It will cost what??? Advice needed about auto body repair estimate.

In My Humble Opinion
21

If you look into it and it’s not worth paying for comprehensive, you could get the repair, then drop to liability-only when they raise rates on you. It doesn’t sound like you want to ditch comprehensive, but it’s an option when you’re considering costs. (I keep comprehensive primarily for getting a rental car and them dealing with the other driver if something bad happens).

Are you sure you’d get five or six thousand dollars if your car is totaled? I know insurance payoffs can be surprisingly low. Something to look into before you find yourself looking into it with no car…

22

Yeah , i realized after i’d made that post that there’s a pretty good chance that i wouldn’t get the full value of the car if it were completely written off.

I would still prefer not to ditch the comprehensive. We got a loan for the car, and the outstanding amount is still substantial, although we do owe less than the car is worth. If the car were totaled tomorrow, and we didn’t have coverage, i could pay off the loan, but it would sting a bit. By comparison, $300 a year, paid in $150 installments every six months, is relatively cheap peace of mind.

Anyway, i’ve filed a claim. When i spoke to the insurance rep on the phone, she said that based on my account of the incident, and the fact that the other driver left the scene, this would be a no-fault claim for me. I’m not sure if that’s the final word on the matter, but it seems like i might escape any substantial increase in premium.

I’ve got the car booked in for early next week. An adjuster and a rental car will be waiting when i drop it off.

23

A City of San Jose truck hit my parked car once. Big scratch right down the middle of the bonnet (hood?). Since the city is self-insured, they told me to get 3 quotes and they’d reimburse me the cost of the middle one. I dutifully sent the quotes, they cut me a check, and then I didn’t bother fixing it. Free money! It’s not like it rains or anything, the scratch looks identical 6 years later, and I’m planning on driving my Outback until the wheels fall off. (Or, more likely, it blows a head gasket. Touch wood, not today!).

24

Update:

So, it’s now a week later, and as i suggested in my last post, i decided to just report the damage to my insurance company and have them deal with it.

I’m really glad i did that. Everything was incredibly smooth and easy, and my only out-of-pocket expense was my $250 deductible.

We have Geico for our car insurance. I don’t know much about their general reputation when it comes to customer satisfaction, but i can’t think of a single bad thing to say about them, based on this particular experience.

The online reporting and claim form was easy to deal with. I had a couple of questions about the specific choices they offer in terms of where your car gets fixed, so i called, and the rep on the phone was incredibly polite and helpful.

They have agreements with body shops where there is a Geico claims adjuster on hand, and i went that route. I made an appointment online, and at the same time booked a rental car through the Geico site. When i got to the body shop (just under two miles from my house), the claims adjuster and the shop rep were there to go over the car and get things going, and there was an Enterprise rep with a rental car ready to go. All of them - the Geico guy, the body shop guy, and the Enterprise guy - were friendly and helpful.

They kept me up to date on the work as it proceeded, including uploading pictures of the car at various stages of repair. The whole thing took just over 48 hours, and today i picked the car up, a process which involved dropping the rental at the shop, paying them my deductible, and driving away.

The car looks perfect, like nothing ever happened.

The actual quote on the damage was about $1,220. So, unless they have other arrangements i don’t know about, the repair cost Geico about $970, plus another $60 or so for two days of car rental.

25

Good news. Thanks for coming back with an update.