Proper Claim/Appraisal Procedure?

[alonjar]

My neighbor hit my car yesterday while my vehicle was parked. She filed a police report and admitted fault to her insurer. So I called her insurer to get the claim started, and I want to check on the procedure they told me to follow.

They asked about recommending a shop to me, I said no I will be taking my vehicle to the Cadillac dealer for repairs. They said thats fine, but Ill need to go to one of their locations first for an appraisal, and then I am to take that appraisal to cadillac. The insurer will write me a check for the initial appraisal, and that the cadillac repair can take up any further adjustments or variances with them since they work directly with cadillac collision shop as well.

Is this standard? I feel like they're trying to pull a fast one on me, writing me a check directly for what will obviously be a lower repair appraisal than cadillac themselves will want to charge. Is this normal for the industry, should i do what they say? Or do I need to call back and say NO, I will have the appraisal done by cadillac and let them handle the claim directly?

Thanks for any advice

PS Im in Virginia, and I DO intend to make them pay me diminished value. Although I have not mentioned this during my only conversation to the liable insurer to date, i figured id wait and see what kind of appraisals were thrown around first.

 

[djs]

How much damage ws done? I'm assuming not much, but I'm curious.

Insurance companies will normally pay 'reasonable' rates, or book rate to do repairs. They tend to shy away from any inflated rates by body shops and garages. Most dealerships will work with book rate for an insurance repair, though, in reality, most dealerships sub out body work, so you might want to make sure the dealership actually is doing the work before using them.

Its normal for an insurance company to write a check based on their appraised value of the damage and then do a supplement for any needed adjustments and variances as the work progresses. There are several reasons they do this, but mostly it has to do with making sure the damage caused by the accident is taken care of and the extra shopping cart dings are not, at least not under the same claim.

Basically, yes, its normal, you can go with the flow on that.

Now, back to the amount of damage. Unless there is significant damage, how much diminished value do you think there will be? I'm curious, they don't really deal with that in CA, not sure how it works. Basically, they have to get the car fixed, if they can't then its salvaged. If its fixed, then its fixed. At least thats the general mentality.

Dan

 

[alonjar]

How much damage ws done? I'm assuming not much, but I'm curious.

Insurance companies will normally pay 'reasonable' rates, or book rate to do repairs. They tend to shy away from any inflated rates by body shops and garages. Most dealerships will work with book rate for an insurance repair, though, in reality, most dealerships sub out body work, so you might want to make sure the dealership actually is doing the work before using them.

Its normal for an insurance company to write a check based on their appraised value of the damage and then do a supplement for any needed adjustments and variances as the work progresses. There are several reasons they do this, but mostly it has to do with making sure the damage caused by the accident is taken care of and the extra shopping cart dings are not, at least not under the same claim.

Basically, yes, its normal, you can go with the flow on that.

Now, back to the amount of damage. Unless there is significant damage, how much diminished value do you think there will be? I'm curious, they don't really deal with that in CA, not sure how it works. Basically, they have to get the car fixed, if they can't then its salvaged. If its fixed, then its fixed. At least thats the general mentality.

Dan

I would describe it as a minor collision... with my experience, I would say the front bumper, front driver fender, and front driver headlight assembly will need to be replaced, as they all contain visual damage/deformity. Its possible the hood is slightly out of alignment too, im not really sure yet as it might just be the damage to the fender causing the lines to not match up properly.

Diminished value is a crap shoot from what I understand... here in Virginia, we do have laws that entitle us to seek these damages in the event of a liablility claim (I can seek it from another persons insurer, but you cannot seek it from your own). There are no hard rules about how much the value has diminished, but my sister in law requested and received 17% of her vehicles worth after her accident and a lawyer consultation, so I was thinking I might go with that.

There are several lawyers in my area who specialize in diminished value cases, so I imagine ill get it one way or another, its just a matter of if I can get a decent offer from USAA (the liable party), or if I have to share my payout with a lawyer.

 

[Josh]

I take it your serious about using a lawyer on diminished value on a fender bender, right? I think that's a tough sell and definitely going to cost some coin with an attorney to push the issue, how much do you think the minor damage to your vehicle really diminishes the value? This sounds really minor, but I'd be curious to know what the attorneys you reference think on the matter.

 

[FullAuto]

That is how it works. The liable company is obviously a smaller company and has shops under contract to write the estimates and take photos for them rather than have their own people go inspect it in person.

The one thing you should find out is if the Cadillac dealer has it's own bodyshop or if it contracts another shop to do the work for them. Don't think you'll get special or better treatment because you're going to a dealership. Not only is that not the case, you're likely to get worse repairs than if you had taken it to a private owned shop. If the insurance company pays for an aftermarket headlight, that's what the Cadillac dealer (or likely the bodyshop they sublet to) will install. And who does the quality control inspections at a dealership? An hourly employee. What does he care if it's crap? When you go to a private owned shop, that's advertisement going out the door. A private shop gets business from customer service and word of mouth. A dealership gets business from the sign out front. Around here, dealerships (the ones that actually do the work) consistently put out some of the worst repairs. And the ones that don't have shops contract out to the most shady shops that will give them the best discounts.

And don't think the company is trying to scam you by recommending a shop. We pay more if you use our direct repair facilities. We do it for customer service. Taking it to another shop or a dealership and sending me out actually saves the company money.