That is sad. I showed my 11 year old son the pictures of your car and he nearly cried. (He likes ours a lot as you can imagine). He couldn't believe that someone would do that to another person's car. He asked me not to leave our car at a shop.
A nice opening jesture on the part of the shop owner would be a very public firing.
On the insurance front, your company sounds like mine. I have State Farm. We were in a 5 car accident thanks to a drunk driver. All cars totaled except our SUV (slight bend to the bumper and gas tank skid plate; we ended up with a car below ours. (Wife stuffed it into 4wd and drove off the car underneath hers!)
The drunk's (a lady) insurance company (Allstate) called up the next day to start telling my wife the hoops she would have to jump through before they paid the claim. (ridiculous)
I suggested she call our agent to see what's up. His immediate response was do nothing, agree to nothing, don't even talk to them until you hear from me again, which will be about 5 minutes. It wasn't five minutes, it was about three, and a State farm employee called.
His direction was pretty simple: "Take it where you like, when you like, and get it fixed to your satisfaction. Rent an equivilent car until yours is repaired." (Allstate told her she could have an econobox). "Send all of the bills to me and I will pay them. I will in turn collect from Allstate. You pay us to take care of problems like this. If they call again, give them my name and number and tell them not to call you again."
It went just like he said, and no rate increase. I'd let the insurance company handle it.
I would noodle on pressing charges, if possible, as a seperate matter.
Best of luck, and start looking for another Blue and White!
Craig
