Rear Ended

[PatrickPGH]

Argh. 10:45 Friday Night, stopped at a red light and hear screeching tires and slam. His Hyundai is smashed and spraying anti-freeze. My bumper is scratched and pushed in on the drivers side. Doesn't look like too much damage, then I drive the car to the side of the road. Car shudders when accelerating.

Needless to say I am pissed. Ohh did I mention I was to leave on a 500 mile roundtrip drive the next morning?

Called the insurance company and drove the car home, less than 3 miles from my apartment. Rented a Ford Taurus the next day, passed on the brand new 325i in the lot available for $75 a day.

Anyway, I know the shudder could be caused by a number of things. I'll be taking the car to a reputable collision shop. At this point I'm looking for any pointers and suggestions when dealing with the other guy's insurance company and the shop. State Farm btw.

Thank you!

Patrick

[JonE]

I suggest picking the body/repair shops that a reputable BMW dealer would use/suggest, don't let the insurance company decide who fixes the car and with what materials. If possible, you'll want oem materials rather than after market. On the other hand, these days it doesn't take much to "total" the car.
Good luck.

[SRR2]

No particular advice, except that when my 535 got rear ended a year ago the "reputable" insurance company did all it could to jerk me around. Get everything in writing. Do not believe anything anyone tells you verbally. Do not trust them to "do the right thing", as they will as surely try to screw you over as the sun will rise tomorrow. Do not trust their adjuster to do a "desk" adjustment. They will look up the price of used parts and cut you a check based on that, whether you can actually use the used parts or not, and whether they are actually cost-effective (because of reconditioning) to use, and whether these used parts are actually available.

Expect to be screwed and prepare for the worst.

[Tiger]

Your rear end differential have moved... pretty big repair here... definitely need frame straightening... it may have possibly ruined your tranny too... along with the driveshaft.

[e34it]

Patrick, i am assuming you are from pittsburgh, with your username? If so where did u get hit, downtown? And where are you considering taking it to, if u are in PGH i may have some reccomendations. Let me know.

[PatrickPGH]

I was in East Liberty, corner of Penn Ave and Penn Circle, heading over to Route 8. I work up in Wexford and took the car to Precision Auto Works in Warrendale. I drive by there every day and see nothing but Mercedes, Jags and BMWs in the lot. Looks like a good deal of new cars in major accidents.

I claimed the accident through his insurance company, he admitted guilt, and Precision is able to bill them directly.

Just curious, where would you have suggested?


Patrick, i am assuming you are from pittsburgh, with your username? If so where did u get hit, downtown? And where are you considering taking it to, if u are in PGH i may have some reccomendations. Let me know.

[gale]

Stay on top of it, drop in at the body shop once or twice a week, enough to make your presence known and to let them know you're concerned about the quality of the repairs, but not so often as to be a pest. Ask them if there are any discrepancies between the shop's list of repair items vs. the insurance claims adjuster, the shop knows what to look for for hidden damage whereas the claims adjuster will low-ball the repairs. If it gets up into the territory of being a total, it's difficult to get the insurance co. to budge, so emphasize to the shop not to let them total it, there are ways the shop can get around it.

I'm assuming you have a rental car on their nickel. Good leverage to make sure the claim gets settled quickly. If their claims adjuster gives you the slightest bit of aggrevation, let him know your neck & back are still bothering you and you think you should see a doctor and that will get them to see the car is being repaired to your satisfaction like turning on a switch. If the driver of the other car was cited, get a copy of the police report and attend his traffic court. If for some reason the charges against him were to be dismissed, it puts you in a precarious position, you can speak up in the court to dispute the dismissal.

When the repair nears completion, ask the shop about putting in for a "diminished value" claim. Now that it's been wrecked, you'll have to take a hit on resale value down the road and you can receive cash compensation up front. This is something the shop can do later on, doesn't have to be processed at the time the repairs are being made. If anything isn't right when the repairs are complete, don't hesitate to go back to the shop & make them fix it. Now you're dealing directly with the shop, it's their responsibility to get compensation for additional work from the insurance co.

[e34it]

Yeah that sounds good, i know a few over monroeville way, Johhny Mock in Turtle Creek, real good body man, then there is richlin imports in penn twp, westmoreland county, i used to go to smeltz's auto body in monroeville too, they do a good job, although i dont know if they are still open, i havent lived there in 2 years...yeah i know where you are talking about thats a busy area where you got hit. good luck

[Robin-535im]

Terrible news - nothing good comes out of situations like these.

Here's my advice:

Make friends with a) the body shop owner / general manager, and b) the claim worker (not the roving adjuster, but the person behind the desk who is assigned the claim).

The thing is, you don't have a lot of leverage being a single person against the insurance machine. You can get a lot more done if people are willing to help you - heck, the claim worker is just some poor schmo who probably gets yelled at ten times a day by irate accident victims! You'll be surprised at how much leeway there is when it comes to totalling the car, approving extra benefits, etc., things that you won't get by yelling but you might get by asking nicely. If the relationship goes sour, you don't have much to threaten with except going to the insurance comission, and that can take a lot of your time and energy.

The body shop is your best ally here. Make friends (bring 'em doughnuts or cookies or something) and they can help you navigate the process sucessfully, and show you options you didn't know about. They do this all day, every day, and will have intimate knowledge of ways to get around the insurance company crap. Pop in, let your enthusiasm for nice cars show through, and listen intently to what they say.

That's my $0.02.

- Robin