car repair questions after accident

[ILikeStarTrek]

I haven't had many car accidents and so my experience with getting repairs after an accident is very limited. I did have an accident a few years ago that required a significant repair, but for some reason that experience is a blur for me and I don't recall some of the details that I am asking about now.

So, I want to ask the group about my current experience.

Someone hit my car last week (I was not in the car - it was parked), and fortunately, the person was honest enough to leave their contact info behind, so their insurance is now going to pay for repairs and thus I am talking to their insurance adjuster.

I should mention, in case laws vary by state, this is in Georgia.

After my car was hit, I drove it to perhaps the only body shop that I am familiar with, the one that repaired my car after the accident I had several years ago. This shop gave an estimate of $8400 for the repair and said it would take a month.

The insurance adjuster inspected my car, and just today he gave an estimate of $5922. The adjuster assured me that even though his estimate is lower, the body shop will fully repair the car for his estimate. (Both estimates give the disclaimer that more damage could be found as the body shop takes off outer pieces to get to the innards of the vehicle, but the numbers I just gave assume damage that can be seen.)

I was looking through the two estimates to try to figure out why they are so different.

The body shop's estimate gives all the parts (except 1) as OEM parts.

The insurance adjuster's estimate says,
THIS ESTIMATE MAY HAVE BEEN PREPARED BASED ON THE USE OF AFTERMARKET CRASH
PARTS SUPPLIED BY A SOURCE OTHER THAN THE MANUFACTURER OF YOUR MOTOR VEHICLE.
THE AFTERMARKET CRASH PARTS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS ESTIMATE ARE
WARRANTED BY THE MANUFACTURER OR DISTRIBUTOR OF SUCH PARTS RATHER THAN THE
MANUFACTURER OF YOUR VEHICLE.

1) Should I raise a fuss about the aftermarket parts, and do I have the right to make the insurance company use OEM parts? Or is using non-OEM parts a normal/standard practice?

2) The insurance adjuster wants to cut a check today for the $5922. I will do a direct deposit form online and the money will go in my bank account. *If* the amount of the repair changes due to more damage being found, they will cut another check in the future. Either way, I will be the one to pay the body shop. He says I should not have to pay anything out of pocket for the repairs, i.e. the insurance checks should be enough to pay for all damage but I will be the one to pay the body shop. Again, is this standard practice?

3) Finally, as I mentioned, the initial body shop said it will take a month to repair my car. The adjuster said that other body shops can probably do it faster, as in a couple of weeks. He emailed me a list of 7 different body shops that the insurance company likes to use, and he says they do good work and will almost certainly be faster. He did say it is my choice of whether I want to stay with my original body shop or change to one of their preferred ones. I thought this body shop did good work for my repair a few years ago, but otherwise there is nothing special about this particular shop. I'm thinking of looking for reviews of the different body shops before I decide. Any advice on this?

I appreciate any experience others have for dealing with this!

 

[pacergal]

I would insist on using your body shop and estimate, use original parts, not after market.
Have the insurance company pay the shop directly, not send a check to you
Insist on ins company paying for rental car for the duration.

Best of luck.

 

[Walt34]

I would insist on using your body shop and estimate, use original parts, not after market.
Have the insurance company pay the shop directly, not send a check to you
Insist on ins company paying for rental car for the duration.

Agree 100%.

While aftermarket parts can be just as good or even better than OEM parts, they are frequently much worse. In the worst-case scenario they rust sooner because the manufacturer skipped expensive rust-proofing or skimped on the type of metals used or the thickness. Not only do they sometimes fail sooner, they can affect future crash-worthiness. This matters a lot if you or someone you care about is in the car.

 

[Kings over Queens]

I haven't had many car accidents and so my experience with getting repairs after an accident is very limited. I did have an accident a few years ago that required a significant repair, but for some reason that experience is a blur for me and I don't recall some of the details that I am asking about now.

So, I want to ask the group about my current experience.

