I had a guy back in to my 1954 chevy with a trailer. I have been trying to get an estimate for damage repair for some time now and have been unsuccessful to date. I have been to three shops and I cant seem to get anywhere. So what I am asking is if someone here can help me find my direction or if a fellow HAMBer could help in any way. Gotit
Are the shops just not able to give an estimate because its a classic? If it were me I would find a body shop that deals in classics or restoration work.
They say they can give me an estimate but after a few months i find someone else. I don't want to be a thorn in anyone side when they are not getting the job. I have been working on getting an estimate for almost 8 months. I want to get it dealt with because I have no idea what the guys insurance can say if it takes much longer.
Personally, if it were me, I would prefer to not have an estimate. An estimate is somebody's "guess" as to what it "might" take to repair. I would just have my insurance company fix my car. The final repair bill will be what the other guy or his insurance pays. If you don't have collision coverage, you may have to fix the car "out of pocket" and then sue the other guy, or his insurance. Stu
Do you have a letter from the insurance company telling you they are going to pay for the damage caused to your property by their insured ? Or are they just asking for an estimate without committing to their responsibility ? You have a trailer involved in this. Was this a Semi - tractor trailer or a car with a trailer ????? There could be coverage issues or payment arrangements depending on what or who your dealing with. If they are acknowledging responsiblity all you should have to do is fix your car and send them are some pictures of the damage and the paid bill for reimbursement. Getting an estimate is going to be somewhat impractacle because you wont know the final cost until the repair is completed. Insurance companies are great at getting people to commit to a settlement before the final cost is known. Remember you need to act as a resonable person in repairing your car. The person that damaged your property owes the damage not a complete restoration of the car. There are other threads on the HAMB that went into some detail about similar situations of damage repair.
I have filed a claim with them and they have the police report. They are willing to pay for the damage. My buddy buzzard customs here on the hamb is doing the work for me but he is not a shop so that doesn't quite do it. It is a somewhat simple fix. The deck lid and pass. Quarter were damaged. The quarter had the frenched tailight damaged but the quarter is still fairly straight
Insurance companies know that an estimate is just that, an estimate, not a firm price. That being said, most body shops don't want to spend the time to prepare an estimate for an older car because of the time commitment in sourcing parts and figuring repair times for the estimate because the parts and labor times aren't in their computers. It could take a hour or two to prepare a estimate. You may want to ask your insurance company for the name of a shop they have used for previous repairs in your area.
I missed your last post. The fact that you have someone else doing the work is exactly the reason no shop will write a "courtesy" estimate. I don't think the insurance company can compel you to use a "shop". They should be able to accept an estimate, or a copy of the bill from an individual who can repair the damage.
Read your insurance policy...... In an accident your are required to get at least ONE repair estimate. Its part of the process.... Its also part of a body shops job to give out estimates, you are not required to get them to fix it. Its a piece of paper showing that someone that CAN fix it is giving you a fair estimate of repair. HOWEVER, if there is hidden damages it will be harder and usually take longer as the insurance company will send an adjuster to evaulate the supplement... BTW, I am an insurance investigator, one of my specialties is fire investigations on classic vehicles.....
Dont let your buddy start the repair without the insurance company's ok, Call the insurance company & tell them to send out an adjuster, He'll write the bid for you, if your buddy will fix it for that great if not call the adjuster back & tell him what you need [ more time, parts whatever ] Some company's are easy to work with some can be a nightmare, They all have adjusters an thats thier job, Good Luck,
The problem I have is I am so far from any reputable shops. There is one body shop in town and they wanted nothing to do with giving an estimate. One of my friends works at a body shop and the estimator was supposed to write one and I never heard another word from him so I let it be. I have another friend that is a gm at a body shop and he was going to write one and has been too busy I guess. I figured someone on the hamb would have the resources to do such for me and that's why I have finally posted a thread about this. Thank you for all the input so far.
