Fender Bender Bumper Thumper (Advice?)

[jwinter]

Something to think about is that the car has taken a hit and the bumper and safety "crumple" zones are compromised. The vehicle is no longer as safe to drive. I am not saying it is unsafe just not as safe. What is your safety and piece of mind worth? I vote for getting it fixed and fixed right and then move on. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck with whatever you choose.

[Sam1]

So for the diminished value...what should I expect on a car I paid $16,000 for, owe $6,000, and is worth somewhere between $10,000 and 12,000 pre-damage.

2012 Ford Fusion SE 50,000 miles.


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Impossible to say, every situation is different, but we got $1000~ out of a $8,000~ car.  Also have to say, the longer you can drag it out, the more willing they are to negotiate with you.  We drug ours out for 9 or 10 months without responding to them and they seemed to start getting anxious to close the case.

Could be as little as a few hundred $ or as much as a $1k, either way it is money you are entitled to.  Also, they will say once the repair has been completed, your car has no diminished value, just stick with the deal that no matter the repair, your car is now worth less because it has a an accident on it.  I asked the claims guy if he had two identical cars at the dealership one had been in a wreck and repaired, and the other was never in an accident, both were the same price.. which one he would buy  There never was an answer to that one lol.

[MphsTiger1981]

May I offer some free advice? My background is in auto repair and automobile insurance claims for over thirty years. My suggestions to you are:

1) Tell the insurance company who you want to fix your car. pick your own repair shop. Find one you trust recommended by people you trust. If need be, ask the dealership where you bought your car who they use.

Make sure the repair shop you choose has a written lifetime repair guarantee posted in the shop and somewhere on the repair order that you get a copy of. This should include all paint and all bodywork.

Most insurance companies will send someone out to write the estimate with the shops help and get an agreement on borderline issues in order to make sure any supplements are small or non existent.

Ask the insurer to pay you directly. This way the shop will make every effort to make sure you are happy when you pick it up and you have to write the check. Some companies will direct deposit the money to your checking account if you want.

2) make sure you get the car repaired right, don't cut corners to put a few bucks in your pocket unless you are willing to take a chance that little rattle now won't become a costly nightmare later. If the insurer pays for something and it's not done, that's your decision but it can come back to haunt you later but they aren't going to owe you for it twice. Also, shops are reluctant to bill the insurance for a new part and the put a used one or repair the part instead of replacement. This used to be a major problem, but it is less common now. That is known as the practice of salvaging.

3)Remember if the insurance company is paying for your rental you need to get the repairs started Rícki-Tiki. They only owe you for the reasonable loss of use to repair the car, the sooner repairs are under way the better the chances the rental gets handled completely with no hiccups.

4) take your fully repaired vehicle to a reputable used car dealer and show him the car after it has been repaired. He might ask to see a copy of the estimate, so have a copy handy if you decide you want to do this. After he inspects the car ask him for a written letter on company letterhead stating how much, if any, depreciation your vehicle sustained due to the loss.

5)Last, if you had all of the work performed by a reputable shop and all of the repairs are completed properly to your satisfaction, contact the adjuster and tell them you are interested in presenting a diminution of value claim. Tell them what your salesman has provided you and be willing to give them a copy of this document.

This is just a part of the damages claim and like most things in life, these elements are negotiable. You have three years in Tennessee to settle all the property damage elements of your claim, or you will have to file a lawsuit to keep your claim alive.

6) one very last thing. Be realistic, and try to be fair. Insurance companies still employ people, and people have good days and bad days, just like the nice lady down at the DMV, but if you think the other guys insurance is not being fair in their dealings with you, turn the claim in to your carrier. All you will be out of pocket is your collision deductible, and you will get that money back when your company surrogates against the other carrier.

Good luck and sorry to hear about your misfortune.

[GlockSpock]

4) take your fully repaired vehicle to a reputable used car dealer and show him the car after it has been repaired. He might ask to see a copy of the estimate, so have a copy handy if you decide you want to do this. After he inspects the car ask him for a written letter on company letterhead stating how much, if any, depreciation your vehicle sustained due to the loss.

