So, I had my beautiful 2011 Edge 3 weeks 3 days still with paper-plates, and was rear-ended. He was going close to 40 mph I was nearly stopped in traffic and was sent into the car in front of me and bounced between them 3 times. Good news, no one got too seriously hurt, especially since I had my 3 and 4 year olds in the car. It was un-drivable sent to the dealership for repairs and only cost $7400 (I was surprised). Well I'm concerned about safety and was already considering trading it in. I got the car back less then a week ago and yesterday the drivers door would not close, it kept hitting the latch. Then I inspected the whole car and found the doors and panels on the passengers side are all sticking out, while the drivers side is all flush (although had the issue with the drivers door). Then looked further and the whole lift gate is off center, some of the moldings are not installed properly, there is a missing screw on the lift-gate, and these are only problems that I can see, and I have very little knowledge about cars.
I'm assuming that the body is bent or out of alignment (mechanic told me that they tested it with weights but didn't give me any print out of such). I think the job they did for a brand new vehicle was sub-par. What should I do? The other driver's insurance is paying for everything and has been surprisingly great, but the dealership (same one I bought vehicle) is letting me down. How can they not see this stuff? Why would they not claim it to the insurance? I'm not sure who I should talk to first, the original dealership, the insurance agent, or bring it to another dealership for a review of all of their work first.
I'm for sure now trading it in after all of this is complete and of course I'm submitting for diminished value, so what should I do?
Should I trade in as-is with hopefully recouping the diminished value personally?
Should I ask agent what she would recommend?
Should I get another opinion before going back to original repair shop? (Oh, and the catch with the original dealership is that I handed them over the insurance check for repairs and they forgot to have me sign it, before I do is there any leverage in this?)
Any suggestions or similar experiences is greatly appreciated.