Simple Oil Change Turns into Wreck Nightmare

According to The Day newspaper in New London, Connecticut, a local woman’s car was seriously damaged by the tyre shop she took it to for a simple oil change. In the 22 January incident, the woman took her 1994 Buick Century to the local Bridgestone Americas-owned Expert Tire location for an oil change. A short time later, the shop called to tell her that her car would not be done that day, and that she would receive a loaner car to use until her Buick was finished. The woman went back to the Expert Tire location to get a few things from her car, the report said, and discovered the driver’s side door was crushed in.

Apparently the lift failed, causing the car to fall off onto its side. The Day said Expert Tire offered the woman $1,100 for the car. They gave her a rental to use, but rescinded the rental when she would not agree to the buyout. According to the newspaper, which got involved in the situation, columnist David Collins wrote: “When I first spoke to the Expert manager in New London about White’s predicament, he said he told White she should accept the $1,100 offer because it might be better than what she would be offered if the matter went through the company’s claims department. The manager declined to spell his name for me, though, and quickly got off the phone.

“The next call I got on the matter was from someone in public relations with Bridgestone Retail Operations in Illinois, who promised to get back to me. I then got a three-paragraph statement by email saying that the claims department would have an independent appraiser inspect the vehicle. Bridgestone, the statement went on to say, values the loyalty of its customers.”

An appraisal of the wrecked Buick did not bring a higher offer from Bridgestone, and now the matter appears headed for court, Collins wrote. “There’s no way she can replace the Buick for $1,100 she told me. ‘What am I going to get for that, a bicycle?’ she said,” Collins wrote. “As for the Bridgestone brand promise to care, White said she doesn’t think they care about her at all, not how she is going to replace her car, not about how she is going to get back and forth to work, not how all of this has caused so much stress.” (Tire Review)