New ST Owner, Bad Luck

[Eljaber]

Greetings, we traded in the wife’s 2020 Santa Fe for a 2022 Explorer ST. We were very excited and loved the vehicle! Sadly, that didn’t last long. We purchased the vehicle Wednesday evening and the following morning someone rear ended my wife with our kid in the car. At first, the damage didn’t look bad, but the right side of the exhaust got pushed in and it was rubbing against the rear tire. The other vehicle, didn’t do so well. My wife was at a dead stop waiting to turn left and the lady didn’t even brake and slammed right into her going 30mph (according to the other driver’s insurance). We had the vehicle towed to a reputable body shop and they’re slammed, it might take a few weeks before they can take a look at it, on top of possible part shortages. So we might not get the ST back for another month or more, depending what needs to be replaced. I am thankful the vehicle kept my wife and kid safe, according to both of them, they barely felt it and were in complete shock someone hit them.

crossing my fingers for a quick turn around time and getting the ST back! She didn’t even hit 100 miles on the odometer yet!

 

[2020FordRaptor]

Dang! We had literally the same thing happened to us and I had to pull the exhuast out so we could drive to a side road (it was on a bridge with 80 MPH cats driving by). Congrats? Hopefully you'll be back in that good looking ST! Welcome.

 

[GearHead_1]

I'm sorry you have to deal with this. That said, a great time to get the exhaust system of your dreams. My point being, it's essentially a one-piece exhaust and I'm betting though I've never checked that a Thermal (for instance) aftermarket exhaust would be cheaper than what Ford sells you.

 

[FORZDA3]

Yeah, people suck. The damage looks pretty easy to fix. Mostly plastics and simple replacements. There may be some mild structure damage visible from underneath the car, but overall just parts swaps.

 

[Greywolf]

First and foremost God bless your family is safe. Second every car I have ever owned I have installed a tow hitch. I do tow a few trailers with my trucks, but as far as my cars that have never seen a trailer in their life, including my BMW has one. They will absorb a rear end impact.

 

[Eljaber]

Appraiser from State Farm went to visit the ST today, estimated almost $2k to fix the damage. The shop thinks there will be more once they take it apart and fix the odometer reading in the report, so we can get OEM parts. Appraiser put “unknown” for the odo reading.
Now the wait is for the ST to get taken apart by the shop, and then hopefully get the parts in a timely manner.

 

[Eljaber]

Well, hopefully in the next 2-3 weeks we will have our car back, after only having it for less than 24 hours. State Farm has been a nightmare to deal with, if it wasn't for the whole rental situation, I would have gone through my insurance. The shop had to fight to get OEM parts, State Farm refused for 2-3 days, wasting everyone's time and not calling anyone back. They didn't even put the odometer miles in the estimates/documents. The shop received the majority of the parts today, with almost $5k worth of damage.

 

[northof60expST]

So all the State Farm ads are BS then. All good until they have to pay up.

 

[Eljaber]

So all the State Farm ads are BS then. All good until they have to pay up.

The first issue we ran into with them is the rental. They forgot to approve an extension and when we called the Rental Company on a whim, to make sure everything is ok, they said the rental was due back 2 days ago lol.... So my wife called State Farm and spent 45 minutes on the phone while they fixed this mess.

Then the appraiser didn't put the ODO reading and left it as "unkn" and wanted to put a used hitch, after-market bumper, and a few other after-market/used parts. When the body shop submitted its first supplement and included the ODO reading, they approved the supplement, but didn't update the mileage, and kept all aftermarket/used parts. Between the shop and us, we probably spent 3 hours on the phone trying to reason with them, but they would not budge. No one ever called us back, when they said they would either. The shop got fed up and just ordered new parts. State Farm then out of the blue called my wife and told her that they'll change SOME parts to OEM, but some will have to stay as aftermarket/used because there is no inventory (lie, because the shop already placed the order and confirmed availability). Then, they blamed the shop for the confusion saying they provided poor documentation, no part numbers, and the paper was hard to read on the first supplement. I find it hard to believe because they approved the supplement after all. If there was an issue with the documentation, they should have rejected it.

 

[Cajun Heat]

The first issue we ran into with them is the rental. They forgot to approve an extension and when we called the Rental Company on a whim, to make sure everything is ok, they said the rental was due back 2 days ago lol.... So my wife called State Farm and spent 45 minutes on the phone while they fixed this mess.

