The initial estimate we received from Caliber Collision was not used in the repair of our car, and instead a competitor's estimate on file with Liberty was taken as the basis for repair and billing.
We spoke to Ozzie's and they told us that it is common for Caliber to give low estimates to get people in the door, then they increase the estimate, working directly with the insurance company, never informing the customer. This clearly happened to us and Caliber never bothered to inform us that they were increasing our estimate by 43%.
Ozzie's (Caliber's competition) gave us a realistic estimate, then Caliber got ahold of Ozzie's estimate and increased the estimate to match Ozzie's estimate, and we were never informed of this change, and never had a chance to get our car out of there. This is factual and I have recorded calls where Caliber flat our admits that they took Ozzie's estimate and matched it. Then they threw out the original estimate that we agreed to. Without ever telling us.
Not sure why they can claim they found 'Hidden Damage' beyond the original estimate. All the damage was clearly visible and addressed in the original estimate.
Caliber broke some molding toward the end of the project when they were removing it, they didn't tell me and got $144 directly from my insurance company to cover something that they clearly broke. They admitted to breaking the molding and kept the car for another 3 days never offering to help with transportation even when it was their fault.
Liberty tells us that Caliber can do these strange things since Caliber had attained 'Power of Attorney' so this gives them the right to get our policy number from Liberty, find out how much Liberty gave us for the repairs and to even have access to other shops estimates? I don't think so.
Apparently we signed a section titled: 'Authorization to Repair' and "Authorization to Access Vehicle Data" which had a conditional "Power of Attorney" "…For insurance claims". As we see it, it is only for "Insurance Claims". Obviously we already handled the claim and had the check so this section is irrelevant. I will post exactly what that small print says even though it never applied to our drop off, since they would NOT be handling our Claim.
Power of Attorney
For Insurance claims, I hereby constitute and appoint Caliber Collision and its authorized employees to be my true and lawful attorney-in-fact with authority to sign my name on any check or draft covering repairs to my automobile and to take any actions as may be necessary to negotiate any such check or draft.
They never needed to 'negotiate any such check or draft' until the end of the project. This does not include any rights to ask for my payout or for my competitor invoices. We already handled the claim and had the money to pay for the repairs. It was a simple fix to the edge of a door. They had no reason to use any such Power of Attorney without informing us especially since they already had their own estimate for the work and should have just fixed the door.
Caliber clearly lied to us by telling us ok when we told them that we already handled the claim, we have the check, and they should not go through our insurance company for the work. We told them we will pay ourselves. Caliber then told us that the correct term is 'Self Pay' and that they also call it 'Cash Pay'. We had never heard those terms before, so we wrote it on one of the drop off forms and continued to use Caliber's term "Self Pay" through all of our calls since then.
Again, Caliber had no claim to deal with, we did that ourselves, we even submitted supplements with Liberty and got all the payments prior to even deciding if we would ever get the car repaired.
I have used a Power if Attorney in the past and they never went behind my back and disregarded my explicit instructions to benefit themselves. I clearly told them we would be paying for the work. The sections related to the claim and insurance info were ignored and left blank. Caliber typed our insurance name in small print on one section but the option for 'Claim Made' was left blank because it was irrelevant. Again, entire sections of the form were ignored since they didn't apply to our drop off situation as Self Pay.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! (Unless you want your wheel to fall off). There is another excellent collision shop less than a mile away. I took my truck to Caliber Collision on 876 Abalone Dr, Gilbert, AZ 85233 to have my truck quoted for repair after an accident. I chose not to hire them to do the work, but I did contract them to perform an inspection and comprehensive quotation of all parts needed to fix the truck. When I picked up my truck, I paid their invoice for the contracted work performed and proceeded to drive it to the shop I chose to perform the work.
Simply put, do NOT go here for repairs unless you want to pay 33% or more than retail for auto repairs. This business would not even look for repair parts, just looked at the internet and then added whatever figure they want, (they are not ATTONRNEYS), but price as if they are at least the location I went to. NO answers, NOT Allowed??? to tell me anything for 29 days???? What the heck is this????
Let me wait for a very long time to tell me the manager??? is not there??? Call later so I can be put on hold for a minimum of 5 minutes. I already reported this to my insurance company, but strange I didn't get an answer??? Did they find I was correct? I am soooooio Sick of alleged American companies that do us to death, where can WE get some relief???