Someone hit my car last week (I was not in the car - it was parked), and fortunately, the person was honest enough to leave their contact info behind, so their insurance is now going to pay for repairs and thus I am talking to their insurance adjuster.

I should mention, in case laws vary by state, this is in Georgia.

After my car was hit, I drove it to perhaps the only body shop that I am familiar with, the one that repaired my car after the accident I had several years ago. This shop gave an estimate of $8400 for the repair and said it would take a month.

The insurance adjuster inspected my car, and just today he gave an estimate of $5922. The adjuster assured me that even though his estimate is lower, the body shop will fully repair the car for his estimate. (Both estimates give the disclaimer that more damage could be found as the body shop takes off outer pieces to get to the innards of the vehicle, but the numbers I just gave assume damage that can be seen.)

I was looking through the two estimates to try to figure out why they are so different.

The body shop's estimate gives all the parts (except 1) as OEM parts.

The insurance adjuster's estimate says,
THIS ESTIMATE MAY HAVE BEEN PREPARED BASED ON THE USE OF AFTERMARKET CRASH
PARTS SUPPLIED BY A SOURCE OTHER THAN THE MANUFACTURER OF YOUR MOTOR VEHICLE.
THE AFTERMARKET CRASH PARTS USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS ESTIMATE ARE
WARRANTED BY THE MANUFACTURER OR DISTRIBUTOR OF SUCH PARTS RATHER THAN THE
MANUFACTURER OF YOUR VEHICLE.

1) Should I raise a fuss about the aftermarket parts, and do I have the right to make the insurance company use OEM parts? Or is using non-OEM parts a normal/standard practice?

2) The insurance adjuster wants to cut a check today for the $5922. I will do a direct deposit form online and the money will go in my bank account. *If* the amount of the repair changes due to more damage being found, they will cut another check in the future. Either way, I will be the one to pay the body shop. He says I should not have to pay anything out of pocket for the repairs, i.e. the insurance checks should be enough to pay for all damage but I will be the one to pay the body shop. Again, is this standard practice?

3) Finally, as I mentioned, the initial body shop said it will take a month to repair my car. The adjuster said that other body shops can probably do it faster, as in a couple of weeks. He emailed me a list of 7 different body shops that the insurance company likes to use, and he says they do good work and will almost certainly be faster. He did say it is my choice of whether I want to stay with my original body shop or change to one of their preferred ones. I thought this body shop did good work for my repair a few years ago, but otherwise there is nothing special about this particular shop. I'm thinking of looking for reviews of the different body shops before I decide. Any advice on this?

I appreciate any experience others have for dealing with this!

You are describing a 3rd party property damage claim, which is different/opposite of a 1st party claim. 3rd party=other person's insurance, 1st party=yours. In simple terms the other person's insurance company does not have a contractual obligation or owe you a duty to make you whole or treat you fairly. In fact, they view this type of claim as an adversarial matter, and their obligation is to their client, not you. Now, granted, these fender bender claims are pretty straight forward, so I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it.

If you want OEM parts, your own policy may or may not provide coverage for them. You can ask the other carrrier/adjuster, but I'd be surprised if they agree to pay the additional cost. I don't see why you can't accept the payment today and then pay the body shop when done. You might earn some extra interest to pay for a tank of gas. Finally, most insurance companies use the same body shops, and the referrals he or she gave you might very well be on the list of shops you own company uses. Which is more important, getting the job done by the guy you know or getting the job done quickly?

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

I would insist on using your body shop and estimate, use original parts, not after market.
Have the insurance company pay the shop directly, not send a check to you
Insist on ins company paying for rental car for the duration.

Best of luck.

The insurance company is paying for a rental car, separate from the repair.

The question is, if I "insist" on using this body shop and the OEM estimate, what does the law say? Can the insurance company just refuse? He did say he will use the original body shop if I want to, but he didn't say anything about the OEM parts (I didn't ask because I hadn't read the estimate until after I talked to him).

 

[jazz4cash]

Agree 100%.

