They say three's a charm...
A female driver reared my brand new Toyota while looking at her phone. Left the bumper so damaged (including the whole imprint of her licence plate + four holes from screws) that it needed to be replaced. Toyota Kirkland sent me to Collision Masters.
Take 1.
Her insurance covered everything, and I got nice customer service, short wait for the rental shuttle; everything went smooth. My car was ready as promised. When picking it up, I noticed that somebody was driving it - the odometer showed a difference of 18 miles. The longest test drive ever for a painting job...Never received any explanation for it. Only at home when I parked in a shade, we noticed that the bumper was painted some 2-3 shades darker. It looked like a piece from a different car attached to mine.
Take 2.
Drove back to Kirkland to schedule another painting, and a few days later dropped off the car at C.M. This time, instead of a rental, they provided me with one of their own cars. It was an ancient, falling apart Saturn, but I did not refuse. Started driving away, and when trying to stop it, its brakes hardly worked. I kept pushing the brake pedal and the car kept going for quite a distance before it finally stopped. I did not need another accident, went back there already irritated and their friendliness was all gone too. Another wait for the rental pick-up, lenghty procedures, same on the way back. It might take 30 min "only" but it was my 4th time doing this routine. Bumper got repainted again (or sprayed over), and it looked much better.
Take 3.
Several weeks passed by, and one day a corner of the bumper caught my attention. The paint started to chip off. Another drive to C.M., and I asked to talk to the owner. Some guy was sent to speak with me (I do know the owner's name) and he wasn't even trying to be polite or apologetic. So; another routine followed - dropping off the car, picking up the rental (waiting at Hertz for over half an hour because the clerk's priority was to get her lunch first, rather than taking care of people waiting, not to mention that my husband who just broke his leg was there waiting with me), going back the same way. All together it took 3 months, 9 drives to Kirkland to get the bumper properly (???) done. How much time wasted - no idea, a lot. Bumper is freshly repainted again, a couple of little red spots from the paint left inside the car as a souvenir, I guess. Not one decent apology, nor an offer how to compensate for all the inconvenience caused. A small Starbuck's card would do...
I am already panicking that there might be take 4...
I would not recommend this business at all.
Take 4.
I thought, I should write the end to this story. There was no "take 4". Only weeks later, paint started chipping off in the same spot even more than previously. It really looked bad, besides the corner of the bumper was not attached correctly and was just hanging out of its place. I gave up; with a big loss I traded the new car that Collision Masters managed to damage so terribly.
Thank you (NOT!!!) "Masters"... read more