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Hi,
I have a 2000 Jetta TDI, I have had it for four years and when i first got it it was the best steering car i had ever had. Sadly two years ago in order to avoid an accident I was worked to swerve and slid into a raised median and significantly damanged the control arm and rim. I have  a friend who is very good with cars and replaced my control arm for me. I then took it to the dealership for a realignment. They called me and informed me in order to align my car I needed new ball joints which i had them replace, they then realigned my car...however  when i got it back the alignment was not very tight or atleast not as tight as it was before.. I was unsure if this was due to the accident or poor work on the alignment by the dealership.. Anyhow about two months ago I hit a small pothole and the alignment went out again.. So basically my question is...is there a reason the last alignment was so loose is there another part that may need to be looked at or is this a permenant side effect of the accident...because if this looseness was due to poor workmanship at the dealership in which case i will do a search for who does the best alignments in the area or perhaps this is just something that i will have to deal with in which case i will just take it to whoever has the most reasonable price. Also I was wondering if it made a difference that it seemed this alignment went out much easier than prior to the accident, I have hit potholes much larger and much harder (accidentally of course) before the accident and the alignment held this last time was a very small hole and i hardly even noticed the clunk, what i did notice was the difference in steering immediatly so if you have any advice please let me know thanks!  

you will want to find a specialty wheel alignment shop...

not one that does mufflers.. brakes.. tires... tune ups... or even body work...  frame work is done by specialists.. who have to bend it back straight enough to be able to align

just wheel alignments or frame and alignment ..

look in the back of your yellow pages for wheel alignment services..   be sure to describe that your car has been damaged and repaired before.. they will probably want to measure it..  using a frame chart to make sure that everything is square..

now... if your town or even area has one of these specialty alignment shops.. many of them here in the los angeles area have closed..  falling prey to the low cost tire shop alignments.. which are NOT always bad..