enough to take their offer.

right now, if both places work together, the shop pays for your car.
the insurance company then pays the shop say 1000 over what they were gunna give you, like 6200 or so.. insurance sompany saves thousands of dollars not having to pay out the market value.

Then the shop has your car, with no salvage title, and they only paid maybe 1-2 thousand dollars for it.

They fix it all up, sell it for 10K
Split profit with insurance company.


Be fracking careful


Thats just my take on the story.

Give an opinion, suggestion, theory or fact, and there's Troy with his.
I'm just waiting for his book!
You mean there's no book? What a waste!

Michael:
Yeah that sounds like what they are trying to do.

Even though the guy at the shop in st catherins said he would keep it between us about the side deal for the $2000 and buying the car from me, he mentioned it to my insurance company.

I got a call from my insurance and he mentioned it and I was like uhh... well yeah that got brought up in the conversation but I said I wanted to think about it.

So my insurance then told me "you do realize you wouldn't get the $5200 if you did that, instead you'd get the $4700, because when we write the car off, we take ownership, so you can't sell the car after"

Then he was like so what do you want, and I said in the end, if I lose my car - I want $8000. That way it's enough to put towards another 2g with similar modification done to it.

Then my insurance guy called the shop and the shop said no he will not pay the extra for it. You would think they wouldn't mind though if they were really trying to scam me, like what's an extra $1000 between both of them or something right?

So the car will be back at my shop on Monday and they will redo all the tests which were done there and look into it further.

Right now the least I'd get is $4700 towards repairs, plus the cost to repair all the break in damage and replace my cd deck. However the amount for repairs is still up in the air right now as my mom is arguing that we deserve more.

Mike,
You stated "They smashed the back window and messed up the dash in order to steal your stereo". Did they smash the rear window cause that equals a new roof and I think you already know how much that costs (including labour). Or did they smash the rear quarter windows cause those list for $337.92US (left) & 445.33US (right). Just something to think about when they quote the damages due to the break in

I'd say try to get as much as you can and move on to a new 2G Spyder. Finding one in the states is not that hard and the import process is a piece of cake

I'm pretty sure it was the rear one, because when he told me this in the morning, I said "What the frack, how? I thought it was plastic?" And he said no, it's glass.

I don't think the cost of that matters. It is 100% their fault, so they are paying for the damage to the repair to everything and replacing my cd deck.

Maybe that could help me negotiate for the $8000 for a complete write off? If they are having to spend all this money on the repair anyways.. just give it to me in my cash settlement and be done with it.

Strange twists, it seemed like a simple small fire with not much damage.

If it were my car, I would take it to my shop to have an estaimate that I trust and is realistic with parts that I would buy used and supply the shop. That is what I would give to the insurance company which would likely be less than their cut-off point for a write-off. I would try to keep my car and have insurance pay for the repairs.

I'm with Tashko on this. For $4700 you could pretty much replace everything infront of the firewall. Good time for a 6 bolt swap! Take it somewhere that knows DSMs, sounds like all you need is a new rad/maf/wireing harness and some paint work. Maybe a stock engine rebuild.

No wonder the shop wants to buy it, they could spend a day and $1000 (with some used stuff) on parts and sell the car for $5-6000.

You seem to be getting it from all angles. Good luck!

If it in fact was my shops fault - I'm kind of hesitant to bring it back to them. Although it will be arriving there tomorrow. My friend Ray on the board got his FMIC (same as mine) installed there as well as a 6 bolt swap and his car hasn't caught on fire, lol. So it could have been an honest mistake.

Some new adjuster is coming to look at the break in damages tomorrow.

But yeah I'll be getting a 6 bolt for sure. I don't really know of any other DSM shops in the GTA...

That's why you should do it yourself.

Well, I don't know enough to do it by myself. Nor do I have a place to do it.. Plus it could be hard considering I work 10-6 monday to friday now, and sometimes sat/sun nights.

Beers + food + some cash on me if anyone wants to turn it into a project lol, and wouldn't mind a "newb" like me watching or helping out when I can.

So I'm an opinionated a$$hole, Rob. Sue me. And no, no book. Who would buy it?

Actually, I jump in like that intending to help. I got screwed over plenty of times when I was younger because I didn't have the opportunity to get the viewpoints of those that had already had that experience, or I ignored them. Hey, not EVERY shop/dealer/seller/insurance company can be bad, right? I find it amusing when people ignore my advice and then I see them wailing a week or so after, asking why noone told them anything...