Then the appraiser didn't put the ODO reading and left it as "unkn" and wanted to put a used hitch, after-market bumper, and a few other after-market/used parts. When the body shop submitted its first supplement and included the ODO reading, they approved the supplement, but didn't update the mileage, and kept all aftermarket/used parts. Between the shop and us, we probably spent 3 hours on the phone trying to reason with them, but they would not budge. No one ever called us back, when they said they would either. The shop got fed up and just ordered new parts. State Farm then out of the blue called my wife and told her that they'll change SOME parts to OEM, but some will have to stay as aftermarket/used because there is no inventory (lie, because the shop already placed the order and confirmed availability). Then, they blamed the shop for the confusion saying they provided poor documentation, no part numbers, and the paper was hard to read on the first supplement. I find it hard to believe because they approved the supplement after all. If there was an issue with the documentation, they should have rejected it.

Good job keeping a level head through that ordeal. It will be worth it once you get your ST back.

 

[TMac]

These posts make my blood boil! Let's just say that an insurance company's customer service isn't how fast they write you a policy or cash your check. It's how they respond when you actually need the money. The best advice I can give people is do not buy from anyone who is willing to spend 10s of millions of dollars in TV ads. Ads featuring geckos, a mayhem man, and JK SImmons might be appealing, but none of them are going to write you a check without major problems.

I had all of my insurance with Allstate for 20 years. When I got hit by an old guy in Cadillac with no insurance which was around $3k in damage, I was without a car for six months while they shopped for used parts to fix it. (I did not have rental). Twenty years of always paying my premiums on time, including at least two cars and a home policy did nothing for me.

After that I started doing a lot more investigation into companies. Now I have Farm Bureau. I've also seen great reviews for USAA and Amica.

I've had two accidents in 40+ years of driving- and both of them were old men in '90s era Cadillacs slamming into me when I was at a stop sign with almost no traffic!

 

[DaveG ST]

Condolences to you. State Farm is probably a fine company. I have had them for years. Just need the dedicated employees, like any other business. Have USAA for some other things and they are one of the best if you are eligible. Not sure what insurance company my sister in law has, but she was in an accident that was the other person's fault and she told me she had to pay a deductible. I told her that you never pay a deductible when it is someone elses fault, that you are made whole, as they say.

 

[Autoworker]

Talk about a buzzkill of getting a new vehicle! Hope everything works out for you.

 

[2manycars4me]

The vehicle I had before the ST was a Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. Awesome Vehicle, best I've ever owned. Some clown decided to make an illegal turn and I clipped their rear quarter at about 40 MPH, right side front impact on the Hawk. I had State Farm, they had Allstate. I filed thru my company to get it rolling and let them recover from Allstate. After the initial estimate came in at $48K and they were not going to total it, I kept pushing it uphill. When I explained the trans is $12K, engine $20K and Transfer case was around $16K would they be willing to take a bet everything was great after taking a hit to bend the front rails 3 inches? They had a big pow wow and decided to total the Hawk. The person I was dealing with was great, the troll above him a complete ignorant jerk. The panel above her, great. When she called me back to let me know they were totaling the Hawk, you could hear the contempt in her voice. Allstate was a total joke to deal with. They tried to get me to pay for half of the total cost, thank god for a dash cam. One view and they even picked up the deductible.

 

[Tommyc]

That stinks! If you need a stock exhaust you can have mine. Just not sure it could even be shipped as it is all one piece.

 

[Mackdaddy]

I feel you, 2022 ST new, mine was built 11/22 picked up 12/22/2022, at dead stop along with everyone else and was hit in rear 01/06/2023 by careless driver that didn't even slow down, I was out done, after 6 months of tossing the purchase around. Now they can't even get it in to appraise until the end of February. I am hot to trot, had 502 miles on it, and mine is Carbonized Gray, hope it's not an omen just wanting this nightmare to be gone, will, add to post when the dust settles and I'm not a happy camper. But we will see how the insurance situation pan out. Maybe I will change my Monica to hot in Florida.

 

[Eljaber]

And she's back! I picked it up today during my lunch break and it looks just like the day we bought it.

The shop bought the sensor for the hands-free liftgate (due to chip shortage, it didn't come with it from the factory). I need to play around with it later and see if it's a setting in the car to enable it or if the dealer needs to enable it.

 

[Mackdaddy]

Man, I'm happy for you, that's great sounds like they did a great job, I hope mine turn out as well, but I can't even get it looked at until the end of February. But I'll update. Congrats.

 

[Eljaber]

Man, I'm happy for you, that's great sounds like they did a great job, I hope mine turn out as well, but I can't even get it looked at until the end of February. But I'll update. Congrats.

Good luck and I hope they are able to get through your car as quickly as possible. The first week was the hardest and then we finally accepted the situation and just tried to keep it out of mind. I'm glad the Ford dealer could source all of the parts quickly for us, so I'm hoping you have no trouble. I was reading posts here and on Facebook about people waiting months for a bumper, parts availability must have improved a bit since then.

 

[Mackdaddy]

Thanks