Complaint Review: Nick's CARSTAR

Nick's CarStar auto-body repair is part of the CARSTAR franchise.  Nick's CarStar was unprofessional, disorganized, and incompetent.  They took three weeks to do an auto-body job that should have been done in one week.

August 6 2013 - Took my 2006 BMW 330i to Nick's Carstar on 1172 Dovercourt Rd, Toronto. It was hit by a truck and sustained damage to the rear trunk lid, left passenger door, left rear tire rim, and scratches to the driver side door. Frank, who manages the auto body shop said he could fix the damages with a time line of about one week.

Aug 13 2013 - It has been one week and Frank called to say that the left rim was out sourced to company that specializes in grinding down rims, but he was not happy with the results so he sent it bak to be resurfaced, he's not sure when car will be finished.

Aug 22 2013 - Frank called to say he is happy with left rear rim, but had to now paint front left to match. As well, now he is having trouble with door locking with FOB and door handle lights not working after the auto-body guys put new left passenger door in. He has sent car to BMW dealership in the township of Vaughn! What?! There are several BMW dealerships in Toronto and Missisauga. He never did explain why my car was driven so far out of town unnecessarily, and to a BMW dealer I have no personal relationship with. I am incensed. The insurance rental is coming to an end (max $1000 while my car is being repaired). Nick's Car Star "feels bad" and has me get a rental for the weekend "on us".

Aug 25 2013 - My car is still at the BMW dealership in Vaughn. Apparently when the old man Nick (at least 75 years old) went to pick up my car, there were still issues with it remotely locking. BMW has now diagnosed it as having a bad actuator. Hmmm, wonder how that happened? The part wouldn't be in until later or the next day. Again Frank "feels bad" for all the delays.

Aug 27 2013 - I pick up my car from CarStar, and go over the paint job quickly because I have to get to the hospital in Brampton where my mother has gone after developing a fever from her chemo treatment. I notice that a quarter tank of gas is gone, and the car has been drive about 84km!!! I point it out and I get $25 off my deductible. I leave the shop. On my drive up the 410, my car goes into "limp mode". That means the vehicle automatically decelerated from 120 km/her to 80 km/hr with a red warning light and displaying the image of a thermometer with water below it. I'm like what the f*ck is happening now. The car has been out of my possession for 21 days, and I get it back for 20 minutes and it is dying on me. I manage to get to Brampton Civic hospital, but know that I'll have to tow it back to Toronto. Now I am suspicious of what Nick's Carstar has done to my car. I check out the paint job in detail and realize very quickly that there are several "fish eye " imperfections in the paint job they've done. As well, they did not fix the trunk lid!

The scratches to the lid where still there. I call the insurance appraiser and notified them of the paint issues and the "limp mode" issue. He advised me to tow the car back to Nick's Carstar and he would meet me there the next day. After a hospital visit with my Mom, I got CAA to take my car to the shop at 2:00 a:m, and leave it there overnight. I met with the appraiser at Nick's Carstar at 11:00 a:m that morning. The appraiser agreed that the fisheyes needed to be sanded out and Cogeco would pay for it. They didn't agree with the auto body shop being responsible for the limp mode issue. I scheduled a date for the paint job to be fixed with Nick's Carstar, then (again) I had my car towed to a repair facility that I knew would diagnose and fix my car quickly. The problem it turned out, was a broken water pump that had leaked out all the anti-freeze. The broken water-pump issue was probably unrelated to anything Nick's CarStar did, but I'll never know.

Sept 2 2013 - Third time driving car since I got a new water pump, and notice strange sound coming from left rear tire. Car also does not mechanically feel the same as it did when I first drove it from the mechanics. Unfortunately, I was on my way to work at 7pm at night, so I decided I would take it to my trusted mechanic in Missisauga after my 12 hours shift in the morning.

Sept 2 2013 - I start driving my car on the Gardiner Expressway to Mississauga, and have to get off immediately, after not only a warning lamp of a tire issue shows up on the dash, but the noise from the left rear tire is scary at higher speeds, and the car does not feel right. I take the side streets all the way to my mechanic in Mississauga at Tomken and Derry Rd. I am floored when my mechanic tells me that the left rear wheel and the and the front have been reversed! The wheels are different sizes in the front and the back of most BMW 3 series. Not only that, the wrong torque was used on the left rear wheel, hence the entire wheel could have fell off and that's why it was so noisy and not feeling right!!! CarStar had put the tires on in reverse either accidentally or on purpose. If it was accidentally they are incompetent in even the simplest job an auto-body shop should be able to do, if on purpose they are a--wipes who absolutely deserve this review and all the others they are going to get from me. My mechanic put the wheels on correctly for me.

I drove to CarStar and told them about the wheels being put on in reverse, and the wrong torque being used. I told it to Frank, and to the owner Nick (Nicoli Saccoia). I said to old man Nick that had my wheel fallen off and I survived the accident I would have sued him for everything he had and his shop would be gone. He said "well it's time to retire anyway". That's the level of professionalism this place has.

Sept 10 2013 - Went to Nick's Carstar to have the the imperfect paint job that the did corrected. They said I should leave the car, but I said wasn't going anywhere, and I would wait. Old man Nick said I'd be there all day. I said not if they wanted to have a good day I wouldn't. Three hours later, the trunk lid, and all the fish eyes where sanded and buffed out of the paint and I was consulted as part of the process and finally satisfied with what should have been done in the first f'ing place.

I waited about 3 weeks to post this review in case I had to go back to Nick's Carstar for any other problems that may have arisen with my car resulting from their incompetence or maliciousness. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this auto-body place to a 10 year old with a beat up bicycle. The CARSTAR name should be ashamed to associate itself with this low level of workmanship. Cogeco should also be ashamed to have Nick's Carstar on its roster of auto body shops. I've told both organizations about my experience, and they said they would look into my complaints.

Oct 8 2013 CARSTAR’s “Carl Mohammed Jr.” contacted me with a free $100 detailing offer at any CARSTAR centre. I had to decline this insulting offer, because the detailing I would require on my car would cost more than that, and I would never take my car back to any of their franchises to get it done.