Help with insurance estimate / body shop

I did flooring repairs for USAA insurance for 5 years.
They paid above normal rates to treat their members like royalty and thats exactly what they told me.
I did everything I could to make sure their members were happy because my company made so much money doing the work.
As a 40 year USAA customer I had good luck with USAA until I was hit (car was parked) by another USAA insured driver. In spite of my insistence my car (a pristine show car Camaro) was fixed with claped out used parts, mismatched headlights, etc. I have not driven it since.
USAA auto insurance will do well by you if the other insurance is paying. Not so much if they are.
As to the thread poster, most states have laws that allow you to take the car to the shop of your choice for repairs. You do not have to go where they want.
You should also mention to the adjuster that you are going to make a diminished value claim for the damage to the car. If you are making a doctor's/chiropractors appointment due to the neck pain that showed up a day or two later that would also be worth mentioning.
 
As a 40 year USAA customer I had good luck with USAA until I was hit (car was parked) by another USAA insured driver. In spite of my insistence my car (a pristine show car Camaro) was fixed with claped out used parts, mismatched headlights, etc. I have not driven it since.
USAA auto insurance will do well by you if the other insurance is paying. Not so much if they are.
As to the thread poster, most states have laws that allow you to take the car to the shop of your choice for repairs. You do not have to go where they want.
You should also mention to the adjuster that you are going to make a diminished value claim for the damage to the car. If you are making a doctor's/chiropractors appointment due to the neck pain that showed up a day or two later that would also be worth mentioning.
If past cases on this forum on any examples-it will net him very little. Hard to argue "diminished value" in a market where anything with 4 wheels that has a motor is going for outrageous amounts. I can't tell you how many "certified trucks" located at reputable dealers where they carfax showed significant damage but the vehicle was certified and of course listed for top dollar.

Yea-lots of luck with "diminished value".
 
As a 40 year USAA customer I had good luck with USAA until I was hit (car was parked) by another USAA insured driver. In spite of my insistence my car (a pristine show car Camaro) was fixed with claped out used parts, mismatched headlights, etc. I have not driven it since.
USAA auto insurance will do well by you if the other insurance is paying. Not so much if they are.
As to the thread poster, most states have laws that allow you to take the car to the shop of your choice for repairs. You do not have to go where they want.
You should also mention to the adjuster that you are going to make a diminished value claim for the damage to the car. If you are making a doctor's/chiropractors appointment due to the neck pain that showed up a day or two later that would also be worth mentioning.
When doing flooring repairs for USAA insurance I had to put the member back to the way it was.
If they had 40 oz nylon carpet damaged I had to show them samples of 40 oz nylon carpet.
And so on for other flooring products and wood coatings.
 
If past cases on this forum on any examples-it will net him very little. Hard to argue "diminished value" in a market where anything with 4 wheels that has a motor is going for outrageous amounts. I can't tell you how many "certified trucks" located at reputable dealers where they carfax showed significant damage but the vehicle was certified and of course listed for top dollar.

Yea-lots of luck with "diminished value".
You will need a diminished value expert to make a claim and this is only worthwhile if you have a newish car and it was in perfect shape, i.e. not covered in door dings.


Most insurance companies and other sources ( possibly police reports and maybe even vehicle history, DMV, data miners etc,) submit claims records and relevant info to CLUE (Comprehensive Liability Underwriting Exchange).

Your CLUE report is like a credit score and is a way a new insurance company can check you accident and claims history to underwrite you correctly. So if you have poor claims history, then switching companies won't start you off on a clean slate.

You can check yours free on lexis nexus, here's a good explainer:

 
You will need a diminished value expert to make a claim and this is only worthwhile if you have a newish car and it was in perfect shape, i.e. not covered in door dings.


Most insurance companies and other sources ( possibly police reports and maybe even vehicle history, DMV, data miners etc,) submit claims records and relevant info to CLUE (Comprehensive Liability Underwriting Exchange).

Your CLUE report is like a credit score and is a way a new insurance company can check you accident and claims history to underwrite you correctly. So if you have poor claims history, then switching companies won't start you off on a clean slate.

You can check yours free on lexis nexus, here's a good explainer:


Yes-I requested that report a while ago. No surprises on it.
 
When doing flooring repairs for USAA insurance I had to put the member back to the way it was.
If they had 40 oz nylon carpet damaged I had to show them samples of 40 oz nylon carpet.
And so on for other flooring products and wood coatings.
Good on them for that. If they did the flooring repairs like they do their auto repairs, they would have required you to use used carpet the same age as the installed carpet you were replacing, or made in China out of toxic byproducts carpeting if used wasn't available.
I'm still looking at mismatched headlights, a used and scratched front grill, and a fender that didn't fit and was bent and forced to do so (you can still see the bulge). That's after having the USAA rep out to fix a host of other problems. I ran out of time and finally gave up.
 
