Got in a Car accident - Opinions wanted on how to handle this.

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if its reported on the police report that she was at fault then your ass is covered

you prob don't want your insurance company to hear about this but they will go to bat for you, its what you pay them for
if geico starts fucking you around just get your insurance company involved before you try sue'ing a big corp like geico

My insurance company will not do anything for me because I do not have Collision coverage (thats what they told me). Liberty Mutual is the worst insurance group on the planet - I hate them.

I feel my only recourse here would be a suit in small claims should this situation turn against me.
 
My insurance company will not do anything for me because I do not have Collision coverage (thats what they told me). Liberty Mutual is the worst insurance group on the planet - I hate them.
they won't PAY for the damage but they are still obligated to be your representative
 
No matter how much time you waste in small clams court you are not going to get your entire car painted, get it out of your mind it ain't happening unless you're going to pay out of pocket for the non-damaged portion of the car to be painted.

Considering the car is what a 95-98 a private party sale is worth about $6000 in excellent condition. An insurance company will consider a new bumper,fenders, and hood painted and blended to match the rest of the car an adequate repair. Also, you will never regain the value the car was worht before the accident, it's been in a colision now and you'll have to live with the fact that the value of the car has now been impaired. This is when you'll want to have the finest body shop in your area do the repairs for thier skill in color matching.
 
they won't PAY for the damage but they are still obligated to be your representative


I called them again this morning.

They stated that they have no financial interest in this accident and therefore will have nothing to do with it.

Should it say in some contract that they are obligated to help me even though they say otherwise?
 
they are only obligated to represent you in court if you were involved in an accident that was your fault or not. You're insurance company or anyones for that matter isn't going to give a rats ass because you only have liabilty w/ them. If you had collision insurance then they would be your best friend and then they would have a financial interest.
 
they are only obligated to represent you in court if you were involved in an accident that was your fault or not. You're insurance company or anyones for that matter isn't going to give a rats ass because you only have liabilty w/ them. If you had collision insurance then they would be your best friend and then they would have a financial interest.

This may be better for me . . . if Geico pays, then i have no deductable. With my insurer, I would have to pay a deductable right?
 
You don't have to pay a deductible if the claim isn't against your own policy.

Fighting for them to repaint the entire car is a waste of time and effort. It will never happen. Just get your front end fixed and deal with it.
 
If you can find a body shop to include the cost of painting the entier car in the repair quote then you can get it done, otherwise you'll only get the things done that the shop quoted the repairs for.
Go to the most expensive shop in town to get your repair quote. They might include the cost of a complete respray.
 
If you can find a body shop to include the cost of painting the entier car in the repair quote then you can get it done, otherwise you'll only get the things done that the shop quoted the repairs for.
Go to the most expensive shop in town to get your repair quote. They might include the cost of a complete respray.

An insurance adjuster will look at the car or a body shop that has been certified to appraise and assess damage will evaluate the car. Both of these people will go by the book, unless they're a shady shop. However, you would not want to deal with a shady shop on your beloved car, now would you?

Its insurance fraud if they were to build the cost of an entire respray into the estimate unless the damage warrants an entire respray.

With today's technology cars can be resprayed and blended without having to paint the entire car. They're respray multiple panels and blend so you cannot even tell a difference - if they're good. My WRX was resprayed and no one would ever know, infact the shop that did it used better paint than Subaru and was very good at what they did. No one has ever been able to tell that the car has been resprayed, even if when it was pointed out to them which body panels were resprayed.

There's a class action lawsuit against insurance companies that made it to the Supreme Court which defines the rules and regulations insurance companies must abide by. This is why certain parts are required to be genuine OEM parts and others can be comparible AEM parts. My A/C compressor was a Subaru genuine part only, however my hood and radiator were not required to be genuine OEM parts because the aftermarket parts were deemed compariable.

B, your entire car was repainted because of the extent of the damage to the car. My body shop probably could have pulled a respray off because the owner said the World Rally Blue on the impreza was one of the easiest 3-stage paints to match.

This information is all coming from New Jersey laws and was provided by a bodyshop who is a "partner" with my Uncle's business and a representative of the insurance company. They no longer use adjusters at his body shop in an attempt to keep the middleman costs down. He would not write anything into the estimate that was not in the book for fear of the repercussions of losing his contract with the insurance company and legal ramifications - it just wasn't worth it to him, or any other reputable shop out there. Infact, if the final cost went over the estimated amount he was required to produce receipts and if the costs were less than the estimate he was required to report this information and a check would be cut for that specific amount. The insurance company works directly through him.

Now to circumvent this fact, I called my insurance company and specifically requested an insurance adjuster come to my home location and evaluate the car. This way, the adjuster could cut me a check for the entire estimate and then I could take those monies and do as a saw fit. However, if he wrote me a lowball estimate and I went over the estimate I would have to produce receipts and documentation that the repairs were to a greater extent than estimated and provide this to the insurance company.

