Insurance Question

[GO DAWG GO]

Any attorneys out there?


In a nutshell...

I was parked in a supermarket parking lot loading groceries in my truck when a woman pulled in the stall next to me and mis- judged her distance and hit the left rear quarter panel of my truck with her bumper. She Left a dent about the size of a half of cantelope.

She told me she would like to know how much the damage would cost so she could possibly settle without notifying her insurance. I got an estimate of $853 dollars from a local body shop. I called her and gave her the quote and she said the amount was too high to settle personnally and that I should file a claim with here insurance "Allstate" company.

This is where things get weird.

I call Allstate and they tell me to bring the truck down and they would prepare an estimate. The claim adjusted looks at my truck and prepares an estimate that totals $513 dollars. $350 dollars lower than the body shop.

So..I told the adjusted that I felt this was alittle strange that you guys are low balling the body shop and how am I supposed to get my truck fixed with the payout lower than the body shop estimate...I asked him If I was supposed to pay the difference.

Now get this..Playing along and not getting in his face just yet.

He says there is a difference between what a body shop charges insurance company's and private party's so my estimate is high.

I started to get a little annoyed and asked him if I should drive around town and ask a few body shops if they would be willing to do the work for what Allstate feels like paying??? this is just BS.

My question is..should I call the lady who hit me and tell her I'm going to take her to small claims court for the difference ($350) How can I motivate Allstate to pay the market price?

should I suck it up, drive around and beg the body shops to do the work for what Allstate thinks it should cost??

Have any of you had a claim issue like this? Is this in the "Bad faith" category?

Allstate told me they were sending me a check for the $513 to settle..I didnt sign anything and told them I wasn't happy with them.

Anybody have any ideas for a course of action?

Thanks

Bob

[Groesbeck Hurricane]

What has your insurance told you? Did you sign anything with wurststate? Did you enter into a verbal agreement they could settle for X amount?

I do not know your laws but in Texas we could take our vehicle to our location for work and get the repairs done as long as the pricing was reasonable/in line.

[Rick Lee]

DO NOT sign for that check. I think worst case you can have your own insur. co. take care of it and then they'll go after Allstate. Two times before the last time that happened to me (yes, I was hit three times in three years), the woman who hit me had the same insur. co. as mine. I dropped the car off at the body shop and never paid a dime. I'd ask Allstate where they recommend getting it fixed and insist that you won't be paying a dime out of pocket.

[Rot 911]

First the important things: is there a police report or witnesses to show she admitted fault? Hopefully the fact that her insurance company did an estimate indicates she has admitted.

Second, as long as you are getting the truck fixed, you don't care what the dollar estimate is. Take it to the shop where you want it fixed and give them the name of the insurance adjuster. They will get it worked out between them.

[mikester]

What you are describing is exactly what the health insurance industry does to Doctors and is very commonplace.

The insurance companies negotiate rates with the autoshops based on volume - so what they pay can be significantly lower than what a private party pays. That being said, many Doctors do appreciate cash payments - my suggestion is to have the person who hit you do the legwork if she wants to avoid hitting her insurance. If not, let allstate pay for it - they have negotiated that price with the shop. If the shop isn't happy with it they don't have to do the work.

Have you ever been to the hospital? Check out the bills you get - $9000 for whatever, discounted 68% for the insurance company (made up those numbers but they aren't far from the truth).

It's socialism. The insurance companies are taking money from EVERYON to pay for the people who need service.

Another way to go is if you have uninsured motorist coverage a lot of times you can pass this off to your insurance company and they will bill the person at fault or their insurance company. I've done this twice, so I use my insurance company's shops - deal with my insurance company completely and it doesn't ding me at all (CA Law).

Also - I am not an attorney.

[legion]

Allstate owns many body shops. This is a tactic for steering you towards a body shop that they own, which helps control their costs.

Legally, you are entitled to take the car anywhere you want for repair and the insurer must reimburse you a "reasonable" amount. $853 doesn't sound unreasonable to me.

[porsche4life]

Sounds like the crap they pulled when my 944 got hit.... It was some mickey mouse insurance co.... They wanted to send their adjuster... Fine boys the car will be at xxx on xx days... He says like 900.... Dad used to own a body shop and knew that was a bunch of BS... So we went and got three very similar quotes at ~1300 from body shops and called the idiot adjuster and showed him how to play and how much he had MISSED. Turns out this guy had been a used car salesman before going to work for the insurance Co and knew nothing about body work. Jerkoff... It took quite a few phone calls but we got a decent amount finally...

