New guy, first post and it's not a good one

[LUNCHBOX16]

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Hello all I'm new to the forum and OBS trucks. I've creeped the forum abit but this is my first post. Back in October I bought a 98 K1500 Silverado SC SB with a 305. Being a New England truck it has some rust and it's a bit high mileage, 217k. I was working on some starting issues and giving it a general tune up. Making a list of issues and possible issues I found on this forum. I had purchased some used tires for it and had them mounted and balanced at a local tire shop last week. The tires it had on it were total junk and I needed something safe to drive on. Tires were mounted and I got a full 3.4 miles down the road when my front left tire shot of the truck and into the woods. Luckily I was not hurt and I didn't hit another car but the truck took full impact on the ball joint.
Tire shop said all it needs is an alignment and I'm good to go. They blamed the lugs (I gave them new lugs but didn't push them to be used) and said they didn't trust them but it was late so what you gonna do. They insist a body shop looked at the front fender and said "it's too old to fix leave it alone". Needles to say it's a trusted garage now and I'm waiting on a full run up of the damages. Just needed to vent this to more than my wife and friends haha.

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[454cid]

Leaving it alone is not their call. I would start looking into small claims court. You might inquire with your insurance agent too.

 

[Stumpy]

Yeah, that shop would be paying to fix my truck, whether they wanted to or not. Stay on them.

 

[Knuckle Dragger]

Yeah, those studs look intact to me. Someone didn't tighten the wheel. They are liable and don't get the luxury of deciding it's too old.

Leaving it alone is not their call. I would start looking into small claims court. You might inquire with your insurance agent too.

If you have full coverage the insurance company will go after the shop for you to avoid paying the claim themselves.

 

[RichLo]

I agree with everything above! Stay on them, before you took it to them all it needed was new tires and then a wheel falls off within minutes of it leaving their shop. That's not an alignment issue! Small claims court sucks and hopefully you dont have to go that rout. You have a few options before you need to do that... you can let the insurance company deal with them, or before that you can get a quote from a body shop then you can keep going to their shop daily and harassing them for a full and complete payment or else insurance will come after them. Another thing to do right away is go to the BBB (Better Business Bureau), Hopefully they are listed there. You can register your situation and they will do a lot of leg work for you also, no small business wants an F rating on the BBB. Once they get the first call from the BBB, they know your not going away easily.

There's a lot of things that could have caused this and none of them is your fault or the trucks fault... somebody didn't tighten them, or over tightened them, or cross threaded them with an impact because they were in a hurry, or didnt balance the new tire causing wheel wobble, etc.

Please keep us updated on your progress! We're here to help.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

I agree wholeheartedly! Don't let them get away with it, the next guy may not be as lucky as you and get hurt or worse!

 

[kennythewelder]

Welcome to the forum. That shop is liable for damages. If they dont want to pay, then court is the next step. They will also have to pay any legal fees, and court cost once they loose the case.

 

[PlayingWithTBI]

I was thinking about this - my son works at a major chain repair shop where they adopted a new policy recently due to a law suit when someone didn't torque the lug nuts properly. After one tech torques the lug nuts a second tech has to check them before releasing the vehicle.

 

[Old77]

 

[LUNCHBOX16]

Thank you all for the replies. I def glossed over some of the dialogue I had with the shop after this went down. They had asked me to tow it to the shop so they could look at it the following morning. I never got a call from them after an hour plus of them being open so I went there to see what was up. They told me they were working on it at that moment and they were sorry it happened. I never gave authorization for them to work on it only to look at it so I lost it. I was taken into the back to look at the truck by another employee and he told me he gone through it and it was all set. That where the quote of it's too old to fix came from. He motioned like he was checking a wheel bearing and said I shock the front end and it's all good. Several times telling me the reason it went out like it did was cause it was late. He even started getting mouthy and loud with me when I told him I didn't authorize them to work on the truck and I wanted it back to how it rolled in there not how they wanted it to leave. It was taken off the lift as I called a tow truck and it was taken over an hour to the next state to a body shops I know and trust. I told them they would pay for all damages and that was how they would make it right. They kept saying we are trying to make this right. I called my insurance company the night it happened and left a message. Spoke to them the next morning and they said they would assist how ever I needed them. I did tell the shop my next call was a lawyer and that got them to say they would pay for all damages.
I just got a text from my buddy at the body shop today and he told me the truck is totaled. The cost of the fender repairs alone total the truck. Plus the cab is twisted so the mounts are twisted. I'm waiting on the actual quote from the shop and I can present it to the tire shop. I doubt they will do anything willingly and I'm sure small claims court is in my future. Sucks cause I spent months looking for a truck and only got a month of use and about 40 miles on it. I got it for doing house projects and I was gonna make it a lot nicer than it was. Kinda defeated right now even though I know I have legal recourse on my side. I barely cracked the 4 book GM shop manuals I bought before this happened.