I have an 2004 Acura TL - decent condition -owe about 10k on it.

2 make a long story short.....

-truck backed up into me in June 2007 and his hitch went thru my front end and radiator etc...
-Acura referred me to a body shop...they did the work...
-December 2007....car overheated...blew a head gasket...and the rest is history....
-Another Acura dealer (where car is now) mentioned that it was a possibility that when they put the radiator in that there is a possibility that there was some sought of restriction to the radiator/coolant system (leading back to body shop)
-but they cannot verify it UNTIL they put in a engine...that they r asking me to pay for.....until then I/they cannot prove that the auto body people did anything wrong...
-and my insurance covered the accident but they WONT cover the engine...they said talk to the auto body shop....but we have to prove it first (put the engine in and let them track the flow of coolant)


what would u do???

...sell the car in current cond.???
...put engine in???

...any suggestions?????

 

When was the car fixed and how many miles have been driven after the repair? If there was a problem with the repair it would have likely showed up right away. Why would they have to put in a new engine to determine what was wrong with the old one? The two are unrelated. I would also question the need for a new engine. What other options, if any, are there? If the engine is indeed shot than you either have to replace it or get rid of the car as it is. This is a judgement you will have to make for yourself by looking at the cost of the repairs versus the value of the car. If you decide you are keeping the car than the engine needs to get fixed and the only question is who is going to pay for it, in any event it looks like you will have to fork over the dough up front and hope for some relief later.

 

Isn't there some sort of standard where you have 1 year to file a claim for additional damages if they are deemed related and part of the original accident.. maybe that's only in Cali or certain insurance companies(?)

Why did YOUR insurance pay for the guy backing into your car?

[and note that a blown headgasket doesn't require an entire brand new engine - I replaced a head gasket in 2 of my cars]

 

If you drive and drive and drive with high engine temp reading- then finally the head gasket blow- you can warp the heads, crack the block, any number of bad things!

So the first question is: Was there ever any indication of abnormal temp- meaning- your car always ran at a certain place on the gauge before the accident- what did it do afterwards?

How long was your car parked at the repair shop? Months?

Thought I had told every story there was as a service writer----
but every day I see something on azine that best any of my 'why you need this' tales

 

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