[FastCarFan]

Recently a woman backed out of a parking spot as I was driving by in my wife's Audi -- her rear bumper hit our right front fender. I contacted my insurance agent -- not my insurance company -- to advise them in case the lady's insurance company (State Farm) gave me problems. We did not call the police. My agent took the info & held it to see if State Farm would give me any problems, in which case they would submit a claim to my insurance company. It turns out my insurance company was never advised about the claim.

Anyway, the woman called her insurance company & I called them too to start the claims process. They asked where I wanted to take it & the body shop was on their list of "approved" shops, so they told me to just take it there & the shop would send the invoice to State Farm. I also requested a rental car, which they readily agreed to. The total claim was about $2,000 + the cost of the rental car.

Bottom line, as others have said, you should not accept their 1st offer. Instead, tell them that you expect them to pay to have it fixed at your preferred body shop. It is not your fault that your car is damaged. It sounds like Allstate ("The good hands people"? Sounds more like they are showing you 1 finger on 1 hand) is being jerky about it. Sure, they want to see if they can get off with a lower claim, but you should be made whole. Period. It wasn't your fault.

Good luck.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by mikester

What you are describing is exactly what the health insurance industry does to Doctors and is very commonplace.

The insurance companies negotiate rates with the autoshops based on volume - so what they pay can be significantly lower than what a private party pays. That being said, many Doctors do appreciate cash payments - my suggestion is to have the person who hit you do the legwork if she wants to avoid hitting her insurance. If not, let allstate pay for it - they have negotiated that price with the shop. If the shop isn't happy with it they don't have to do the work.



Also - I am not an attorney.

My understanding is it is a FELONY for a Dr. to accept any sort of payment "on the side".

[Talewinds]

Get your insurance co. involved.

[Dueller]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

First the important things: is there a police report or witnesses to show she admitted fault? Hopefully the fact that her insurance company did an estimate indicates she has admitted.

Second, as long as you are getting the truck fixed, you don't care what the dollar estimate is. Take it to the shop where you want it fixed and give them the name of the insurance adjuster. They will get it worked out between them.

Agreed and +1 on not signing the check or a release. As far as small claims court, if you sign the release from the insurance company you likely are releasing them and their insured from any further liability. reason? If you sue her for the difference they have a duty to defend her which would be more costly than the damage to your truck.

[Hugh R]

Not a lawyer, but there is a CA law that says a release is not binding on the back of a check, it has to be a separate piece of paper. I had that happen to me on a house I sold a POS lawyer. He lined it out and cashed the check and sued me anyway.

[GO DAWG GO]

First..The lady who hit me called Allstate and took responsibility for the accident. Second: I have signed nothing to date. The adjuster said the check is in the mail.
Basically telling me to take it or leave it. I wont cash it.

Third: I have thought about teaching my son how to do body and paint work and he and I can fix it. Regardless if I repair it myself, I don't believe I should accept anything less than an official estimate.

Thanks for the input!

BTW: I had Allstate insurance for 20 years up to two weeks before the accident. The wife and I switched to Wawanesa because they gave us a better policy with higher liability limits that included my 911 Turbo for the same money.
I previously had Hagerty insurance for the Turbo.

Thanks

Bob

[stomachmonkey]

Well there you go.

If you can fix it yourself or can live with it then cash the check and buy a toy for the 930.

If you let a body shop get you a higher number the ins co will pay the shop directly.

No extra pocket cash but car hopefully fixed good as new.

[teenerted1]

in washington state you can take it to anyplace you want to get the work done at. give the estimate to their insurace co....if the other party takes the blame they must pay.

adjusters are a scam for the ins. co.

your body guys say $x.xx thats all you need to give them. why get a second estimate if you are only going to one place for repairs

[Red88Carrera]

Just be thankful you're not in NY. It's a no-fault state. My F350 King Ranch dually was sideswiped by a wide load tractor trailer. My insurance company(Allstate) checked out the truck, then wrote us a check for the repair minus our $200 deductible. It took about three months for them to get our deductible out of the other insurance company. It should have been repaired immediately with no money out of my pocket.

[Zeke]

I'm dealing with Allstate right now. If there was ever a POS ins co, they take the cake.

However, the body shop I chose took the measly check Allstate offered and did a nice job. I had them do some additional work on my dime and that made the difference between making a small profit vs. not making much. I know, I do body work and I wouldn't have touched it for either amount, what they got for the damage and what they did on the side.

Nevertheless, due to the way things work nowadays, I have decided to sell my Carrera and drive a junker. It's companies like Allstate that make people feel this way.

[mikester]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

My understanding is it is a FELONY for a Dr. to accept any sort of payment "on the side".

That is not at all what I was implying. What I was saying is that there are many Doctors out there who will give discounts for cash payment over insurance - at least that's what I've read. I've never seen it in practice though...many articles on it...some practices going to 'cash only' even.