Ray Brandt Collision Centers

(edits to emphasize certain points in response to the collision center attempting to review itself in the filtered reviews…)
before I begin, let me apologize for any formatting errors. I am dictating this review through Dragon dictate software because I have a broken wrist. How did I break my wrist? 2 words: flag football. How did I come to know Ray Brandt collision centers? 2 words: stop sign. As in, «is that a stop sign behind that bush or… Screech!» no one was hurt, thank the goddess (the wrist was a week earlier) and State Farm pointed me to a list of collision centers they work with directly on these matters. I chose Ray Brandt because they were the closest.
Issue number 1: the VIN number that they recorded my car as having was off by one digit, which resulted in their computer system misidentifying the model. While I feel that they were honestly on my side at this point, trying to arrive at a figure that would equal «totaled» for me, the way Louisiana insurance works is that 75% of the car’s value or more needs to have been lost to be considered «totalled.» Their estimate came out at 75%, but for a model that cost a few thousand dollars less than mine. Even when this was the only problem I had with Ray Brandt, I appreciated they were trying. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, though it is amazing how much difference one number makes! Which brings us to…
Issue number 2: my car is not insured in the state of Louisiana! I was not keeping this a secret from Ray Brandt. My insurance card is issued from California, as are the car’s license plates and registration tags. Here’s a fun fact about California insurance laws: «totaled» equals 100% of the value of the car. So in other words, despite their best intentions, there was no way this car was going to be totaled for me. Why would I want my car totaled? My tenure in New Orleans is coming to a close in about a month And I had been planning on trading that car in for a new one before I left anyway. Totaling the car was really the only way I could be sure that I’d have a car to leave town in on time. And here we go to…
Issue number 3: when Ray Brandt called to regretfully inform me that my car was fixable, I asked them if there was any way to stop this process. At that point, they were fully aware of my personal situation, and seeing as they deal with these matters professionally every day, there is no way that I could interpret their response as anything other than an OUTRIGHT LIE: they told me I had NO CHOICE but to fix the car. They assured me that it would be done in 3 or 4 weeks probably… And they would get working on it right away. I IMMEDIATELY called my insurance company to verify what they said and OF COURSE I had a choice. I did not need to get the car fixed! I could opt instead for the payout. State Farm even told me what the value of my dead car was, so that I knew what a fair price would be when I went to sell it for parts etc. ($ 3600).
I called Ray Brandt back immediately (elapsed time between agreeing to the repairs they claimed were unavoidable and requesting that they stop said repairs: LESS THAN AN HOUR) and told them that I did not want the car repaired. I told them that I was interested in selling it and asked if they would be interested in buying it. They said they do not do that. So I opened up a phone book and found someone who does. That gentleman went to look at the car the next morning, and immediately came back with an offer of $ 3500. Bringing me to…
Issue number 4: when somebody came to look at my car, Ray Brandt suddenly changed their mind about wanting to buy it. they offered me $ 1500 for it. When I balked at that number, they assured me that I would not find a better deal. They also told me that for anybody to take possession of the car from them, they needed to be paid almost $ 1000 for the work they had already done to the vehicle. What work? The tear-​down for the estimate. When I told them I did not understand why the insurance company doesn’t cover that, they told me that’s just how it is.
Issue number 5: of course, I called State Farm and asked them if that’s just how it is. That’s not just how it is! State Farm settled the bill with the collision center that day. So did Ray Brandt really not know how it works? or were they trying to get paid twice?
Of course, having your car destroyed is never a fun time. but I would be hard-​pressed to imagine a way that these people could have made this entire process any more difficult than they did. I have reported them to the Better Business Bureau and I have informed State Farm of their shady practices.
may they burn in hell, amen.