Ella Scott was headed to church on Sunday, March 25, when her new Cadillac collided with Shanelle Lock’s BMW. Both cars were towed to 85 Collision Concepts in Ozone Park, Queens.

The drivers were insured, Scott by All State and Lock by Liberty Mutual, and the drivers agreed to let the auto body shop repair their cars.

“They said they’re going to fix it. I was relieved,” said Lock. Repairs on the cars were estimated to take three weeks.

The insurance companies paid the shop in April – All State paid in full more than $15,000 and Liberty Mutual paid slightly more than $10,000.

As previously reported, Scott was left waiting months for her car.

According to Scott, the shop would tell her week after week, they needed parts for repairs.

She went back to the auto body shop nine weeks after the accident to find the Cadillac sitting in a neighboring scrap yard lot, with damage still visible.

“This is wrong, wrong!” Scott said that day. “They haven’t done a thing!”

Scott did not know at that time, but Lock was also waiting week after week for her BMW to be repaired and returned.

“You get excuse after excuse,” Lock said. “It was supposed to be ready in April.”

Ten weeks after the accident, an employee who identified himself as “Paulie” pointed out where the cars sat inside the garage.

“That’s her car right there and those are the parts,” he said about Scott’s Cadillac, which was still missing a front bumper and headlight at the time. Lock’s BMW was parked nearby covered in plastic.

“All the parts are here. I’m just waiting for the mechanic to come here,” Paulie said.

85 Collision Concepts participates in the Directed Accident Response Program (DARP) run by the NYPD and Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). The company was responded to the Scott and Lock’s accident scene in March through DARP.

“They are to get the cars off the street and out of the way,” said retired NYPD Sergeant Jonathan Schwartz.

Tow companies must apply to DCA to participate in DARP.

85 Collision Concepts was admitted to the program in November 2014, and since then, six complaints against it have been filed with DCA.

Additionally, court records about 85 Collision Concepts’ operator, Stephanie Davino, show she was criminally charged in 2015 when she failed to pay sales taxes on $1.4 million worth of repair work performed over a two year period when she was running another auto body shop – called A&W Collision – from the same garage.

In 2016, Davino and A&W Collision pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $125,000 in taxes.

More recently, a record from April shows 85 Collision Concepts now owes $35,000 to the state in unpaid taxes.

Davino did not return calls for this story.

A spokesperson for DCA said in a statement: “[The Department] is deeply committed to doing everything within our power to protect consumers.”

But, DCA would not address Davino’s criminal record. Instead, a spokesperson explained in an email that criminal history is generally reviewed during application or renewal for a business license to tow cars and in other limited circumstances.

85 Collision Concepts’ business license to tow cars expired in April, so it can no longer respond to accident scenes through DARP.

But that’s little comfort to Scott and Lock.

After a call about this story, All State retrieved Scott’s car from 85 Collision Concepts. An All State representative and Scott say the Cadillac is still damage.

Assessments will be made to determine whether All State will total the car.

“A lesson learned for me, myself, and my family,” said Scott.

But Lock remains without her car. She said the auto body shop promises to have repairs completed within a couple days. Her insurer, Liberty Mutual, declined to comment citing company policy.

However, a representative indicated the claims team will work directly with Lock.

DCA reminds consumers that tow companies responding to accidents through DARP are the only companies permitted to tow the cars.

However, the tow companies must take the cars wherever the consumer requests as long as the destination is within New York City.

Consumers should sign only an authorization to tow, not an authorization to repair, until they have researched the company.