From frustration to relief today.

[don-ohio]

I was awakened by my wife exclaiming the county was trimming our front yard spruce trees here in FL. I stumbled out of bed and looked outside as she told me the Aerostar had a branch on it.
I said " never any peace', and saw the branch against the driver's side rear. As I watched them remove it, I saw the van move a little,so I knew there had been some contact.
Didn't want a big scene, being barely awake,no coffee yet, and about 6 or seven workers out there to be confronted.
Now my van is really pretty, no rust or dents and I love it. When they left to continue up the street, I went out and saw the big mars and scratches the branch had made.
Depressed, I went uptown to get a haircut before checking out a body shop for advice. The lady barber recommended a shop about 3 miles away.
I pulled in at the shop and sat down and waited for service. The owner or head guy came out of the office and asked me what I needed.
I said I didn't want to bother him, but I needed PRO advice on the scratches on my van. He came out,ran his fingers over the scratches and said, `Bring her around back'. I was amazed! He put a true expert man on that polisher and the guy made that section look like NEW!
When I asked what I owed, the owner said,`not a thing,unless you want to give the expert something'. I asked the guy if 20.00 was enough and he seemed glad to get it.
Sorry for the long post,but I was just blown away by their kindness to me. don-ohio

 

[BrooklynBay]

You're lucky that it wasn't badly damaged. Those guys should have been more careful, and taken some responsibility after they knew that they damaged it. Even minor body work could cost several hundred dollars. I have damage on several vehicles from careless people running into it while it was parked, and from construction workers which didn't care. It's good to hear that your minor damage was taken care of. You can't find these vans anymore, and if you could they are pretty much ready to be junked (especially the ones in my area with heavy rust).

 

[don-ohio]

Yeah,Brooklyn I was surely fortunate. The wood had to have hit it to almost get thru that clear coat. Yeah, I'm wanting to keep this Aerostar,my 3rd, for many years. We're taking it back to Ohio in a coupla weeks. We'll leave her car down here.
I can use that van to do almost anything. Has a Class II hitch,heavy-duty springs and shocks. Runs great! Looks great!
121K on it now. Just got that power window fixed . don-ohio

 

[Adam_tinkerer]

You made out better than I did the winter before last. Caved the front of the roof, and knocked the ds mirror off. Not much one can claim on an unregistered parts vehicle! At least nothing I needed was damaged!

 

[don-ohio]

Wow! Heavy tree! Glad that didn't hit mine. Sorry it happened to you. don-ohio