Ugh, update to my update. I am not happy.
Body shop called me beginning of last week to say the body work was all complete, but they were waiting on two parts which were on back order. One is the exhaust heat shield around the middle of the car. The other is the plastic rear bumper step plate. Neither of those is a critical item, so they were saying “hey if they aren‘t in by Friday we’ll have you pick up the car and then call you in a couple of weeks when they come in”. I’m actually okay with that.
What I’m not cool with is they said they determined the popping/clunking noise from the front end was the fault of a worn suspension, specifically they noted play in the front/rear sway bars, and in the right side swaybar end link. This was determined by a 2 mile test drive, and a brief inspection and grabbing/pulling on things with it on a lift. I respectfully requested they open the hood, bounce the front end and watch the mount move inside the strut tower with their eyes…. A step they had not taken. Regardless of that Geico (other person’s insurance) denied the repair stating: 1) the suspension components were worn and likely why they were broken, 2) this wasn’t part of the initial damage estimate, and because it was a supplemental add on they concluded it was just there and unrelated (their suspension tech wasn’t there that week), 3) a front suspension component is unlikely to break during a rear collision.
I called both the body shop and Geico to try and get this resolved before picking up the vehicle. I informed them the front suspension was about a year old with only ~10,000 miles on it. I informed them the noise started immediately after the impact. I informed them other work had been done on the front end a month earlier (control arms-original and worn, and right strut mount-damaged in a pothole) and the mechanic specifically checked the driver’s mount at that time and it was solid; I am a little irked with my mechanic because I purchased and provided FSB bushings for them to replace, but they didn’t because the strut mount was broken so that was likely the culprit of the noise. I informed them “unlikely” does not equal “impossible”. I informed them I was impacted after a rapid stop from highway speeds, and the front suspension was completely loaded at the time of the impact (meaning there was no give in it like normal), and there was enough force to dislodge the front bumper cover. Their only response was to take it to a Mazda dealer for a diagnostic, and if their technician agreed it was because of the impact. They said I could submit findings from my mechanic, but they’d go with whatever statement the Mazda diagnostic gave them.
Currently trying to contact my insurance company again and reactivating the original claim. I don’t care if they just go argue with Geico and compel them to do the repair at their cost, or if I have progressive do the repair and go after Geico to collect my deductible through subrogation.