Yesterday I was driving along some young girl ran into me while merging. Thankfully it wasn't worse, she immediately claimed fault, and is well insured. They are going to send an adjuster within 48 hours to make an assessment of the damage. My concern is having it repaired properly, completely, at a quality shop, and being reimbursed for depreciation (clean car to one that has been hit is always worth less).

1. How would you go about repairing this? It seems that it is in a tricky place to repair and I won't have it be smeared with bondo and painted. I would want it rolled out (not sure if it is possible to get it even) or the panel replaced (not sure if this is possible either).

2. It cracked the rear bumper (small one on edge midway down), will this be repaired or replaced? I don't want a repair to find out that it comes back in 6 months and have to have it repaired or replaced at my cost.

3. Also, the accident damaged the wheel (scraped). They are aftermarket so I don't know how that will work given the company will not sell just one wheel.

4. Next I have a squeak when the rear suspension goes over bumps. How do I get that assessed as I have factory RSR parts and other solid adjustable control arms? Will that be done at a place different then the body shop?

5. Last, depreciation. My car will now have a bad carfax… What is the best way to get reimbursement for this? It is worth noting that I am going directly through their insurance company.


It is amazing that all this occurred off of such a seemingly small amount of damage. I'm starting to think this will be a huge headache

 

I would talk to a dealer or your local PCA for the best shop in town. I know in CA you can go where ever you want for repairs, check the laws in your state with your insurance company. Don't settle for anything less that you want. Everyone will want to get it done cheaply accept you.

 

That's an unfortunate location as well. The rear of the car in one piece. It doesn't look too severe but what do I know. I would also check that the wheel wasn't impacted and therefore effects on the drivetrain aren't an issue.

 

A lesson I've learned is that 99% of the time the insurance adjuster will low-ball the estimate and hope you take the check for that amount and be done with it. They save money this way since a lot of people prefer the cash and opt for the check. As hella-buggin points out, they will also try to recommend a shop they have deals with but you are allowed to pick your own shop.

The estimate on any car I've had repaired (I'm on my fourth teenager so I have experience) has always been significantly low by as much as a factor of two. This isn't a problem however, a good body shop just goes back to the adjuster with justifications as to why they need more money to fix the car properly. This is business as usual. You are also not required to accept non-OEM parts so make sure the shop knows you want only OEM pieces.

 

After rechecking your post, one more thing: It is unusual, in my experience, for you to go directly to their insurance company. Typically, you go through your own company. It is their job to defend your interests and make sure the other company makes all of the proper reimbursements needed to fix your car properly. That is part of what you pay them for and they are typically good at it. BTW, it is probably a violation of your agreement with them to do otherwise and your official time window to report it is limited.

It's possible you'll get just as good results the way you are doing it, but it is an unfamiliar approach for me.

 

The reason why I am going through them myself is that I had heard in my state you can not get reimbursement for depreciated value if you go through your company. An attorney friend confirmed this.

 

as long as you have before and after pictures that show basically really minor damage, it shouldnt affect the value of the car. otherwise get a couple of quotes and have her pay cash so theres no report

 

Any vehicle with a bad carfax is worth significantly less than one without, especially in vehicles of this caliber and a bad carfax is a bad carfax. Also, it's not my responsibility to take before and after pictures with the hope of convincing a potential future buyer to disregard the bad carfax. Once it's done it's branded and part of their responsibility to make me whole is compensation.

Hopefully getting it fixed properly isn't an issue. I'm wondering how they will try any repair it.

 

Well that is a great reason I wasn't aware of! I'll have to check into that if such misfortune comes my way. Thanks for teaching me something new!

 

I had a similar rear end accident. Go third party coverage. No need to involve your company unless you get nowhere with theirs.

Your lucky you don't live in Nassau County, NY. The shop that repaired my car turned $10K in damage to 20K with bogus add-ons.

 

Same thing in Florida. If you're hit by someone and want to pursue diminished value compensation you have to bypass your own insurer. My insurer (USAA) said they were available for guidance but could not get involved in the diminished value claim so I dealt directly with Geico on that.

Diminished value seems to be a controversial issue dealt with differently from state to state. My claim was met with some resistance and I can see how some may just walk away from it out of frustration but I got what I think was fair compensation after what felt like an amount of back and forth to be expected.

As for Carfax, you'll never know what shows up and what doesn't until months after the repairs are done. It's a useless system as far as I'm concerned since nobody can't seem to figure out how it actually works. A resprayed bumper shows up and taints that car's history while cars with $20K worth of body work including quarter panel replacements and frame damage come out clean.

 

1) call your local P dealer for a recommendation repair shops. Take a lot of photo before repair and documents all repair for future resale
2) do not bundle that rear quarter panel because if I tap on the panel and it sound like bundle work. I won't buy the car (cheap and unreliable fix). Also, rear bumper crack must be replace.
3) the rim can be resurface if scratch
4) suspension work should be done at your local dealership not body shop
5) I can't answer diminish value but most likely with multiple panels replacement and suspension work will affect buyer (most buyers would walk away from your car, unless you take a lot of photos and well documents the work being done)
Lastly, insurance adjuster always make a minimal assessment on your car, do not CASH that check, give it to your body shop and they will make the insurance company paying for the different in total cost.
Sorry about the accident, and good luck with your repair process

 

I actually just went thru this in the past year. I contacted both parties insurance companies (person that started the chain reaction & the car that hit me) instead of mine. I've actually never went thru my own insurance for a claim where I wasn't the at fault party.

I took my car directly to my body shop of choice directly from the collision site. They drug their feet a little to admit their customer was the at fault party. My body shop of choice wouldn't accept anything other than OEM parts. I was damaged on the same side, but the whole side of the car had some contact with the other car.

As for the aftermarket parts, you will have to provide your body shop with information for all the parts that were installed prior to the collision that were damaged and they will submit them to the insurance company or you can do it yourself if it is verified by the body shop that they are damaged. I have as well as friends have had aftermarket parts replaced by insurance companies.

As for diminished value, that was a hassle but I did receive it. Not what I believed it should be, but enough not to be royally annoyed. It was a lot of back and forth. They will throw out some insultingly low numbers at first. Like others have said, they love that initial low ball. For the few that fight and get a decent value, many will just take something....so they play that game.

Either way, I think you'll be ok. My car still drives well, no additonal noises or anything post repair. Sucks that it happened, but I still really like my car and I made some lemonaide out lemons given due to the whole ordeal.

Good luck!!!!!

 

You pretty much need rear driver's fender, rear bumper and wheel refinishing. Along with a 4 wheel alignment.

That's the low ball of it.

Take it to a specialized porsche body shop so they can match your color