Left battery of car on in workshop and killed it. Wouldn't replace it, cost me $150. Also tried to make me pay for a rental car over the days they were closed and couldn't pick up my car. Didn't put the car back together entirely also. Very unprofessional auto shop.
They also don't like to have a receptionist in the front and love to just let you sit there and wait. Multiple people would walk by and avoid eye contact.
In december 2016 we had an accident, the insurance company sent a appraisal expert and he calculates 10,000 usd repair, then the insurance company recommend me to use Caliber Collision, my car was in the repair shop for 3 months, when ready, after poor communication during first 2 months, the 3rd month was better once a week, when i wet to pick the car, it looks bad, the lines of the hood and fender did not match, so I asked them to fix it, same day when I arrived to home, an email of them show me the repair cost $17,000 usd plus tax.
I was chocked, it could be cheaper to make the car total lost and avoid 3 months without car, I called Allstate and they said it was common to happen, then they told me the deductible would be forgiven. Of course the Insurance policy cost sky rocket.
So 10 days later I picked up the car, and when driving it was a vibration, so I returned to repair shop and after 3 or 4 days they said was ready, almost 4 months after the collision, finally I discover the they put more rpms in the engine instead of find the real cause, hood was vibrating as paper, but I did not want more problems or complaints, but I heard from one of their employees they use NO OEMS parts, this car is 2015 and no OEMS parts??? so the hood is like paper, and possible other parts.
My recommendation, use the repair shop of the agency brand, Ford, Chev, Nissan etc. If you use Caliber ensure they quote before start the repair with OEM parts, it is possible will increase your lost and your insurance premiums, after that be sure they give you a commitment date, and before you receive the car not only inspect it but also drive around to look for things you can not see but listen or feel, car will be very clean and that distract you from what is important, DO NOT SIGN until you agree with the repair.
This is sad and frustration will be with you for months or even years every time you pay your premium and you knew after all that would be much better NOT to USE Caliber Collision.
Lesson I learned, ask the repair shop to quote the repair and tell them to ensure everything was included, if possible ask the Ford or Nissan or etc to quote too, it is possible price will be similar. and If not ensure Caliber quote the same parts and hours, they are expensive, and there is a lot of pressure to achive their sales goals, bonus are attrative to management.
Caliber Collision Reviews
The initial estimate we received from Caliber Collision was not used in the repair of our car, and instead a competitor's estimate on file with Liberty was taken as the basis for repair and billing.
We spoke to Ozzie's and they told us that it is common for Caliber to give low estimates to get people in the door, then they increase the estimate, working directly with the insurance company, never informing the customer. This clearly happened to us and Caliber never bothered to inform us that they were increasing our estimate by 43%.
Ozzie's (Caliber's competition) gave us a realistic estimate, then Caliber got ahold of Ozzie's estimate and increased the estimate to match Ozzie's estimate, and we were never informed of this change, and never had a chance to get our car out of there. This is factual and I have recorded calls where Caliber flat our admits that they took Ozzie's estimate and matched it. Then they threw out the original estimate that we agreed to. Without ever telling us.
Not sure why they can claim they found 'Hidden Damage' beyond the original estimate. All the damage was clearly visible and addressed in the original estimate.
Caliber broke some molding toward the end of the project when they were removing it, they didn't tell me and got $144 directly from my insurance company to cover something that they clearly broke. They admitted to breaking the molding and kept the car for another 3 days never offering to help with transportation even when it was their fault.
Liberty tells us that Caliber can do these strange things since Caliber had attained 'Power of Attorney' so this gives them the right to get our policy number from Liberty, find out how much Liberty gave us for the repairs and to even have access to other shops estimates? I don't think so.
Apparently we signed a section titled: 'Authorization to Repair' and "Authorization to Access Vehicle Data" which had a conditional "Power of Attorney" "…For insurance claims". As we see it, it is only for "Insurance Claims". Obviously we already handled the claim and had the check so this section is irrelevant. I will post exactly what that small print says even though it never applied to our drop off, since they would NOT be handling our Claim.
Power of Attorney
For Insurance claims, I hereby constitute and appoint Caliber Collision and its authorized employees to be my true and lawful attorney-in-fact with authority to sign my name on any check or draft covering repairs to my automobile and to take any actions as may be necessary to negotiate any such check or draft.
They never needed to 'negotiate any such check or draft' until the end of the project. This does not include any rights to ask for my payout or for my competitor invoices. We already handled the claim and had the money to pay for the repairs. It was a simple fix to the edge of a door. They had no reason to use any such Power of Attorney without informing us especially since they already had their own estimate for the work and should have just fixed the door.