 

So, is this something that most used car dealers will do for free? I don't see most being too sincere or generous unless you give them the impression you are thinking about pulling out your checkbook for them.

 

Is it something a Ford Dealership could/would do or more like CarMax or something?

 

The estimator is coming to see me today. Hopefully by the end of today I will have a rough idea of how much it will cost to fix it. I have decide to get it fixed and will more than likely take it to my personal preference body shop. I'll have him quote me before he starts work so I have a feeling whether the estimate was inline with what it should be.

 

I suppose at this point I should try and keep it unkown to the body shop what my estimate was. Right?

 

Hopefully I can get a rental today or tomorrow and start repair. After repair, that is when I should get a DV estimate from someone?

 

How to calculate diminished value (incorrectly).

 

http://kielichlawfirm.com/insurance-companies-calculate-diminished-value-claims/

 

So, taking the NADA value of my vehicle, it is ~$13,350 retail. By using the 17c formula, I come up with $600.75 figuring 

• 0.75: major damage to structure and panels
• 0.60: 40,000-59,999 miles

But the NADA already accounts for mileage in their value estimate! So why is it in the forumula? It shouldn't be, in my opinion.

 

Truth is that I have no idea of the true loss in value so I will have to put good faith in the appraisel after it is fixed. I'll keep everyone up to date.

[MphsTiger1981]

So, is this something that most used car dealers will do for free? I don't see most being too sincere or generous unless you give them the impression you are thinking about pulling out your checkbook for them.

 

Is it something a Ford Dealership could/would do or more like CarMax or something?

 

 

The estimator is coming to see me today. Hopefully by the end of today I will have a rough idea of how much it will cost to fix it. I have decide to get it fixed and will more than likely take it to my personal preference body shop. I'll have him quote me before he starts work so I have a feeling whether the estimate was inline with what it should be.

 

I suppose at this point I should try and keep it unkown to the body shop what my estimate was. Right?

 

 

First, you'll need to contact the dealership to see if they will agree to give you the letter stating the value of the car before and after repairs. If you bought  it there, they see it as a chance to keep good business relationships alive. After all, once you get there they may have a chance to sell you a new car or truck. They don't necessarily like doing it, and yes, it is a pain in the backside, but most see it as part of doing business. 

 

As to the body shop estimate, I'd go ahead and share that with them if you want. The estimator may wish to use it to check to see he or she did not overlook anything. This saves you headaches on the back end. Besides, I'll bet you dollars to a donut the insurance company estimate is higher than the shop. Shops will prepare an estimate to repair the vehicle as inexpensively as possible if they think a person is having to pay out of his own pocket. Most reputable shops will accept and agree to work by almost all of the major insurance companies. This is their life line. Getting along with the insurance company means knowing the check for repairs is good and not having to worry about getting paid. Many shops will bend a little to get along, not to be cheap or in collusion with the insurer but to make money, and that is after all why they opened the doors in the first place. 

 

 

[GlockSpock]

 

 

As to the body shop estimate, I'd go ahead and share that with them if you want. The estimator may wish to use it to check to see he or she did not overlook anything. This saves you headaches on the back end. Besides, I'll bet you dollars to a donut the insurance company estimate is higher than the shop. Shops will prepare an estimate to repair the vehicle as inexpensively as possible if they think a person is having to pay out of his own pocket. Most reputable shops will accept and agree to work by almost all of the major insurance companies. This is their life line. Getting along with the insurance company means knowing the check for repairs is good and not having to worry about getting paid. Many shops will bend a little to get along, not to be cheap or in collusion with the insurer but to make money, and that is after all why they opened the doors in the first place. 

 

 

 

I mean the reverse of this. I wasn't sure what I should do so I have yet to have it estimated by a repair shop. The insurance estimator comes to see me today and hopefully this evening I can drop it off at a shop. I was thinking that it may be smart to keep a secret to the body shop how much the insurance estimated.

 

I'll call the dealership I bought it from just to see what they say.

[GlockSpock]

I mean the reverse of this. I wasn't sure what I should do so I have yet to have it estimated by a repair shop. The insurance estimator comes to see me today and hopefully this evening I can drop it off at a shop. I was thinking that it may be smart to keep a secret to the body shop how much the insurance estimated.

