It happened on a snowy Saturday in late January. It had been snowing all day and Ray was out on Tamarac Road in Rensselaer County on his way to his apartment in Cohoes. He came up over a rise to see what appeared to be a car traveling in the same direction, but going extremely slow. The closer Ray got he realized the vehicle was just stopped in the road for no apparent reason. The road was icy and it wasn't going to be easy to get the 6000 pound Navigator stopped. He had no choice but to try to go around him. As soon as Ray attempted to pass, he saw another vehicle coming and he was forced to attempt to get back in. Unfortunately, the sudden evasive move spun the Navigator in the other direction and it went off the road and struck a utility pole. At this point, the vehicle that was stopped in the road, apparently watching deer in the field, thought it would be wise to move on.

After the initial shock, Ray got his bearings back and, while the four wheel drive didn't help much to prevent an accident (should be a lesson there for other "Sport Utility Vehicle" drivers, you are NOT invincible in these vehicles), it did enable him to get away from the pole and attempt to get the license plate of the vehicle that Ray felt had caused the accident in the first place. He got the license plate and went to the New York State Trooper's barracks in Brunswick. After telling the officer what had happened, he was told he was out of luck as far as making the other driver at least partially responsible for the accident. You've all heard it yourselves. "You must maintain control of your vehicle at all times."

Well, Ray made the phone call to his insurance company on Monday morning, and told them he wanted to take his vehicle to Hart's. He then made the appointment with the insurance company's adjuster. On Tuesday, he went out to start the Navigator and it wouldn't start- well, that was kind of unusual since it had a relatively new battery (more on this later). After the required jump he went to Hart's Collision. Alex took a look at the Navigator and drew up a computerized estimate for $4800. Both the entire quarter panel and the door would have to be replaced with new sheet metal. He asked Ray when he'd like to get it done and if he'd need a loaner car. There was another car in the household so he wasn't going to need the loaner. Ray still had to have the insurance adjuster look at his vehicle so he drove it back home. On the way back home, the Automatic Leveling Air Ride Suspension collapsed and the damaged quarter panel began rubbing on the tire. He barely made it back home. Remember, the full extent of the damage to your vehicle is not always obvious! Several days later (it actually exceeded the legal requirement that your car must be appraised within 6 days of notification of the accident to the insurance company), the adjuster wrote up his estimate for the damage and called Alex. His estimate was considerably less than the one done by Alex because he insisted on using a used quarter panel and door! He told Alex he had, in fact, already located the parts at a salvage yard up North. Oh yeah, and as far as that collapsed Air Ride? "We'll have to see if that really had anything to do with the accident or not."

Well, the work began on Ray's Navigator, but when the used parts showed up at Hart's, there was a major problem. It seems the parts came off a vehicle that had previously been in an accident. They were loaded with bondo and pitted with rust! Do you think for a minute that the insurance adjuster actually went to inspect the used parts he was insisting Alex install on Ray's vehicle? The answer is no! It was a way for the company to save money and that's all he cared about. Well, Alex refused to install them and told the delivery guy to get them out of his shop. A phone call to the adjuster revealed one more surprise; HE ACTUALLY OFFERED TO GIVE THE PARTS TO ALEX FOR NO CHARGE IF HE WOULD CHANGE HIS MIND! This would have meant as much as an additional $800 profit for Hart's but Alex wouldn't hear it. He refused to install the inferior parts in his customer's vehicle. He insisted on getting new parts and the insurance company agreed. The components were replaced with new, prepped, and then painted to Hart's usual high standards. It was now time for a trip to Nemith Lincoln to have a look at that Air Ride System. It was revealed at that point that the collapse of the system was caused by a burnt out relay and compressor. The cause? A pinched air line due to the accident. The compressor worked itself to it's demise, trying to keep the vehicle level, and killing the battery in the process.

The final cost to Ray was his deductible and no more. Plus he was now confident that the newly installed and painted bodywork wouldn't rust out prematurely because new parts were used in the repair instead of faulty, inferior, and rusted components.