Hoosier Body Shop

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On Tuesday, January 6, 2015, I received the call every parent fears from an adult-child. My daughter had just left the dentist appointment I insisted she go to before returning to grad school and was headed to pick me up from subbing at my son's school. One block later, she was sliding with our 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan into the back end of a car stopped at the light. Had she not been driving at the low speed she was, the black ice that made her nothing more than a passenger could have caused a far more dangerous accident. She walked away. The next two days she would be sore all over and bruised where the seatbelt had done its job, but she was safe. The front end of van was more than smushed, but vans can be repaired and replaced; daughters can not. Because the van is our only family car, I had no way to get to her; thank you, Officer Kuntz, for directing the wrecker to our regular mechanic and getting our daughter home. By wonderful coincidence, the wrecker service happened to be provided by Hoosier Body Shop. Three phone calls later I would learn from my mechanic that he would use Hoosier Auto Body, and I should have the van hauled there. Too late. It was already headed to Firestone. This would be the first opportunity for HBS to do the right thing...and they did. They could have charged us twice taking the van from the scene to two different locations, they did not. We were charged the flat rate for towing and the bill was sent to our insurance. I didn't have to find $140 to get my van appraised for the insurance. 48 hours later our insurance had the itemized appraisal. The van was totalled. This was not good news for a mom in the middle of a marital separation who drives a van with 207K miles on it because it means low insurance premiums and no car payment as she returns to the work force. (I needed this van to last two more years and continue to get my daughter back-and-forth to grad school with all her stuff.) But, my daughter was okay. I could find other transportation one way or another. I went to clean out the van of personal contents and met the appraiser. He was surprised to learn my news. I asked him to walk me through the estimate. (I am not mechanical. I can put gas in my van and drive it. He could have taken me for a ride and I would not have known the difference.) Josh was patient with me and explained what could be done to keep the van running safely for me. After a little math, I decided to give myself 24 hours to do a little homework and see if the van was worth salvaging. Josh took calls from my dad 300 miles away so he could help me make an informed decision. HBS communicated on my behalf with my insurance agents to help me understand the "salvage" process. 72 hours after the accident, we had a new plan; and it wasn't going to involve finding a $4,000 lemon offa used car lot. Instead, the van that I have cared for and regularly maintained would be repaired. My Gram used to say, "the devil ya know is better the devil ya don't." I was given good information by HBS to make a good decision. HBS gave me the time to do that...and didn't charge storage fees in the meantime. The total bill out-of-pocket for me less than ten days later was $662.43. After our collision insurance kicked in and salvage fees were deducted and other reimbursed fees added back in, that number looked a WHOLE LOT better than a $4K lemon OR the initial $2300+ bill for repairs. HBS helped me to decide what needed to be done versus what could be done; they were not going to benefit from things I might take off the list. Instead, they wanted to help a mom with an adult son, a grad school daughter and a special needs ten-year-old get back on the road. After Josh and the team got "behind the damage" they did discover that the air conditioner compressor had been punctured. That would be another $340 to repair. I asked if that could wait until I'd need the AC in the spring, and Josh said that it absolutely could. His honest answer bought me time to come up with that part of the repairs, and also meant a loss of $340 in business for him. I really appreciated his honesty. And yes, I will be taking the van to HBS for that repair in April. They have earned the work! I was thrilled to learn the van was ready to pick up on January 19 as I had only one day left in which insurance would pay for the rental car. Now I had to coordinate the insurance check arriving in U.S. mail after a holiday weekend with the close time at HBS and the close time of my insurance agent - who needed to photograph the van so our collision insurance could kick back in after the van was "salvaged." The next day, the mail wasn't coming at the usual 2:00ish and the clock was ticking. I had already returned the rental car and walked home that morning, so I was at the mercy of the mail. WRONG. HBS would take the photos, and attach them to an email to get them to the agent so I wouldn't even have to drive the two miles to the agent from the body shop and risk an accident on the way. And, they'd wait until after 5:00 if I needed them to so the mail could be late and I wouldn't be without a car to get my youngest to school the next morning. Maybe these are small things to some folks, but these were HUGE to this learning-to-be-a-single-parent mom. (And yes, they even tolerated calls from my husband to verify I was giving him honest information about "our" van - even though he wasn't paying the difference. Priceless to this mom!) When I arrived at HBS just before 5:00 with the insurance check in hand - and made payable to both myself and my husband - HBS willingly allowed me to sign the check, write it over to them and wait for my husband to show up the next day to sign it, too. And WOW! did our Papa Smurf (We call our van, Papa Smurf.) look great! Even the "love marks" that had accumulated over the years as my two oldest learned to drive were now all pretty! As I left, Jeff wished me well as my family moves forward on behalf of his whole team. Nice guy. Great Team. Thank you, Hoosier Body Shop!

First, the insurance company of the people who hit me try to settle for less, they worked with them to get the proper amount for the repair. Was very pleased with quality, could not tell vehicle had ever been damaged, they even detailed the car while they were at it. Very friendly and personal service. This was the 3rd time I've used them, and have been extremely satisfied every time.