DmitryBuslaev

Hi, I have a couple of questions and am looking for an advise.

My S2000 was hit while parked a couple of weeks ago.
The guy was nice and left a note, his insurance decided to cover the repairs.

However, I never had to do this before and some of it just seems wrong, so here are my questions:

1) Damage is to the trunk, read and side panels. The insurance only wants to paint those panels and not the rest of the car.
I am not happy with this, is there anything I can do about getting the whole car painted without paying out of pocket?

2) Would you be able to get some sort of reimbursement from insurance for "depreciation" of the car due to this accident?
This car has not been in any collisions since I had it for over a decade.

3) The engine light came on after the accident, should I be taking the car to the mechanic prior to taking it to body shop for repairs?

As a note, I live in California, just in case the laws are different.

Thank you,
Dmitry

JS2k.com

1. You may be able to negotiate that they blend into other panels, adding a bit more to your settlement, but they won't pay for much more than that. In Texas you can take a check for the damages, and take it to a potentially cheaper body shop that can paint the whole car.

2. Most states have depreciation laws, I don't know Cali's though. The amount is somewhat subjective and negotiable. You can get independent appraisals and collect evidence of S2000 that sold for x dollars with no accidents and S2000s that had 1 or more accidents to support your claim.

3. Yes. Most auto parts stores will pull the code for you. If it can be correlated, they may cover it.

vortamock

- I've been a claim rep for 6 years -

1. Proly not unless you pay the difference. Worth asking the claim rep and appraiser. Try the appraiser first but he may direct you back to the claim rep. Shop may have better success making the point if they contend the color won't look right unless they blend it. They may already have blend time figured in though. Like JS2k said, you can choose your own shop if it's a liability claim. Try to ask all these questions during the same conversation. If you keep bringing up new stuff every conversation they may just try to get you to sign a release and be done with it.

2. Proly so, make sure you ask the claim rep. In Alabama we can. I usually don't think to figure it up unless someone asks though. I've seen reps from Georgia do it automatically.

3. If it's proven related, they will pay. Make sure to let the claim rep and appraiser know. Before you rack up the bill would be better.

** A lot of the laws vary from state to state. General rules of thumb: be nice, it never hurts to ask, and don't be a jerk. Remember, it's another human making that decision on the other end of the phone. If there's any leniency to be given, it'll be given more freely to a nice person than a jerk.

rpg51

This is KEY. In everything in life.

kasher_khan

I had a somewhat similar situation. Damage to my car was on the drivers side. Most of the panels including hood and bumpers were covered by insurance. I didn't want the left fender, door and quarter panel to be different, so I paid for that. In the end it was better to let the body shop argue on my behalf. They were able to assign the correct labor to insurance and get approval in a manner that my over all share of the work was significantly reduced.

I took the Car to the insurance estimation facility before taking it to my own body shop. insurance estimate was 2500~ initially. It ended up costing them 3500. I paid around 1500 (including my co-pay of 500). the full respray cost $5000 (with windshield, one headlight replacement). I was very happy with the final result. (I ended up totally that car two weeks later... but that is another story )