[DanoG80Cx]

Not sure if this is the correct location to post this, but here goes...

I was rear ended on Tuesday last week, police was called immediately and report was filed. The other driver was 100% at fault and even admitted to being so. I was stopped yielding to traffic and she decided she wanted to keep going...

I had the estimate done by a BMW certified body-shop, which also happens to be my dealership for regular maintenance and such. Visual inspection revealed I needed a new rear bumper, diffuser, and driver side muffler. Estimate was completed at roughly $2500 for parts, labor, paint and other materials. They did not remove the bumper to see if there was any other structural damage.

I called her insurance company after being told by my insurance (Geico) that if I go through Geico I would have to spend the $500 deductible and there would be no guarantee that I would receive that back. The other persons insurance said that since they have no adjusters in my area to just take a few pictures of the damage and scan in the estimate and email it to them.

On Friday I receive a call from my body-shop and he says that he can't believe what they are trying to do, at this point I had no idea what he was talking about. Apparently they sent their "adjusted" estimate back to my body-shop without ever contacting me or anything. He forwarded it to me and after reviewing it, they want me to use cheaper after-market reconditioned parts, they are only willing to pay 70% of the muffler and left off about 5 hours of labor. The $2500 estimate came back at not even $1700.

I wrote an email back to the insurance agent I had dealt with on the initial phone call stating that it was not ok with reconditioned after-market parts and that I should not have to pay anything out of pocket on the exhaust plus that there was about 5 hours of missing labor. She responded on Monday saying that the reason they didn't contact me was that the final adjuster had not even seen the estimate and it had not been approved and that the person responsible would be contacting me shortly. This was a lie, since the person she said that supposedly had never seen the estimate was the same person that sent it to my body-shop.

Several hours later I finally receive a phone call from this adjuster, immediately after answering the phone he seems incredibly annoyed and short with me. I tried to ask him to explain their reasoning on trying to charge me a 30% betterment on an exhaust that I wouldn't need if their policy holder hadn't hit me and that I was not ok with after-market parts, but as soon as I said one thing he just kept speaking over me getting louder and louder refusing to answer my questions and eventually yelling at me taunting me to "call a lawyer, see where that will get you" and then hanging up on me. 30 minutes after that the insurance agent called me back again and offered me a $1000 settlement, which I refused.

My body-shop has emailed their adjuster and tried to get corrections made to their estimate without getting an answer and I haven't heard back either as to what is actually going on with this claim at this point.

Anybody have any experience with this? What are my options?

Thanks and sorry for the long post, I wanted to give as much detail as possible.

[Supra2k6]

That sucks not that i agree with them but they're allowed to choose aftermarket parts. I would ask to speak with their supervisor all calls should be recorded.

[gds52]

Sorry for your car's damage.
This is ridiculous. You should definitely get a lawyer if they don't do it right.

This is the time when insurance company matters a lot, although they all try to give you minimum.
I was rear ended and damage ws bumper paint, only needed whole bumper painted.
But my AllState insurance took care of everything very fast. within days i got the check from other guy's insurance and it was more than the estimate.

I think you are dealing with some bad guys. I would say try to talk to some different guy and go after your insurance to get it right.
Other than that, get the lawyer since you have police report and everything all clear.
Good luck !

[DanoG80Cx]

At this point, even if I did accept their crappy terms of cheap after-market parts and paid that 30% of my muffler, it still wouldn't even cover the repair since they left off all that labor. I'm sure as hell not going to pay for the labor on a repair that wasn't my fault.

I'm seriously tempted to just get the car fixed to my standard and take them to court with my lawyer and receipt in hand.

[FL335]

Get an attorney ASAP. Not sure about GA law but you only have a certain amount of time to file any injury comp. Since you were hit from behind, get to a REPUTABLE (not the dudes on TV) and see how they can help. GL.

[mithiral67]

Interesting, any time I have had damage cause by someone else, my insurance company paid for my bills and they went after the other insurance company.

[Porando]

Why not go to your insurance and let them handle? They will deduct $500 to start with but I have done that multiple times and every single time I got my deductible back - takes time but why go through the stress?
Insurance has lawyers and will get your money - I would also rent a car for the time of repair and always get reimbursement..

[DanoG80Cx]

Yeah, I was very surprised when they told me that I needed to contact the other insurance myself or pay the deductible beforehand. Isn't that essentially what I have insurance for? I'm baffled, I've never experienced anything like this.