How long have you been doing this? Most of this is bunk. Most insurance companies ignore shop estimates and write their own, or they get an independent like me to do it. And I've been an insurance company appraiser, shop estimator and an independent for 25 years. A shop doesn't have to lift a finger to write an estimate, especially on a car/job they know they'll never see, or don't want to do the work on. Call you company. It's their job to write it. YOU DO HAVE INSURANCE ON THIS CAR, RIGHT? 8 MONTHS??? Seriously? You haven't been trying. No insurance company on this planet that I'm aware of gives a shop free reign to do what they want. Give my an invoice after the car is done, and my first question looking at the car will be, "Where's the damage?" One insurance company or the other needs to write an estimate. Park the damn car in their lot and have them write away. This guy knows what needs to be fixed, but he has no idea if parts need to be replaced? He doesn't know what needs to be fixed? He deserves to be lowballed. Tell him you'll give him $10 out the door. If he knows it'll be more than $10, ask him how he knows... Mostly right. No one is just going to accept a bill. I'd demand to see the damage. Oh, it's fixed? Nice job. See ya. Ding, Ding, Ding! We have a winner! Bring the car to Florida. I'll even write it for free. Center of the state. I'd have the estimate done in an hour. The GM dealer doesn't want to be bothered. How much money will he make? Why should he be wasting his time, when he can make money from someone else? How much work do you do for free? If you have to take the car to Denver, I guess you have a road trip. Let the adjusters do their job.
Most insurance compaies have there own adjusters and the ones that don't hire independant adjusters to do it for them.If you fix the car without there Ok they wont pay. Since you live so far away from civilization it does make it hard to get a independant adjuster company to come look at it,you will probably have to pay them to do it..In Denver you could have one of the rod shops wright you one. You better get this done soon or they will cancel your clame.Good luck.
Have the adjuster come out and look at it, guranteed they wont be able to give you a good estimate, so go to a couple restoreration shops and get estimates, take the highest one and turn it in and tell them to pay you and you will have it fixed on your own, and have yer buddy fix it!
Is this a bad time to make a killdozer joke? anyhow, get to denver and talk to some shops. Its not that far.
I have e-mailed a buch of pictures to people at body shops. I do not have insurance on the car. Hahah. Stupid probably but it is parked in our parking lot of my dads building where my car shop is. The guy turned around in the lot and backed in to it. I was lucky my sign buddy was there because he stopped the guy before he backed into my other pickup. I do have pictures I can e-mail if anyone can write an estimate Thank you for all the advice Gotit
I got rearended last summer in my 47 ford. I only had liability and the other person had geico. they sent an adjuster out. him and I went over the damage and repairs( I did all the previous work). His first offer was low but after we had a nice spirited debate, he left leaving me with a check for $2499. I didn't figure that was too bad when I only have $6000 in the whole car. they paid me for my time and even gave a couple hundred for not getting a rental. good luck
You're getting some pretty good "free" advice from some pretty knowledge people on here (Stu D Baker, palosfv3) to name a few. No one is going to write you an absolute repair cost. If you want an estimate hire an independant damage appraiser, but the estimate will be of no value to the insurance company that's paying for the repairs. If you want to get your car repaired or collect for damages done, contact the company that's going to be paying for it. Only after they have inspected the damage, looked at the circumstances of the loss and verified coverage will they assume liability and agree to pay. Time is not your friend here, tick-toc. Good luck.
I deal with this type of stupid shit every day. Some ass wants his buddy to fix the car so he comes to me to get his estimate/money for his buddy to get paid. I won`t waste my time with someone that isn`t going to patronize my business. After eight months you deserve whatever comes of it. Should have been cited for no insurance anyways. No insurance? Stay off the road until you start paying like the rest of us. If you truly have an insurance company willing to pay then have them send a field appraiser to you and cash out. Is it really that hard to figure out?? Hope you aren`t planning on offspring...
Yeah, I know I was tough on him but the insurance process is so simple compared to how it used to be done. Why make it more complicated? If he has the insurance info most shops will take the car and run with it doing the leg work necessary to repair the vehicle. It doesn`t matter what year it is. I`m a new car dealer franchise and I work on everything. It all pays in green stuff. Just finished a `39 ford sedan and a `52 Bel Air for State Farm. The most difficult part was finding the paint code for Fushia.Turns out it was a House of Color I could mix in the shop. The part that gets me is when claimants want to work the system with a "buddy" to get paid for the job. If the repairer is not a legitimate tax paying shop then he has no business being involved. The rest of us pay our dues and these guys take jobs away from us. Not good. My advise still stands. Call and ask for a field appraisal for a cash out and you can have the alley shop rattle can the Bondo when they`re done. Oh.. and I`m done with my soapbox.
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