Insurance After an Accident?

Go get estimates (they're free) from two different body shops in you area, preferably where people you know trust them, and submit these estimates to both your insurance company and theirs. Their ins. company HAS to pay the estimate of where YOU want to take your vehicle for repairs. This insures that you are getting fair treatment. Your estimates should be similarly priced. If they're not.....then you should get a third, because someone saw something more, or something was missed.

Good luck!
S.

Hi Jenn,

So sorry to hear about your new car!

You are able to choose where to take your car to have it fixed, so I would take it to the dealer. When you get it back, make sure you walk around the car and inspect every thing, to include the paint, any dents etc. Run your hands down the damaged area to make sure there is no damage you can feel. We had our dealer do the work on our car after it was damaged, and they forgot to sand down the paint so it dried with drip marks. I did not accept it, so they had to have the car for a couple more days to get it fixed. Don't sign anything until you are happy with the work. If the insurance company is Allstate, they are pretty good at paying the claim, so I don't think you will have to worry about that. You may have a deductable, but it depends on your insurance company policy. We didn't have to pay anything as everything was covered.

Anyway, hope that helps. Good luck!

F.

Unfortunately I've had lots of accidents (before my daughter) and insurance claims. A guy from his insurance will come out and "assess" the vehicle. He will give a list of approved repairs to where ever you plan to have the repairs done. To ensure that everything gets fixed make sure that the shop has them come out and re-assess once they have your car apart, so that any "hidden" damages are repaired as well. Other than that they are obligated to repair eveything and return your vehicle to pre-wreck condition. So, unless they want to call the vehicle totaled they will have to pay for the repairs. Before the shop does any work make sure that they have a check that covers all the repair they plan to make. Don't let them fix something the insurance hasn't said they will pay for. If there is something that needs repaired and insurance hasn't approved the repair contact both your agent and their agent to make sure they add it to their list. Ultimately though, your insurance should be making the arrangements and arguements for you. If you didn't have insurance it is definately more of a hassle but in MO the other guy is still responsible for the damage. Message me if you run into any problems and don't know what to do. Good Luck!

I have been hit by an Allstate driver 5 years ago and had no problem with them fixing the damages. It didn't hurt that I had a police report siting their insured driver was at fault. I had to have 2 estimates and they went with the lower of the two, but since I had another claim via my insurance in the same week (my tire blew and did some damage to the bodywork), I didn't have to get the two estimates as I had already proved that my mechanic was cheaper so he just told me to go back to the insurance and tell them that he was doing the work. Keep in mind that you can also get compensation for a rental car while your car is in the shop since it could take up to a week (sometimes longer) to fix body work. Good luck!

As long as their insurance is friendly, you should be fine going the route you are going. If they start to give you a hard time, you get your insurance involved. Or you get an attorney.

Dealerships are not the best places to have work done; I have worked in both dealerships and in private-owned body shops, and it depends upon the ethics of the manager/ owner. I would go for someone who seems honest, up front, nice and able to work with women--anywhere that treats you differently or odd because of gender is going to try to either not communicate with you because you are female, or they are going to rip you off. Most of these shops out here now are struggling, if you find a busy shop they are probably pretty good. I worked in Northtowne, in Missouri, and I would send you up that direction, personally.

Don't be so afraid of these companies--most are pretty good guys with the desire to do a good job. And definitely DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING THAT LOOKS SHODDY! Picky is ok, really :D

A.

J., What was the out come. Did the body shop place fix your car. Did the insurance pay for all of it. Cause i had a wreck a year ago and the insurance company paid the shop for the repairs. The shop pocketed the money and i can't get the insurance people to go after the shop for it. now i am thinking of sewing the insurance company for now looking after their investment which was my car. What do you think?
thanks T.

Hello Jenn,
My husband and I have through this recently, Aug 27th, we had a tree(neighbors tree that was infested with carpenter ants) fall on 3 of our vehicles and our house. All three cars were totalled and the house is going to need to be reroofed and repaired since we have a hole in the roof. Our own insurance co fixed everything and we are going to be reimbursed by the neighbors insurance since there was prior damage to the tree.
My advice to you to make sure that they fix everything is to go and get a couple of estimates from local body shops, tell them to be thorough, walk them through the damage that you can see and have them make sure there isn't any damage internally that you can't see. Most body shops will do a free estimate ask them if the estimate is free, if not go somewhere else. If you have proof from more than one professional the insurance co can't really argue with you. You do not have to have repairs done by their body shop if you do not want to, you are entitled to have damages done where you want. It may take a little longer if they don't want to fix everything, but don't budge. Do you have insurance of your own? if you do you should call them and let them know what happened and alot of times they will assist you in dealing with the other insurance co.

Hope this helps,
Michelle