While aftermarket parts can be just as good or even better than OEM parts, they are frequently much worse. In the worst-case scenario they rust sooner because the manufacturer skipped expensive rust-proofing or skimped on the type of metals used or the thickness. Not only do they sometimes fail sooner, they can affect future crash-worthiness. This matters a lot if you or someone you care about is in the car.

Unfortunately I have some recent experience. I agree with Walt and Pacergal. Depending on the age, type of vehicle, and how long you will keep it, I might insist on OEM parts. Also are the parts cosmetic like a body panel or functional like suspension. Also OEM parts could be used pieces from a salvage yard. That might be Ok but just ask so there are no surprises.

I would insist on body shop getting paid directly.

You are likely entitled to a diminished value claim. If you were to sell your car a buyer can easily determine it had a bodyshop claim and the value will be reduced. The diminished value claim process is somewhat arbitrary so just ask and don’t take no for an answer.

 

[Aerides]

I wouldn't be all bothered about OEM or not, unless I have a unique expensive car and it would compromise resale value beyond the value that's already impacted by a wreck on record.

Perhaps a (re)read of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance is due.

And yeah a month sounds like a long time unless your car is near totaled, which it can't be or the insurance would have done that.

 

[OldShooter]

Talk to your own insurance agent about this claim. I would expect them to work with you and then your company will subrogate your claim to the other company, no hassle or participation by you.

Ideally, you bought your insurance through an independent agent, who will be economically motivated to help you.

 

[jazz4cash]

OP, you should also contact your insurance company for guidance and also the bodyshop you selected since they deal with these issues all the time. When I got rear ended the other guy’s adjuster estimated $3k in damage. The bodyshop totaled the car. Most states have a rule that if the repair is more than X% of value they are required to total it. Some insurance companies may try to exploit this.
You don’t wanna be in the middle if the bodyshop discovers hidden damage.

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

You are describing a 3rd party property damage claim, which is different/opposite of a 1st party claim. 3rd party=other person's insurance, 1st party=yours. In simple terms the other person's insurance company does not have a contractual obligation or owe you a duty to make you whole or treat you fairly. In fact, they view this type of claim as an adversarial matter, and their obligation is to their client, not you. Now, granted, these fender bender claims are pretty straight forward, so I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over it.

If you want OEM parts, your own policy may or may not provide coverage for them. You can ask the other carrrier/adjuster, but I'd be surprised if they agree to pay the additional cost. I don't see why you can't accept the payment today and then pay the body shop when done. You might earn some extra interest to pay for a tank of gas. Finally, most insurance companies use the same body shops, and the referrals he or she gave you might very well be on the list of shops you own company uses. Which is more important, getting the job done by the guy you know or getting the job done quickly?

Thanks for the analysis of the 3rd party claim.

If I go through my own insurance, there would be a deductible. I *think* this would be considered Collision coverage, which would be $1000 deductible. Also, this would be a claim which could make my premiums go up. So, I'd like to at least try to deal with the 3rd party insurance company unless I get to the point of thinking of them as almost crooks.

"Which is more important, getting the job done by the guy you know or getting the job done quickly?" - I have used this body shop once, several years ago. They did a good job then, but that's a very limited experience. The shop could have changed owners and/or have different workers since then. So this body shop isn't totally unknown to me, but it's also not my regular mechanic for general car repairs. So your question becomes, "Which is more important, getting the job done by the guy you have some very limited and outdated knowledge of, or getting the job done quickly?" I don't consider that a trivial question to answer. I will probably at least check out reviews of some of the other shops. Who knows, some of these shops may have better online ratings than the original shop?

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

Talk to your own insurance agent about this claim. I would expect them to work with you and then your company will subrogate your claim to the other company, no hassle or participation by you.

Ideally, you bought your insurance through an independent agent, who will be economically motivated to help you.

If I go through my own insurance, a deductible will apply and my premium can potentially go up. My insurance company would then file their own claim with the other insurance company, but that would be after the fact.

What I can do is ask my agent about what the other company is wanting to do with the aftermarket parts, and see what they tell me. (Of course, for all I know, my company may try to get away with aftermarket parts when it can too, so I may or may not get a totally unbiased answer.)

