IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE STATE OF OREGON

IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF MULTNOMAH

 

LEIFS AUTO COLLISION CENTERS, LLC, an Oregon limited liability company, Plaintiff vs. YYY INSURANCE COMPANY, an YYYY corporation Defendant

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Case No. XXXXX DECLARATION OF LEIFS CUSTOMER XXX

   I, LEIFS CUSTOMER XXX declare:

1.   On September 15, 2004, my 2004 Dodge Stratus was involved in an accident that was the fault of a person insured by YYY Insurance.



2.   I acquiesced to the tow driver's recommendation to have my vehicle towed to ZZZ Auto Body.



3.   While at ZZZ Auto Body, I made a claim with YYY Insurance for the damage to my vehicle. I learned that ZZZ Auto Body was a "preferred shop" for YYY Insurance and that YYY Insurance was accepting liability immediately.



4.   On September 20, I signed a document with ZZZ Auto Body that I believe may have authorized repairs. I did not want ZZZ Auto Body to repair my vehicle; two hours later, my mother, on my behalf, revoked my signature and any authorization for work by ZZZ Auto Body. When I saw my vehicle at that time, it did not appear that ZZZ Auto Body had worked on my vehicle.



5.   Since September 15, I have had several conversations with YYY insurance representative AO and YYY insurance representative BO from YYY Insurance.



6.   I met with YYY insurance representative AO at ZZZ Auto Body. He wrote a repair estimate without my vehicle being torn down. ZZZ Auto body representative from ZZZ Auto Body was also present for part of the estimate writing by YYY Insurance. YYY insurance representative AO said that ZZZ Auto Body would perform the repairs based on YYY Insurance's estimate. I asked YYY insurance representative AO about the aftermarket parts he was writing for; I told him that I wanted factory parts. He said not to worry about it. When I confronted him about the disclaimer at the end of the estimate concerning the use of non-OEM parts, YYY insurance representative A told me to "disregard that." YYY insurance representative AO added that his estimate was a "fair estimate."



7.   I spoke to a YYY Insurance claim representative, YYY insurance representative BO, by telephone. The week of September 20, he pressured me to hurry up and sign the paperwork at ZZZ Auto Body authorizing repairs. He accused me of stalling the process. He told me that storage charges were racking up. He also told me that YYY Insurance was not going to total my vehicle and that I would have to have it repaired. He said that he was going to cut off the rental if I didn't hurry up. He also told me that my vehicle was going to be repaired using non-factory parts because it had over 12,000 miles on it.



8.   On September 22, 2004 I decided to move my vehicle from ZZZ Auto Body to Leif's Auto Collision Center. I learned that ZZZ Auto Body faxed Leif's a bill for towing; five hours of tear down at $80/hour; storage charges of $240; and a credit card surcharge fee of 3% ($19.33).



9.   On September 22, 2004 I telephoned ZZZ Auto Body concerning these charges. ZZZ Auto Body told me that YYY Insurance authorized the teardown, which ZZZ Auto Body does "as a courtesy" for YYY Insurance. ZZZ Auto Body did not justify to my satisfaction the five hours of labor charged for teardown. ZZZ Auto Body told me that the credit card surcharge was incurred because a company/corporate credit card was used instead of a personal credit card. ZZZ Auto Body admitted that neither the storage rate nor the credit card surcharge was posted at their place of business.

      I hereby declare that the above statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief, and I understand it is made for use as evidence in court and is subject to penalty of perjury.