Woman fears body shop didn't repair her wrecked vehicle to meet insurance company's specifications
BATON ROUGE - A woman is trying to sort out what happened to her car after she took it to a repair shop following an accident.
Lyntorius Moore says the shop didn't follow the list of approved repairs from her insurance company, and instead gave her back a vehicle that's unsafe to drive.
"She's putting me back in a vehicle that's not safe," Moore said.
Moore says she took a chance taking her Infiniti SUV to a small body shop, since everywhere else had a long wait. Jo's Automotive and Body Repair did the work. Moore got the car back in July and says the parts and work put into fixing her SUV are not what was approved.
"They just took the money and didn't repair basically anything," she said.
The SUV was beat up after Moore got into an accident in February. The passenger side was primarily affected, and the side airbag deployed. Moore filed a claim with an insurance company that awarded her about $28,000 for repairs, including funds for Infiniti parts and labor.
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"The parts that they were supposed to replace, they put the same parts back on the vehicle," she said. "They put the same seat back in. They sewed the seat back up."
What's really shaking her up is the airbag. According to receipts, it was not purchased new from Infiniti.
"I just don't feel comfortable with putting my small children in there like that, and it's on the side, you know, where they sit," Moore said.
Moore took a look at the receipts and found that the parts purchased add up to be less than $10,000. She also says that while some of the items have a receipt, they are not installed in her car.
In August, Moore says another adjuster came to take a look at the car after she got it back. Moore showed 2 On Your Side documents where she says the adjuster made notes and identified a damaged fender, old liner, loose screws, recovered parts and several things that were supposed to be replaced on the car and weren't, including the wheels.
"I've had it looked at by several body people, and they're under the impression that they spent maybe $4,000 at the most," Moore said.
During the insurance process, two checks were made out to both Moore and the body shop. Moore says if she would've had more control over the money situation, she might not be in this position.
Now that she has a car she doesn't feel safe driving, she's requesting the body shop return the insurance money, so she can take the car elsewhere to be repaired properly.
Moore says the insurance claim remains opened. The shop owner told 2 On Your Side that she thinks what's going on is personal because the repairs were made.