Cobraboy

Seriously? Asking the Chief Engineer if HIS car would be affected by being in the rain for several hours with no protection, and getting completely soaked through and through, would be insulting? That is a completely technical question. So is asking him if an aluminum frame can safely be weld repaired.

I'm just trying to suggest things to help, instead of suggesting things that the OP has already tried.

Silver Stingray

Cmon dude, a Corvette engineer is not the person to bother with this and you know it.

Foosh

No comment, other than to say if you don't "get it" at this point, you're not going to get it.

Larry/car

At this stage your only option is a law suit. (You can sue anybody for anything at any time)! You need to sue body shop one and body shop two for damages, lawyer will dictate proceedings against responsible parties. Hire a good intimidating lawyer to send fear into the responsible individuals. It is going to cost money, (couple of thousand dollars a month) in the end you should be able to recover legal costs plus the cost of vehicle repair.

Cobraboy

Actually I don't know it. As a Chief Engineer myself, a Corvette engineer would be the perfect person to answer the technical questions I have suggested.

If it was your car sitting in pieces for 2 months and you had completely run out of options, you might feel different. And before more options are suggested, please read the entire thread to see that everyone's suggestions have already been exhausted.

Silver Stingray

There are no "technical questions" to be asked. He was wronged by dealer service departments, tow companies and insurance companies. None of which have anything to do with the Corvette engineering team. I have read the entire thread. Perhaps you should do the same, or at least the first post. anyone with any sense would realize the engineering team has no interest in this situation.

Foosh

C-Boy,

The questions you've suggested be asked of the Corvette Chief Engineer already have rather obvious answers to anyone with just basic knowledge.

Yes, aluminum can be welded, as it is at the factory when the frame pieces are assembled. Yes electronics can be damaged by sitting exposed in a rain-storm. Yes, anything can be repaired if done properly, and the question becomes, is repair cost-effective? Those are the obvious answers he'd provide if he agreed to answer the question at all, which is doubtful.

None of those questions are going to help the OP, because it's now a legal fight over who was to blame for not doing the repairs properly, as well as damaging the car further by exposing it to water damage. That is a legal question NOT an engineering question.

Cobraboy

Nice that we're keeping this impersonal.

If you don't think that asking if the aluminum frame can be safely welded by a body shop, then I guess we have different ideas of what "technical" means. It could be extremely important to the case here.

Silver Stingray

Read what Foosh posted. He stated it more eloquently than I. As a self proclaimed "Chief Engineer" this stuff should be elementary to you.

Cobraboy

For crying out loud, am I the only one that knows anything about aluminum structural welding and heat-treating outside the factory conditions?

I give up, you all know more.

Foosh

Yes welding aluminum requires a different process than iron or steel. But, for crying out loud, it doesn't matter in this case. It's painfully clear the repair shops screwed up, which is all that is relevant.

For crying out loud, how do you expect him to know what the hell the repair shops did? No true professional would speculate absent details that he has no way of knowing.

Maxie2U

BrandensBeast

I'd say since you ARE the victim, play it as the victim, you have 25k views on this thread, all CORVETTE AND GM OWNERS, show that to people, i've "threatened" several company's of products that i've purchased that have failed, or not been up to par.

I know this is not the EXACT situation you're in but it may help. Every single one that i've emailed/spoke to and once I brought up anything involving a "following" and social media they quickly fixed their mistakes, no questions asked, all costs done on their end, and me a happy customer who changed my review on whatever site I reviewed the products on.

You have PLENTY of evidence to prove you're in the right and have been screwed over, you're not looking to make a dollar on this, make other people see it that way aswell, goodluck

Cobraboy

All I've been trying to do is to suggest things that might be helpful. All you 2 (Foosh & Silver Stingray) have done is criticize or suggest things that the OP has clearly stated he has tried.

ssidekickbp

The only person who should be hounded and continually questioned is the insurance claim adjuster. Geico is the only company you could truly go after in a case like this. GM has nothing to do with the cars claim.

I'd be blowing up his phone until my car was declared totaled at this point.

I'm sorry if anyone thinks different, but if an insurance company "Can't" find anyone to fix the car, then to me it is by definition: totaled.

rmorin1249

Corvette engineering has zero interest in this sordid story.

Foosh

You are completely off-base with the above remark.

If you had read this entire thread, you would have seen a lengthy post from me trying to help by persuading OP that he needed to hire a very good attorney. Driver9 amplified that by educating him that there are good ones out there who specialize in "bad-faith" claims, which are subject to triple damage awards, including reimbursement for legal fees. It appears that he's been talking to the wrong types of attorneys.

No insurance company or car dealership wants to suffer that kind of exposure, and he has a great case. When faced with that kind of exposure, more often than not, companies sued for bad-faith breach of contract will settle early without risking a trial rather than risk an adverse award as well as legal fees on their end.

OP fears spending the money on legal fees, but his alternative is continuing to make payments on a car he will likely not get back, or walking away from it, and having black marks on his credit rating for many years.

My criticism was with your ill-advised idea of contacting the Corvette Chief Engineer, which would serve absolutely no useful purpose.

bigsapper

Please don't do this. While skipperC7 is correct that ARFCOM has a massive and broad following, the Avilas do not want issues that are totally unrelated to their forum to be posted there. I wouldn't be surprised that this is the case for most discussion forums.

I'll see if there is a way to post your feedback on there in such a way that the owners don't have a problem with it. If so, it could be a model to post on other forums.

Foosh

I'd be willing to bet that as soon as Geico receives a certified notice of a bad-faith lawsuit filed against them, they will quickly decide to declare the car a total loss and offer to pay full retail value of a comparable replacement. It is then up to them to decide to go after the repair shops involved or write it off. A settlement like that is pocket change to Geico.

If this story is exactly as portrayed by OP, and I'll assume that it is for the purpose of this argument, this is a slam dunk case. In such cases, legal fees can be minimal.

The OP has probably been dealing exclusively with low-level Geico claims adjusters, whose job it is to minimize claims. If the facts as described in this thread are verified and arrive in a lawsuit, the Geico legal department will make an entirely different decision.

jclarksnakes

I think the Geico folks have figured out that you will not hire an attorney and so have decided that they do not have to deal with you seriously. If I was in your shoes I would be angry enough to take a second job if I had to to afford a good attorney. I would do whatever it takes to sue Geico. And I would do that even if the attorney told me I did not have a high probability of winning the case. BTW, I especially like the advice offered by Driver9.