[FL335]

Originally Posted by Dano135i

Yeah, I was very surprised when they told me that I needed to contact the other insurance myself or pay the deductible beforehand. Isn't that essentially what I have insurance for? I'm baffled, I've never experienced anything like this.

You will get your $500 back. Your ins. co will handle the repairs then they will collect (subrogate) from the other company. This is the easiest way for you.

[Maestro]

I hate to say this, this is what happen with you use cheap insurance companies. I have State Farm and my son was rear ended, We tried to handled outside the insurance companies but they turned in to asses so we called our agent and they said go get it fix and they would deal with the other person insurance company. We got the full amount to fix the car ~$1800

I will tell you issuance company will try and do the non-OEM parts things or worse getting parts from junk yards. Many times it has to do with your own insurance than the other company.

[MiniXP]

Just deal through your insurance, that's what they are there for. They will fight the other insurance company and they will pay for an attorney if necessary.

The only reason you wouldn't get you $500 detectable back is if the other insurance company somehow wiggles out of the claim and pays nothing.

Also, depending on your policy, your insurance may want to get aftermarket or reconditioned parts unless it is specified that OEM parts will be used. This is pretty standard. The body shop can inspect the part when received and if it doesn't meet their standards they can reject it. At that point insurance will usually just cave and pay for the OEM part.

[DanoG80Cx]

I also read that Geico is sort of notorious for trying to use after-market or junk parts. I guess I'll get them to estimate and go from there?

[Porando]

Your insurance assumes that it could be your fault and take deductible - that is standard.
but they supposed to work with other insurance to reimburse 100% of all the cost and you get your $500 back.

[JOHNNY-5]

Originally Posted by mithiral67

Interesting, any time I have had damage cause by someone else, my insurance company paid for my bills and they went after the other insurance company.

^^ This

If your INS company is doing their job, they should be paying for everything up front to get you squared away. Then your INS company will go after the other persons INS company to recoup.

You should call your agent and get them to pay for the repairs and have them deal with the other INS company.

Who is this other INS company?

[DanoG80Cx]

Unitrin is what the person wrote down, but it appears to be Kemper...who knows, some insurance I''ve never heard of.

[Victor328i]

Sorry dude but geico is a joke. Most, if not all insurance companies will act on your behalf and usually pay for your damage. And then they will go after the other insurance company for the money...ESPECIALLY IF ITS NOT YOUR FAULT, and it says so in the police report.

[shadow191]

If the other party is being difficult, you can go through Geico and have them work with the other side. You pay the $500 deductible, then Geico takes care of the repair and goes after the other side in arbitration. Typically if there is a police report and the other driver is cited, it will be fine.

I've had this happen before (I use State Farm). I paid the deductible because the other side was hard to work with and then I got it back after it was all settled. The downside is that this can take some time, like months and months since they go back and forth a lot.

[DanoG80Cx]

I have every intention of switching insurance companies once this is taken care of, Geico keeps raising my premium for no apparent reason and from what I can tell they don't like doing their job either.

I'm just worried they will try and get me to put junk parts on my car as well.

And yes, there is a police report and the other party was cited.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Supra2k6

That sucks not that i agree with them but they're allowed to choose aftermarket parts. I would ask to speak with their supervisor all calls should be recorded.

Incorrect. Only YOUR insurance can require aftermarket parts as a matter of contract law.

As far as liability, they must restore to pre-accident condition.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by FL335

Get an attorney ASAP. Not sure about GA law but you only have a certain amount of time to file any injury comp. Since you were hit from behind, get to a REPUTABLE (not the dudes on TV) and see how they can help. GL.

At no point was injury discussed.

[DanoG80Cx]

Originally Posted by taibanl

Incorrect. Only YOUR insurance can require aftermarket parts as a matter of contract law.

As far as liability, they must restore to pre-accident condition.

That's what I thought as well, since I never signed anything for the other insurance company. That's one of the reasons I tried dealing with them instead of Geico and their deductible.

Maybe Geico won't care if they aren't the ones paying for it?

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by Dano135i

That's what I thought as well, since I never signed anything for the other insurance company. That's one of the reasons I tried dealing with them instead of Geico and their deductible.

Maybe Geico won't care if they aren't the ones paying for it?

Geico may only reimburse you cost of aftermarket parts minus deductible, but they should recover the full amount.


Edit...and cut a check to you later