Contact your insurance agent and let them fight for you. That is one of the perks you get as a result of the premiums you pay. You company should be more interested in making you happy than the other insurance company. Let your company make you happy, it might cost you your collision deductible in the short run, but our insurance will get their money back and refund you your deductible as soon as the other company pays them. Also, I believe you are contractually obligated to notify them anyway, and if you do not, they can cancel your policy for noncompliance.

Your insurance premium(s) will not go up as a result of your using your insurance carrier to take care of things and then collecting from the other company. This was not a chargeable accident to you. I had to do this some years back when I was insured by State Farm and our TrailBlazer was sideswiped by another vehicle. i got to use the body shop I wanted to use which was fine with State Farm.
 
Starting your own claim and involving your own insurance company is a recipe for increased premiums at renewal time. A claim can ding you whether the accident was your fault or not.
This is false and it's a shame people keep repeating it and misleading people. Look up "subrogation".
 
I just went through this nonsense with my wife's Tuscon earlier this year.

My advise, just call your own insurance company and have them go to bat for you.

If the other party is accepting fault, you will pay your deductible then you will get it back.

You do not want to deal with someone elses insurance company, in our case it was a lot of back and forth and nonsense.

Either way your insurance company will find out you were in a non fault accident so just get it over with and call them.
 
You do not want to deal with someone elses insurance company
That needs repeated over and over and maybe people will get it. The other person's insurance is NOT your friend and their goal is to settle your claim as quickly as possible and for as little payout as possible. Your own insurance will (should) go to bat for you and they're on your side.
 
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That needs repeated over and over and maybe people will get it. The other person's insurance is NOT your friend and their goal is to settle your claim as quickly as possible and for as little payout as possible. Your own insurance will (should) go to bat for you and they're on your side.
Insurance threads are traditionally full of misinformation on this forum. Yet-people still start the threads.
 
Insurance threads are traditionally full of misinformation on this forum. Yet-people still start the threads.
Is there a better place for insurance information specifically? I mean other than Reddit, which I would say is less trustworthy than BITOG. I'm not aware of any insurance specific forums but also have never searched for one.
 
Is there a better place for insurance information specifically? I mean other than Reddit, which I would say is less trustworthy than BITOG. I'm not aware of any insurance specific forums but also have never searched for one.

I quite frankly don't know. But here hasn't proven to be one of them. If your in (an not fault accident) IMHO here are your two choices
1) Drop the car off at the body shop of your choice and notify the Insurer of the person who hit you at what body shop it's located.
2) If the other party's insurance drags their feet or you feel they are jerking you or the body ship around-notify your insurer and place a claim and they will handle it.

It's really not that difficult. Only if there is medical issues and somebody is hurt is when it can get complicated.

I had to file a claim with my own insurance when the other party's insurance (Geico) essentially refused to go to the body shop I had history with and where I dropped off my vehicle after the accident. It was later subrogated and I received a check for my deductible.

I will NEVER GIVE GEICO MY BUSINESS!
 
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Is there a better place for insurance information specifically?
Depending on the question and if you use an independent agent, ask them. If it's related to a claim, ask the claims rep. No one here knows the ins and outs of my insurance policy or the intricacies of policies that are applicable to my state vs other states. The only advice about insurance I'll give here, at least when someone has been in an accident, is "file the claim with your own insurance". I also think it's generic or safe enough advice to give. The only time it's not applicable is if the person only has liability coverage.
 
I was rear ended in our 2022 4Runner when it had ~1000 miles on it by a lady with Progressive insurance. She didn’t even want me to call the cops. I was so happy. Our first new vehicle.

Talked to the body guy who my family has used many times.. (Jeep truck restoration included) and he said they were shy on labor at about $7 an hour so be careful on accepting the check.

You should be able to choose your shop regardless and the parts depending on the year. This can vary by state though.
 
I was rear ended in our 2022 4Runner when it had ~1000 miles on it by a lady with Progressive insurance. She didn’t even want me to call the cops. I was so happy. Our first new vehicle.

Talked to the body guy who my family has used many times.. (Jeep truck restoration included) and he said they were shy on labor at about $7 an hour so be careful on accepting the check.

You should be able to choose your shop regardless and the parts depending on the year. This can vary by state though.
If he takes it directly to the body shop he doesn't need to be concerned with money-the body shop will handle it. To take a check directly from the other party's insurance company is really a poor decision-it's putting yourself in the middle of something you know so little about you are on an oil forum asking for advice.
 
Going through my own snafu with insurance. My own fault, so they direct deposit their initial estimate into my bank account. Only problem is, it was half the estimate of the body shop. My mistake was to submit photos as part of the claim. They looked at the photos, as opposed to shop which put it on a lift and then priced out parts not located several states away.

Not submitting photos ever again for a claim.
 
They cannot steer you. They can make a major issue where they will only pay their direct referral shop’s rate, and then you either need to refer it to your insurance, sue their driver directly, etc.
 
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