 

I'll call the dealership I bought it from just to see what they say.

 

Well what do you know. The local dealership that I bought the car from does not to DV reports. They'll appriase it, but by doing so they'll only "tell" you the number instead of providing you a printout on letterhead.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Unless you own the car completely the insurance will not pay you directly for you to live with the damages. We had someone back into our truck so we filed a claim. They said they would pay for the repairs but any cash pay outs would go to the bank that held the note on the truck and not to us. The insurance also said our rates would increase if we had it repaired because we could not prove it was not us that damaged the truck. In the end we had a truck that was damaged that we had to live with and did not get paid to live with. Luckily the dealership that took it in on trade did not mention the damage when working up the trade in value.

[mikegideon]

Unless you own the car completely the insurance will not pay you directly for you to live with the damages. We had someone back into our truck so we filed a claim. They said they would pay for the repairs but any cash pay outs would go to the bank that held the note on the truck and not to us. The insurance also said our rates would increase if we had it repaired because we could not prove it was not us that damaged the truck. In the end we had a truck that was damaged that we had to live with and did not get paid to live with. Luckily the dealership that took it in on trade did not mention the damage when working up the trade in value.

 

Didn't you have a police report?

[Dustbuster]

Take the highest amount from insurance, get a buddy to fix it and be done w it

[GlockSpock]

So the estimate from State Farm came in at $1804.17. If there are supplemental parts that need to be ordered the body shop only needs to contact them to work it out. Hopefully that will not be needed but hopefully will go smoothly if it is.

 

I am having a local shop that I know to do the repair.  Dropping it off tonight so hopefully will be close to being done and done next week.

 

So tempting to just take that ~$1,800 and send it to the credit union (roughly 1/3 of what I owe on it), but I decided that for the pure simplicity of if something else comes up, I'd rather deal with fixing it now rather than later.

 

Also, I ask myself this question regarding debt payoff vs. savings accrual:

 

Would I borrow money to put into a savings account? No? Because that is essentially what you are doing when you strive to build savings while you owe money on a short term, non-appreciating debt.

 

So I asked myself if I would have let someone pay me $1,800 to smash up my car with a sledgehammer.

[MphsTiger1981]

Unless you own the car completely the insurance will not pay you directly for you to live with the damages. We had someone back into our truck so we filed a claim. They said they would pay for the repairs but any cash pay outs would go to the bank that held the note on the truck and not to us. The insurance also said our rates would increase if we had it repaired because we could not prove it was not us that damaged the truck. In the end we had a truck that was damaged that we had to live with and did not get paid to live with. Luckily the dealership that took it in on trade did not mention the damage when working up the trade in value.

 

True. If you are going through your own carrier, you have a single interest provision which means the insurance company has an obligation to protect your lien holder  or the leasing agent who technically holds the title to the vehicle. If this instance, the liability carrier has no obligation to make payment to the lien holder, only the registered owner, in this case, the OP.

 

 Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. I've done some work in the fraud arena over the years, and it's not at all unusual for people to turn in bogus claims on phantom vehicles, or John Does who hit and run. Normally a police report taken within 48 hours is sufficient to document the evidence of an outside actor, but not always and not for every insurance company. Every one of the insurance companies have their own way of handling situations like this, sadly, the insured has the burden of proof to establish someone else caused the damages, and that is unfortunate for all of us who are honest and truthful. 

[GlockSpock]

Oh, by the way the are direct deposting the amount so I think what MphsTiger1981 states is correct.

[Dolomite_supafly]

Didn't you have a police report?

Police would not do a report because they said they could not determine if the damage was caused by us or a third party. Trust me when I say I had some choice words when they refused to come out. All they kept saying is contact your insurance and file a claim.

[tnguy]

Hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like mostly the wing and the bumper. Could probably get those from a wrecker for reasonably cheap so it becomes a factor of labor and ability to do it yourself.

 

Hmm. looks like a little headlight damage too but probably livable. If the hood is damaged, probably would just leave it to the body shop.

Edited November 20, 2014 by tnguy