Last night with my car being less than a year old and 5000 miles on it I was hit by somebody that ran a red light... She tried to steer around me so instead of being T-boned she hit my rear wheel and the bumper. The damage is minor; wheel, bumper and side panel is warped a little bit from the bumper being hit. My insurance told me to contact hers. I don't think she is changing the story so combined with the police report it should be pretty obvious what has happened. I am very upset that my perfect car is not perfect anymore! Here are my questions what to do:
1. Can I somehow financially recover the time that I have to spend now with adjusters, body shops, etc.?
2. Should I/can I ask for diminished value? There is not a lot of damage but it might show up on carfax if I ever try to sell the car.
3. I don't want them to mess with fixing the bumper, so is it realistic to ask for a new bumper?
4. Since she hit my wheel, are there specific things I should check for? The car seems to be driving fine.
5. Anything else I should do/not do?
Thanks for the help!

 

1. Not likely unless you file a civil law suit against the other driver. But then you will be looking at spending more time with your lawyer and in court.
2. Again, not likely unless you file a law suit.
3. It will be between you, the body shop, and the insurance adjuster. If you can convince the body shop to write it up that way and the adjuster agrees, then you have it.
4. Rear-end alignment. Make sure nothing was bent or out of alignment.
5. Why is it your responsibility to contact her insurance? That is why you pay your insurance agent/company for. They are supposed to take care of dealing with the other driver's insurance company.

Glad to hear you were OK. Good luck with your repairs.

 

wow, i agree with ALL the points above whole heartedly....and again, your insurance rep should be the one to contact the other party('s insurance company). The only thing YOU need to do is choose which body shop the car goes to.

And you should talk with your bodyshop...some places are flexible with regards to replacing stuff....even with aftermarket parts

 

Some insurance carriers tack on dimished value in the check, but you have to make a point to ask for it. They're never willing to give away money if the customer doesn't know any better.

 

Never go throught your insurance companie unless you are at fault. Why? Because they will make you pay the collision deductable on your car and then they won't fight to find you 100% in the right they will make you take some blame you'll forfit a portion of your deductable if not the whole thing and then they will raise your rates.

Most body shops would never roll out a bumper they usually just demand that you get a new one. I don't think they are easily patched up.

Anything over this would mean you'd have to fill a claim in court or at least go through the motions. The person who gets the summons should then hand it over to there insurance company who would then be liable (if the defendant chooses) to defend the person in court. The result is typically to just pay you what you're asking for (if it's not outragous) because a few $100 more to get it off there plate is cheaper than hireing a lawyer. Do you really want to go through all that for a few more $100's?

You're call

Good luck and sorry to hear or your misfortune

 

shit that sux

 

I'm terribly sorry about your event, it totally sucks.

The whole bumper thing:

I do believe that they would have to replace the entire bumper anyway because it is some sort of plastic material. They would not be able to fix it.

-Chase

 

Thanks everybody for your input. I went to Progressive last night and things seemed to go smooth until they said that they would buy the parts and that they could be

 

[QUOTE=cases2000,Sep 30 2004, 07:05 AM] Thanks everybody for your input. I went to Progressive last night and things seemed to go smooth until they said that they would buy the parts and that they could be

 

Lol, same thing happened to me with my accord when I got rearended. The other isurance company insisted on aftermarket bumper. Boby shop got it, painted it and put it on ofcoarse it didn't fit right. So the insurance company had to pay all over again for an original part.