Need Auto Insurance Advice, Car Accident Yesterday Options

[JoKeRkId613]

I was on I-95 headed home from a Scion show. It was raining and I lost control of my car (hydroplaned), spun out, hit a Buick on the side and she spun out, hit the wall. I was going about 45 in a 55. I basically need a new front bumper, both grills, hood, underbody panels, and head lights.

I've noticed some people have been able to score jdm projector head/tail lights, body kits, c/f hoods, etc. from insurance. How do you guys do this? I want them to replace my 06 head lights with the 08 projector head lights and tell them I had an oem lip on my front bumper. How do I go about being slick like this? The lights on my car are clearly the 06 lights. I have my crashed bumper in my trunk. What should I do? Thanks in advance for any help!

[jgreening]

I just took the insurance payout after obtaining some estimates to fix what was actually damaged with the same parts. I then purchased the new parts and paid for the labor from the insurance proceeds. Nothing improper or slick about it. Good luck.

[JoKeRkId613]

i dont get it. i go to the dealer, get an estimate from the claim adjuster, dealer fixes the car with stock parts, insurance company gives me a check, i pay my $500 deductible and give the dealer the check with the remainding amount of the total. what do i need to change in that process to get my 08 parts and oem lip? lol.

[jgreening]

You go get a few estimates. Give your insurance adjuster the top two. Settle on an amount. Tell him you want cash. Take the cash and have whatever repairs you want done.

[lagos]

basically, make sure you go to a body shop that is NOT paid directly by your insurance co. i think they call them "service first" shops. the shop will give you a quote. then call you ins co. tell them to send an adjuster to your house. he will look over the quote and your car, and make sure everything is legit. after a few days, they will mail you a check for the damage amount. after that, its up to you what you want to fix or where you want the work done.

[Consynx]

i just did the same thing
the insurance company actually sent their own guy out to estimate it all, and he pretty much matched the local place i checked.

[JoKeRkId613]

the thing is, i really like the work the dealership does. ive had them work on my car's body before and came out awesome. can i just tell the dealer to put the 08 lights on there?

[Hanyo]

your not understanding how it works.


lets say you get a quote from your dealership. Insurance company will mail the check to that dealer ship. They will fix it back to the orginal look. You will then ask them to install 08 lights in and you will have to pay the difference.

THE WHOLE POINT OF GETTING A QUOTE FROM A DIFFERENT PLACE IS SO YOU CAN FIND A HIGHER AMMOUNT OF MONEY SENT TO YOU. THEN YOU GO SPEND THAT AMMOUNT OF MONEY AT A CHEAPER SHOP. If the cheaper shop is more 1000 dollar difference then you can spend that $1000 difference on JDM goodies.

Let me give you a super exaggerated example. I take my car quoted at the worlds best ferrarri/bugatti repair shop for $100,000,000. The auto insurance gives me $100,000,000 to repair my car. I take my car to my local macco and they do the repairs for $1000. i then get extra $99999000 to spend on upgrade.

the thing is, i really like the work the dealership does. ive had them work on my car's body before and came out awesome. can i just tell the dealer to put the 08 lights on there?

[jason]

yeah... sounds like what your going to want to do is take it to a "custom" shop or two to get some estimates for the damage at say.... $1000 where as the dealer will only charge say $800 for all the repairs, the insurance will send you the check for the custom shop to do the work, but you are going to take your car to the dealer, have them fix it and give them the extra money to put the 08 lights on instead of 06 replacements... its not going to be those figures, but the custom shops are usually more expensive then run of the mill places, cept round here dealers are by far the most expensive

[JoKeRkId613]

well, last time they fixed my car, the insurance sent a check in the dealerships name. so how do i go about getting a check for a random shop and then having the dealer do the work?

[Consynx]

that is when u tell them you want the check in your name.

that's why i said SOMETIMES they send their own guy out to appraise the damage.

just tell them what u plan to do, there is nothing illegal about it, just you usually get a bit less $ from the insurance because their claims adjuster comes out and tries to find a way to give you less.

[Celiracer18]

just get some estimates from different body shops OTHER THAN THE DEALER. then after you send them the written estimates and/or verbal estimates you take the car to the dealer and tell them to fix it and install the other parts. The whole point in doing this is to get a higher estimate from a body shop then get the dealer to do it for less than that so you can use some of the money for upgrades. you can get an estimate from the dealer just tell them no insurance and they will give it to you instead of sending to the insurance co. thne do what you will with the numbers they give you.

[goferris]

take it to several diff repair shops including the dealership. find the 2 that are the most expenseve of them all. work out a price with the insurance company and tell them you want the check in your name. there is no way to gaurantee that they are going to give you enough money to put on jdm goodies. if they do than great. you can pocket the diff, if not then you will have to pay the diff.
what these guys are trying to tell you is how to get the most money from the insurance, not how to get them to pay for your extra parts.