Filed a Claim, Now Want to Cancel the Claim

sam816

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So I have this young client whose BMW was hit by another car backing out of its parking space, his car was scratched close to the rear bumper area. According to him, no one was injured, and they did not call the police.

The other party offered to pay for the damage without going through insurance and told him it was just a small paint job, my client said he felt there was a lateral movement caused by the impact, so the bumper and sensors around it might need repair.

He was not able to find a repair shop on this Memorial day morning to look at the car, so I told him if he wanted to make sure the repair is done properly, he'd better file a claim, he agreed and so I did for him.

This afternoon he called back with an estimate of $500 to fix scratch. He now wants to cancel the claim because one dealership told him the resale value of the car will drop 10% if they see an accident record on the car.

1. can we cancel the claim without leaving any record on him or the car? I don't think so but appreciate it if anyone can confirm.

2. Is the dealer's claim regarding the drop of resale value correct?

TIA.
 
BMW's are a tough bunch. They lose a lot of value for all sorts of reasons. How old is this particular car???

I worked for a BMW body shop and I can pretty much guarantee there's more than a $500 scratch in the bumper.

Nothing grinds my gears more than a BMW driver whining about a $500 scratch, and more so, whining about their $1000 deductible. :laugh:

Want it fixed? Get it fixed!

Unless it's pretty new.....do a cost analysis on 10% of blue book vs repairs.

Ugh.....

Was he planning on selling it any time soon? I doubt it.
 
I seriously doubt you can repair a BMW bumper cover for $500 unless it is just a scratch they can buff out.

1. Seriously doubt it. It will always exist in the insurance company's system and will probably be put on CLUE as a 0 payment. Think about it this way, do you routinely delete your notes from your CRM/AMS? If so, you should stop.

2. Certainly there will be some drop in value. The issue is, I have been told that Carfax is getting their information from the dealers. So they will probably report it anyway. I don't believe Carfax can access CLUE, and I believe CLUE follows the driver more than the car. So odds are, the claim has nothing to do with the drop in value and if he gets it repaired it will still probably show up on Carfax in some fashion.
 
The car is a 2016 BMW X6 Xdrive so it is not cheap, he told the adjuster today he wanted to handle the repair himself. The adjuster also confirmed there will be a claim with zero payout following the car.
 
And that's completely understandable, and explainable!!

I've seen Carfax report "major damage" on a true $500 bumper job, and "minor damage" on a car that was a total loss flood claim. The only thing less dependable than Carfax is a used car salesman ;)

Seriously, let your insured handle this claim. Zero paid out simply means there was a report made.....no harm / no foul sort of thing. Happens all the time.
 
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