Me, being me, I took the check and ran. I bought aftermarket parts, cut $1500 off the price of the estimate and pocketed that cash. This is why I rock a carbon fiber hood and koyo racing radiator along with some other non-OEM parts that went on the car.

Once again, if I went through the bodyshop I could not exceed the cost of OEM parts and I could not keep an "extra" money. The only loophole that was possible was monetary compensation if I chose not to paint my carbon fiber hood.

The adjuster took longer, but was more beneficial to my finances and personal preferences at the end of the day.

Hope my drug induced rant helped you out.
 
just try to get a check and do what you can with it. shit, you might be able to part it out and get more for it anyways. or take the $1500 or whatever and get it fixed.

oh yeah, TTIWWOP. i'm surprised nobody said anything.
 
just try to get a check and do what you can with it. shit, you might be able to part it out and get more for it anyways. or take the $1500 or whatever and get it fixed.

oh yeah, TTIWWOP. i'm surprised nobody said anything.

+1, ask for an insurance adjuster to come out and take a look at the vehicle. He'll have the insurance company cut you a check. Be sure to point out all the damages when he's there. Sometimes adjusters get pissy and say they're professionals and know what they're doing, but as a car enthuisiast who has a firm grasp on the damages and consequences of the accident, you should be sure that you don't get stiffed if you're just going to take the check and run. Make sure you're not leaking any coolant, that the motor didn't overheat, etc, etc. If you had plastic endtanks on your radiator and it got smacked hard enough they may have cracked, along those lines the radiator support could be bent and need to be pulled, etc., etc.

I forget what I pointed out, to the adjuster, that he missed but I was sure to let him know all the damages. I also had the upper hand because I had a good bodyshop appraise the damages before I called the adjuster. Don't tell the adjuster, if you had a bodyshop appraise the car because then he's going to cut you a check for that amount and tell you to take the car to that location - atleast in Jersey.
 
+1, ask for an insurance adjuster to come out and take a look at the vehicle. He'll have the insurance company cut you a check. Be sure to point out all the damages when he's there. Sometimes adjusters get pissy and say they're professionals and know what they're doing, but as a car enthuisiast who has a firm grasp on the damages and consequences of the accident, you should be sure that you don't get stiffed if you're just going to take the check and run. Make sure you're not leaking any coolant, that the motor didn't overheat, etc, etc. If you had plastic endtanks on your radiator and it got smacked hard enough they may have cracked, along those lines the radiator support could be bent and need to be pulled, etc., etc.

I forget what I pointed out, to the adjuster, that he missed but I was sure to let him know all the damages. I also had the upper hand because I had a good bodyshop appraise the damages before I called the adjuster. Don't tell the adjuster, if you had a bodyshop appraise the car because then he's going to cut you a check for that amount and tell you to take the car to that location - atleast in Jersey.


Sound advice.

I think i know exactly what was hit/damaged.

Bumper cover
Driver's side headlamp
Driver's side corner lense
Driver's side turn signal
Hood (minor dent, maybe they will just pound it out??)
Radiator support
Possibly fender

I should inspect the vehicle to make sure there is nothing leaking and that the end tanks are not smashed as well (didnt overheat tho).

I figure I can do a lot of the work myself - i.e. I can take off the old bumper and mount the new one, replace the lights, etc. Then ill take it to the shop to get it painted and have the lights adjusted properly (angle/height).
 
You'll probably want to have the radiator support straightened back out (or do it yourself) if it was bent very badly. A little bit off can turn into way off when mounting the front end.
 
yup you pick where it's fixed

by contract your car must be restored to "pre loss condition", if your paint matched before it should match afterwards.

if it costs more then her PD liability limits then your UMPD coverage would kick in and then the insurance company will subrogate on your behalf
 
my ex had her front bumber on her 240 with a silvia front end get fucked up by firestone when they were doing an alignment. the adjuster gave her $1300 just to get the front bumper replaced and repainted. it was only chipped down to the fiberglass in a spot about the size of a raquetball.

try to get a check. if you get something like $2500, that would go a long ways in repairing your car.
 
in NY state the trick is to go to a nice priced repair shop...
get a high estimate and have them cut you a check
then take it to a good but cheaper shop, or fix it yourself and pocket the rest of the $$$
 
in NY state the trick is to go to a nice priced repair shop...
get a high estimate and have them cut you a check
then take it to a good but cheaper shop, or fix it yourself and pocket the rest of the $$$
yup, that's what i've been trying to say all along.
 
my ex had her front bumber on her 240 with a silvia front end get fucked up by firestone when they were doing an alignment. the adjuster gave her $1300 just to get the front bumper replaced and repainted. it was only chipped down to the fiberglass in a spot about the size of a raquetball.

try to get a check. if you get something like $2500, that would go a long ways in repairing your car.


Wouldnt they have to give me a check once they make an estimate? The only time they have given a shop the money is if I had the car taken somewhere and appraised at the shop's location.
 
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