Caliber clearly lied to us by telling us ok when we told them that we already handled the claim, we have the check, and they should not go through our insurance company for the work. We told them we will pay ourselves. Caliber then told us that the correct term is 'Self Pay' and that they also call it 'Cash Pay'. We had never heard those terms before, so we wrote it on one of the drop off forms and continued to use Caliber's term "Self Pay" through all of our calls since then.
Again, Caliber had no claim to deal with, we did that ourselves, we even submitted supplements with Liberty and got all the payments prior to even deciding if we would ever get the car repaired.
I have used a Power if Attorney in the past and they never went behind my back and disregarded my explicit instructions to benefit themselves. I clearly told them we would be paying for the work. The sections related to the claim and insurance info were ignored and left blank. Caliber typed our insurance name in small print on one section but the option for 'Claim Made' was left blank because it was irrelevant. Again, entire sections of the form were ignored since they didn't apply to our drop off situation as Self Pay.
AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! (Unless you want your wheel to fall off). There is another excellent collision shop less than a mile away. I took my truck to Caliber Collision on 876 Abalone Dr, Gilbert, AZ 85233 to have my truck quoted for repair after an accident. I chose not to hire them to do the work, but I did contract them to perform an inspection and comprehensive quotation of all parts needed to fix the truck. When I picked up my truck, I paid their invoice for the contracted work performed and proceeded to drive it to the shop I chose to perform the work.
Simply put, do NOT go here for repairs unless you want to pay 33% or more than retail for auto repairs. This business would not even look for repair parts, just looked at the internet and then added whatever figure they want, (they are not ATTONRNEYS), but price as if they are at least the location I went to. NO answers, NOT Allowed??? to tell me anything for 29 days???? What the heck is this????
Let me wait for a very long time to tell me the manager??? is not there??? Call later so I can be put on hold for a minimum of 5 minutes. I already reported this to my insurance company, but strange I didn't get an answer??? Did they find I was correct? I am soooooio Sick of alleged American companies that do us to death, where can WE get some relief???
Left battery of car on in workshop and killed it. Wouldn't replace it, cost me $150. Also tried to make me pay for a rental car over the days they were closed and couldn't pick up my car. Didn't put the car back together entirely also. Very unprofessional auto shop.
They also don't like to have a receptionist in the front and love to just let you sit there and wait. Multiple people would walk by and avoid eye contact.
In december 2016 we had an accident, the insurance company sent a appraisal expert and he calculates 10,000 usd repair, then the insurance company recommend me to use Caliber Collision, my car was in the repair shop for 3 months, when ready, after poor communication during first 2 months, the 3rd month was better once a week, when i wet to pick the car, it looks bad, the lines of the hood and fender did not match, so I asked them to fix it, same day when I arrived to home, an email of them show me the repair cost $17,000 usd plus tax.
I was chocked, it could be cheaper to make the car total lost and avoid 3 months without car, I called Allstate and they said it was common to happen, then they told me the deductible would be forgiven. Of course the Insurance policy cost sky rocket.
So 10 days later I picked up the car, and when driving it was a vibration, so I returned to repair shop and after 3 or 4 days they said was ready, almost 4 months after the collision, finally I discover the they put more rpms in the engine instead of find the real cause, hood was vibrating as paper, but I did not want more problems or complaints, but I heard from one of their employees they use NO OEMS parts, this car is 2015 and no OEMS parts??? so the hood is like paper, and possible other parts.
My recommendation, use the repair shop of the agency brand, Ford, Chev, Nissan etc. If you use Caliber ensure they quote before start the repair with OEM parts, it is possible will increase your lost and your insurance premiums, after that be sure they give you a commitment date, and before you receive the car not only inspect it but also drive around to look for things you can not see but listen or feel, car will be very clean and that distract you from what is important, DO NOT SIGN until you agree with the repair.
This is sad and frustration will be with you for months or even years every time you pay your premium and you knew after all that would be much better NOT to USE Caliber Collision.
Lesson I learned, ask the repair shop to quote the repair and tell them to ensure everything was included, if possible ask the Ford or Nissan or etc to quote too, it is possible price will be similar. and If not ensure Caliber quote the same parts and hours, they are expensive, and there is a lot of pressure to achive their sales goals, bonus are attrative to management.