 

[jazz4cash]

If I go through my own insurance, a deductible will apply and my premium can potentially go up. My insurance company would then file their own claim with the other insurance company, but that would be after the fact.

What I can do is ask my agent about what the other company is wanting to do with the aftermarket parts, and see what they tell me. (Of course, for all I know, my company may try to get away with aftermarket parts when it can too, so I may or may not get a totally unbiased answer.)

I think some of us are saying to use your own insurance for guidance, not necessarily to file a claim. You have to talk to them. Some insurers will handle your claim but go after the other insurance company to cover the cost. I wouldn’t worry about how long it takes as long as they give you a rental it shouldn’t be a problem

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

Update: I talked to the body shop. The lady there who estimated my car said that even though she wrote the estimate using OEM parts, she did this estimate without talking to or having any feedback from the insurance company. Insurance companies usually do NOT pay for OEM parts unless either you pay extra in the insurance policy for that, or you have a car that is a year old or less (and my car is considerably older than a year). So I can ask the insurance for OEM parts but they probably won't give it to me (regardless of whether it is a 1st or 3rd party claim). After talking to the body shop lady, I may choose not to fight that battle.

She also said that the month estimate she previously gave included the time to wait for the insurance company. Which has been a full week now, since the adjuster doesn't seem to have been very fast about this process.

I'm leaning to staying with this body shop, but I'm still going to look at reviews of one or two of the other shops before I make a final decision.

 

[freedomatlast]

From a guy who buys cars that are totaled from insurance companies and fixes them back up to like new condition, I can tell you what I do. I would much rather buy good used late model OEM parts off of cars in the junkyard than use the new Chinese aftermarket parts that are available. Some of the Chinese stuff is ok, some isn't. But you don't really know until you're trying to get everything fit up and aligned properly during final assembly. I've also seen some of the aftermarket panels that are thinner than OEM and some of the body lines aren't as crisp as OEM. If it's an older car you don't really care about, let them use whatever they want. If it's a nice car that you are going to keep awhile, that's a different story.

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

From a guy who buys cars that are totaled from insurance companies and fixes them back up to like new condition, I can tell you what I do. I would much rather buy good used late model OEM parts off of cars in the junkyard than use the new Chinese aftermarket parts that are available. Some of the Chinese stuff is ok, some isn't. But you don't really know until you're trying to get everything fit up and aligned properly during final assembly. I've also seen some of the aftermarket panels that are thinner than OEM and some of the body lines aren't as crisp as OEM. If it's an older car you don't really care about, let them use whatever they want. If it's a nice car that you are going to keep awhile, that's a different story.

Ideally, I would like to have the OEM parts, but after talking to the body shop lady, it seems commonplace not to use them, and I don't think I have any real leverage to make that happen (unless I wanted to pay for them myself, which I don't). I may have a little more leverage with my own insurance company, but even there it wouldn't be guaranteed, and there are other issues with doing that as I have noted in my previous posts.

I tend to buy cars that have low mileage like 20-30K miles and then drive them until they fall apart. My last car lasted until 227K miles when the engine started misbehaving. My current car, I bought with about 30K miles but I now have 100K. So for me, that's probably in the middle of its life. That mileage is probably one reason that an insurance company wouldn't want to use OEM parts.

At this point, I'm pretty much resigned to not fighting that battle.

 

[freedomatlast]

That's understandable. Since you have past experience with this body shop, I'm sure the car will look great, like nothing ever happened when they're done.

 

[Sunset]

You should get diminished value, when my car was hit a long time ago and took a month in the repair shop, I didn't think of diminished value.

When I sold my car, CarMax certainly thought of diminished value.

I'd aim for $1,000 -> $2,000 extra payment directly to you for diminished value.

 

[Al18]

I would discuss the accident with your insurance company to explore your options. Your insurance company works for you and will give you unbiased direction.

It’s been my experience that insurance company have a list of preferred auto body repair companies. I would get my car repaired at a preferred repair company.

