Insurance Money Questions for new plate bumper.

Well today it happened, I was involved in a head on colision. A teenage girl was in a hurry to get to work and didnt yeld to me at an intercection and struck me. Everyone was okay and the damage was minimal. The bumper and valence are going to need to be replaced. I have seen a few members use insurance money and upgrade too plate bumpers. I would like to do the same. Hopefully someone can chime in because this is the first incident Ive been involved with.

 

IMO, if you have the money, buy a plate bumper and don't even let the insurance know unless you have to. In the long run, you'll be paying more on your insurance. That's what I would do if the damage wasn't too bad.

 

For example, my bull bar was recently backed in to and was destroyed, but my truck was completely fine. Insurance company didn't need to know. Didn't bother me since it was ugly and I plan on getting a plated bumper someday anyway.

 

I wasnt at fault so my rates shouldnt go up at leat I hope not

 

Thanks Door ding Ive already made the claim should I just tell them what I want to do if its cheaper?

 

Not his fault. No increase in California. California is not a no-fault state. They tried that a few years ago and the voters rejected it.
The girl's insurance will pay 100%, no deductibles.
If he has collision coverage, his insurance company will handle it, and arrange for the repair, but they will collect from her company.

OP, it depends on how things are handled.
The insurance company may attempt to push you to use a specific shop, or may attempt to give you a choice of several shops.
Those are simply the shops that the insurance company has a contract with and they will pay directly without cutting you a check.
You do not have to use them. You can use any shop you would like, the only qualification is the insurance company may either state a specific cost for the repair (based on their preferred shop), or require you to provide three quotes.

Do that, but with the shop that you want, "shop" the prices of the other shops so he has a chance to underbid, and let him know that you are willing to pay extra for the new bumper.

Some companies, like Progressive, don't even need you to provide a bid. They survey the damage, run the required parts into their notebook, and print a check on the spot.
It will be a joint check payable to you and your bank if you are financed, and will require both endorsements.

 

Shop around for estimates. Get money from insurance. Buy and install yourself.........or is that some sort of "fraud" on the insurance co?

 

here's how it's worked for me in the past:
1. get a quote for the repairs from whatever shop(s) you choose.
2. insurance cuts a check to me to pay for repairs
3. i buy my own parts and install myself
4. pocket the difference

nothing says you HAVE to buy OEM parts and pay to have someone install them. you can take the insurance check and purchase a plate bumper and install that. no insurance fraud there.

insurance fraud would be claiming OEM replacement if you were to get hit again, for example.

 

Thanks for all the input I just did not want to commit any kind of fraud.

 

Animal hits are filed under comprehensive and so wouldn't raise his rates. I'm a former insurance adjuster and it always cracked me up when people would REFUSE to use a shop that we partnered with. There actually is a benefit that most people never think about, they just quickly assumed we were trying to screw them over. If you use one of their preferred shops the work is usually warrantied for life, at least my company did, and if that shop were to go out of business we would pay for another shop to do the needed repairs. Her insurance company owes you for the repairs. Whether you get them done or not is your choice. We had printers in our vehicles and would cut a check on the spot, only kicker is if you have a lien as others have mentioned.

 

Oh, okay. Nvm then. lol

 

I got my bumper this way. Buy the bumper wait 6-8 weeks for your builder (Bruteforce), paint it, take it to the shop your planning on having the repairs done. Give them the insurance check. They will take everything off the quote that has anything to do with the factory bumper and will reimburse you the extra money for the factory quoted bumper. My plate bumper was cheaper than the factory replacement after having to paint match it and all the labor as I painted the plate bumper myself and had them install it. Win Win and you weren't at fault as I wasn't either.

 

If I just want a straight-up repair, I have no problem using the preferred shop (Caliber in the case of AAA).
But the problem with them is they will do nothing OTHER than a straight-up repair.

My Tundra needed a new bumper, hood, and right fender and door skin.
I had clear corners on the truck.

They refused to allow me to provide a replacement turn signal houring with the white reflector. BUT... they did not replace the left side housing with the stock piece.
They refused to omit the "TUNDRA" badge from the passenger door (I had rebadged with TRD badges), so I had to debadge the truck when I got it back.

After the accident, I had to tie the hood down. The tie-down wore the chrome off of one of the covers on the grille.
I didn't like the chrome anyways, so I requested that they replace the parts with a grille and bumper from the base model (if they were painting the new parts), or I would pay extra for them to get the Limited model parts (no chrome).
Not only did they refuse, they also did not replace the scarred grille.

The writer's response to every request was "AAA requires that we repair the vehicle to the condition it was when it left the factory."

So when I got it back, I had mismatched turn signal housings and mismatched badges on the doors.

Next time, it was my Silverado. The writer flipped out over the electrical that I had run to the shell. Claimed that to pull a small dent out of the rocker panel behind the rear tire he had to remove the shell.
He was right on the edge of refusing the job when I told him that I would disconnect everything for him so he could remove the shell.

Spent 2 hours disconnecting and making everything safe, took the truck back.
Got the repair back... fucker didn't remove the shell. I had overspray all over the back part of the shell.

 

Totally agree... there is some cheap junk out there that just doesn't fit very well.

 

Wow, when my 95 got rear-ended the shop that did the work listed out all of the authorized repairs that the insurance would cover, then we went to work on swapping out oem junk for nicer aftermarket parts (fender trim for bushwacker fender flares, etc). They were only authorized to paint a portion of the damaged bed, and were going to match the oxidized color, so we hashed out a deal to paint the whole truck. $400 out of pocket and the body of the truck looked like it was just off the dealership floor.

It was a great experience.

 

Bodywork was Caliber... AAA's preferred shop (apparently they are a majority stockholder).
The work on the Tundra was top-notch. You'd never have known that it had ever been hit.
The repair on the Silverado was also quality... just the overspray on the cap pissed me off. It buffed out easily by hand.

Only bad repair I've had was when my '94 got hit. Similar damage as the Tundra... hood, grille, bumper, and minor damage to the fender. The body shop didn't feel the need to purchase replacement graphics... they taped over the stock '94 graphics and shot the fender. Every time I walked past that fender I noticed the paint was higher than the graphics and knew that I could never remove them.

 

I got an estimant today and was pleased to hear it is going to be right at 1200 in repairs. I was worried I was going to get low balled. Now Im on the hunt for a hybrid bumper. Ive looked at pelfre, brute force, and relentless. Does any one have any sugestions or pics?

 

Awesome!

As far as bumpers go, the market is huge. And you pay for quality. I'm not a hybrid guy, but I do love my Apex. Pretty sure a lot of guys can give you awesome advice in that area. Good luck, and looking forward to see which one you pick.

 

My wife hit a deer in my truck and we got the insurance estimate and a check sent to us and I bought a plate bumper and installed it myself and pocketed a few dollars in the process. The situations are different but you should be able to walk away from this with a plate bumper no problem.

 

Did you get it estimated on your own? Or did you get it done through here insurance? Also I would ask for a diminished value compensation from her insurance company.