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I Believe Someone Tried To Steal My Car...


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Per a thread I started a few weeks ago in Tech Help, I had an exhaust leak on my SVT Contour. I really hate working on anything like that in the winter, so I took it to my mechanic in Radnor, a guy I totally trust. They fixed it and I picked it up two weeks ago. Right away on the drive home, I notice something totally off about the car. The back end is all over the place. I'm thinking I have a flat tire or two. So I check them out and everything is fine. I take it back to them to look at and both of my rear control arms are bent! :eek: When they called me up to tell me about it, I'm in disbelief. He asked me if I had it towed recently and I've never had it towed. The only thing I could come up with is that someone tried to steal it out of their lot before I had a chance to pick it up. The car was finished on a Friday afternoon, I picked it up Saturday afternoon. They tell me there is no way from where the control arms were bent that they could have done this damage with their lift. Thoughts? :(
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If the arms are bent towards the rear then tow damage makes sense

If they're bent upwards lift/jack damage makes sense

 

I have no idea why anyone would try to lift a unibody car by the control arms, plenty of simpler lift points.

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If the arms are bent towards the rear then tow damage makes sense

If they're bent upwards lift/jack damage makes sense

 

I have no idea why anyone would try to lift a unibody car by the control arms, plenty of simpler lift points.

 

^^^^THIS!^^^^

 

It should be fairly obvious, even for someone who doesn't know cars/suspensions. The hooks from a tow attempt should have "marked" the control arms on the upper and lower, forward edges (towards the front of the car) of the control arm. A lift would have "marked" only the bottom of the arms.

 

If they do prove to be bent from underneath, and this has been a trusted mechanic/shop, I would simply point out the damage and ask them to make it right, in a civil manner. If they won't, get ugly.

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Well, I've known the owner for years and given him a lot of business, so I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt here. I am going to head over there and check out the bent parts and will report back. Thanks for the replies... :)
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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry, forgot to update this.

 

It was confirmed by me and a mechanic friend of mine that the shop did not cause this damage. The control arms were bent not from the bottom up, but from the rear back. It seems that at some point in my car's life, someone tried to pull it (perhaps out of a ditch?) by latching on to the control arms. :(

 

One crucial detail I forgot all about was the fact that I had just swapped my tires (front to rear, rear to front) and the tires now on the rear had much less tread than before. So when I was driving it on somewhat slick roads, with little tread, and bent control arms, now I began to really feel what was going on back there. :(

 

The good news is, they fixed it, showed me the damaged control arms (also in pictures before they pulled the old arms off), and split part of the cost with me. They are still a good shop and I recommend them to anyone... :nod:

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Sorry, forgot to update this.

 

It was confirmed by me and a mechanic friend of mine that the shop did not cause this damage. The control arms were bent not from the bottom up, but from the rear back. It seems that at some point in my car's life, someone tried to pull it (perhaps out of a ditch?) by latching on to the control arms. :(

 

One crucial detail I forgot all about was the fact that I had just swapped my tires (front to rear, rear to front) and the tires now on the rear had much less tread than before. So when I was driving it on somewhat slick roads, with little tread, and bent control arms, now I began to really feel what was going on back there. :(

 

The good news is, they fixed it, showed me the damaged control arms (also in pictures before they pulled the old arms off), and split part of the cost with me. They are still a good shop and I recommend them to anyone... :nod:

 

Awesome! Glad you had a reasonable outcome. Sucks either way but as long as you're happy with the resolution that's all that matters.

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Awesome! Glad you had a reasonable outcome. Sucks either way but as long as you're happy with the resolution that's all that matters.

 

I wasn't happy I had to pay for it and that there was damage I didn't know about, but I was happy they were up front about it and helped me out with the cost... :)

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