On July 18th I was in an auto accident on I-285 and Chamblee-Tucker Rd in Atlanta, GA. My car had to be towed from the scene due to front end damage. The wrecker service that showed up was Brown and Brown. The driver said that instead of towing my car back to the lot, he could instead tow it directly to Classic Collision, a body shop that does good work. He said it was no extra charge, so I reluctantly gave him permission.
The next day I called Classic Collision to get an estimate on repair, but found they did not yet have my car.instead, Brown and Brown had towed it back to their lot ($125.00). Later that day, they "relayed" it to Classic Collision ($85.00). Needless to say, I was not happy about this. I was less happy to learn that Classic Collision had assumed the bill on my behalf and added on a "mark-up" of $71.00. When I asked what was marked-up, they just said it was standard business practice, and "we have to make a profit". Glad they didn't add on $1000.00 for a mark-up!
I asked how long they would keep my car without adding storage fees, and they gave me until Monday (this was a Thur). Their estimate was $4500 to fix my car. So, Saturday i bought a new car (pre-owned, actually). Classic told me that if I decided not to keep my car, that one of their mechanics might take my old one off my hands for a low price. On Monday, I found that price was $400 he would pay off my $281.00 that I allegedly owed.
I went down to make this deal, but i asked the mechanic to pay ME the entire $681, planning to dispute all the bogus charges. But the business manager would not let that happen. He also would not let me tow my car elsewhere, but instead kept it locked up so I could not get it. This is still my car at this point! But he refused to let me take it. Then, the owner told me that in addition, he was going to charge me storage fees daily until i paid him. So I was going to be charged to store a car that they would not let me take away. Ridiculous!
The owner, Mike Gay, was a real jerk about it, too. I never asked them to pay my towing bill and should not have owed them a penny for giving me an estimate on repair. But I would up with a car held hostage and fraudulent charges adding up against me. I finally gave in and sold the car to their mechanic. But I am not done with these jokers and will soon be seeing them in Magistrate court.
DO NOT do business with these people! Be careful who tows your car! I have read that tow truck drivers are scum. I can't speak for all of them as I am sure some are decent human beings, but these two compainies definitely conspired to screw me over.
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