Grant, I don't want to call your experience into question, but I've SEEN a few people that have had no-fault accidents, and a couple with multiple comp claims, have their rates increased by their companies. Hell, *I* was threatened with it by a company or two. Maybe those people didn't go to the local Insurance Bureau, but my dealings with them led me to believe they were like the BBB. If an insurance company didn't care about having their name on the bad list, there wasn't a lot they could do.

I'm not jaded towards the Insurance industry. I've seen a lot of good from them as well. But when they do react to protect themselves, it's usually done blindly and heavy-handedly. I don't buy into Mike's 'conspiracy' story, but I wouldn't put it past an agent of a company to start some kind of scam like that. Unlikely for the company itself to. And I've never been pressure-upsold by RBC, myself. But I've worked in that environment for years, so I know what you were going through.

I feel for ya', Mike. The lack of knowledge is the worst, because it REALLY opens you up for a shafting by people on the take, or more often just people/mechanics that really don't know any better about what they're doing. My opinion (Rob ), is that owning a DSM, or almost ANY car, with the intention of modifying it mechanically, should be undertaken if you:

A) Have the knowledge, time and facilities to DIY;
B) Have friends, or have 'low-charge' contacts (like this UBB) that can tell you what to do, help you do it, or do it for you at provided facilities;
C) Have a LOT of money to pay people to do it for you, often a couple of times to do the job right.

I started down that path when I was into car stereo systems at age 13, and saw how much people charged for pro installs. $10k for equipment, over 3x that for installation.

^^^
I agree with paragraphs one and five.

So update to the the break in damage..

Rear window, apart of the convertible top was smashed, and radio was stolen.

My SAFC II was hanging by the floor, and all my gauges are still there. Also all my speakers are still in tact, and my iPod and CD's were still there. The dash was not messed up, and even the screws which hold the radio in place were put back into the holes..I found that EXTREMELY odd.

Why wouldn't the "thieves" take those? I don't understand. My SAFC isn't even hooked up! It's just mounted on the bottom din piece and the wires are sitting behind the dash. I'm sure if they pulled on it - it would come out.

Almost looks like the shop somehow accidentally broke the back window, then figured "lets make it seem like a break in" so we don't hand this guys car back with more damage.

Are you retarded? Take you car home already.

Looks to me like someone just yanked your deck out with all their strength and left all your bolts in place. They probably didn't take your other items because they are far easier to track and probably don't sell as quickly. I hope your luck changes soon!

Don't be too quick to accuse, either. I've seen lots of break-ins where they've left things behind that didn't make sense. As far as taking a $25 item, yet leaving a $500 item (unmarked and wide-open) behind...

They may not have known what the other stuff was, or what it would be worth...

Found out today that they branded my car as "none" even after the inspection. S

Which means, my car will not have a salvage title after it is fixed . Also I don't need to get all of the safety checks done again. I confirmed that with the adjuster today when I spoke to him.

So I was all pumped about it getting fixed and getting my car back - and then my shop mentioned to me that there is a silver GSX for sale - fully built and tuned at around 400hp on a fresh 6bolt motor.

It was up for sale for around 14 grand, and now he lowered his price to 10 grand.

That just makes things so much difficult now.

How much do you think my car is worth as it sits now? knowing it needs a new engine? My shop said they might even buy my car from me...but I've already ordered $750 worth of parts from Ziggy which I don't want to cancel, so I'd want that money back. I was thinking around $2000 for my car.

Basically the price break down:

$5100 -> fire damages
$2000+ -> break in damages
$2000 -> shop's offer
$750 -> money back for parts
------
$9850

So for $150 more, I can own a beautiful GSX...

Mike, I wouldn't like to be stuck with the fans I ordered for you, but the rads I keep in stock, so if you want to cancel that, I would have no problem with it...

Let me know,
thanks,
Ziggy

I would stick with what you have.

Unless you know for a fact the work done on the gsx has been done properly... Which is hardly ever the case...

Good luck Mike,

No no Ziggy, if my shop wants to fix my car and then make a profit, they'd obviously want the parts. They quoted me for like $1000 for the parts I ordered from you. Maybe they get them cheaper for themselves, maybe not. I'm not canceling the order regardless.

Yeah I haven't even met the guy selling the GSX, but I've seen it a few times outside the shop. The shop said it is an amazing car and everything is like brand new on it. Owner had a kid and needs to sell it.