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

You should get diminished value, when my car was hit a long time ago and took a month in the repair shop, I didn't think of diminished value.

When I sold my car, CarMax certainly thought of diminished value.

I'd aim for $1,000 -> $2,000 extra payment directly to you for diminished value.

The way I read it, I wouldn't get anything for diminished value.
https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/diminished-value-car-estimations-after-accident/

In the calculation, there is a final mileage multiplier. My car has just over 100K miles, so the mileage multiplier is 0. And anything * 0 = 0.

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

That's understandable. Since you have past experience with this body shop, I'm sure the car will look great, like nothing ever happened when they're done.

I have decided to go with my original body shop. In addition to doing a good job for me a few years ago, they actually have a 4.7 / 5.0 rating (over 200 reviews) on a site called Birdeye for Business Reviews: Real Estate, Restaurants, Doctors, Dentists, Salons

The adjuster said he is okay with my continuing to use this body shop.

 

[Stormy Kromer]

Talk to your own insurance agent about this claim. I would expect them to work with you and then your company will subrogate your claim to the other company, no hassle or participation by you.

Ideally, you bought your insurance through an independent agent, who will be economically motivated to help you.

Absolutely correct.

 

[RetiredHappy]

I would not have used your process for an (1st or 3rd party claim) accident. Unfortunately I have had alot of experience with 3rd party at fault accidents.
1) Contact own auto insurer. They will work with the other insurer to subrogate the claim. No, it won't cause you a dime because the other company will pay in full and it will also not ding your insurance premiums because it is not an at (your) fault claim.
2) I am familiar with California and not other states. In California, it is your right to select the body shop. The body shop will file the claim against the insurer so you never see or touch the money. The negotiation is between the body shop and insurer as to how much they are willing to pay.

 

[pb4uski]

The way I read it, I wouldn't get anything for diminished value.
https://www.kbb.com/car-advice/diminished-value-car-estimations-after-accident/

In the calculation, there is a final mileage multiplier. My car has just over 100K miles, so the mileage multiplier is 0. And anything * 0 = 0.

It won't hurt to ask.

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

I would not have used your process for an (1st or 3rd party claim) accident. Unfortunately I have had alot of experience with 3rd party at fault accidents.
1) Contact own auto insurer. They will work with the other insurer to subrogate the claim. No, it won't cause you a dime because the other company will pay in full and it will also not ding your insurance premiums because it is not an at (your) fault claim.
2) I am familiar with California and not other states. In California, it is your right to select the body shop. The body shop will file the claim against the insurer so you never see or touch the money. The negotiation is between the body shop and insurer as to how much they are willing to pay.

I did contact my own insurer. As I understood the explanation, the choices were :
1) use my insurer, in which case I would be subject to my deductible and to having my premium go up. It would only be AFTER my claim was settled with them that they would try to recover their money from the other insurer.
2) use the other insurer - where I have no deductible and no risk of my premium going up. This is what I've been doing.

I am selecting the body shop I want, so this is no longer an issue.

But so far, it seems as if I have to get the money from the insurance and then pay the body shop myself. Tomorrow I plan to ask if I can wait until the body shop is finished so I am sure that what they pay will be the whole body shop bill. It doesn't sound like having them pay the body shop directly is an option. Maybe things are different in California vs Georgia?

 

[ILikeStarTrek]

It won't hurt to ask.

But it would take time. I'm already spending a lot of time on this whole process.

Without going through the rest of the formula, the *most* I think I could get for diminished capacity is $80 (if my car were in the 80-99K mileage range). I just don't think it is worth my time to ask for this when it's a fairly small amount, and even I don't think I'm entitled to it under the formula.

There are a few other things that I'm asking for. I've already asked for the value of a bicycle rack which was destroyed (and the adjuster said okay to that). Tomorrow I plan to ask for the value of three uber rides to pick up rental cars, which would come to $60 total.

So, I'd rather spend time asking for things that I believe I'm entitled to rather than something that I don't believe I'm entitled to (and would at best be a small amount of money).