Advise Needed on Handling Auto Body Insurance Adjusters

i bailed, and everyone else i knew did as well due to always having too many claims and not enough employees. now i do something related but different. but while i was there i had plenty of conversations with other adjusters confirming we accepted LX, sent plenty of faxes, emails, etc so they could waive their deductibles since they were handling the claim. not all? sure. i didn't keep track of which did or didn't but generally if you have insurance with one of the top carriers they're going to take care of it so you don't have to wait for subro do to their thing.

and "FTC" (you can guess what that stands for lmao) is definitely a thing... claim loads are not getting any lower.

 

OEM for OEM. They should replace parts with the same ones they broke.

i would fight for everything to be replaced that was impacted with only OEM products. Dont settle.

 

I really appreciate all the helpful advice and information. Like I said earlier, I (thankfully) had not had to deal with the auto insurance and auto body worlds for some time. My priorities are to simply get the truck fixed like it was before the accident, and to not have to incur personal expenses. Thankfully my deductible is only $250. But, I don't even want to pay that since I'm not at fault. The amount of time I've had to put into this is essentially lost money. But, I don't want to have to put in extra cash of my own. I can already see they other insurance company try to squeeze me in a "sardine can" rental with no headroom, and I might even argue they should get me a rental pickup! I know, at least in Florida, you can 100% not be at fault and still have your rates go up. I am trying/hoping to avoid that if I don't actually ask my carrier to shell out any money. However, if I go the route through the other carrier myself--the first payment going to me and then all supplemental payments going to the shop--I don't want to accept anything until I have at least a pretty good representation of everything that needs to be done. (ie- wheel replacement/repair, alignment, labor to remove bed, bed cover, etc.). Right now the estimate seems to be a little too low for the dealership to even want to accept it, so I'm trying to get the estimate more "realistic".

Good information @3JOH22A, thanks. I didn't know that about the aftermarket plastic. My concern with aftermarket also comes with the quality of the "chrome" plating on the plastic. I considered switching the bumper ends from "chrome" to color-matched, or to a new bumper altogether. But, if I don't do that, I'm afraid that having one "chrome" aftermarket end cap and one OEM might hold up differently? Regarding the wheel, I am willing to let them try to polish it. I just have found most of the time there is a clearcoat on wheels, and once it gets damaged, the wheel looks bad. As long as they don't need to try and re-clearcoat the wheel it might work. I just would like to see the damage to the wheel notated on the estimate so they don't later play the, "Oh that must be new" damage. Luckily the estimator did note that no prior damage was noted.

Thanks @Mastiffsrule, I agree on the low rate. My insurance company connected me with an adjuster who looked up the rate (all the companies take surveys and come up with standard rates by area I found out) they will pay and found it to be more in the $49-$50 range. I like your suggestion about the re-mount and balance, and yes the alignment is another thing I would like them to list on the estimate before I accept any sort of payment from them. I also think they should list the extras that you mentioned.

Thanks @JWestie! That would actually be great. It would give me a better idea of identifying the missing items from my estimate. Thank you! DM'd you.

@SuperAir, sounds good, thanks. I understand about the supplements. The adjuster from the other company even told me they would accept them from the shop. He told me they aren't allow to disassemble things for the estimate, but that after the shop tears it down they will file supplements themselves and receive the extra money. I just am worried that a few more things should be listed right from the get go so they don't try to get around them. I also want to try to get the labor rate up to where it should be.

I would like to avoid any out of pocket expenses at the moment. I'm between "real" jobs caring for elderly parents. As far as the OEM aspect goes, my company informed me that they will allow for OEM parts for 2 yrs/24k miles. So, technically they wouldn't have to give me any OEM parts since I already have about 33k on my 2021 (Live and learn!) But, my feeling is if I go through the other party's carrier, I am not bound under any such contract. She damaged OEM parts and should need to provide OEM replacement parts, if available.

I like the idea of just dropping off the truck, getting the rental, and waiting until it's ready and up to my approval! I just am hesitant before I carefully read anything I need to sign to get the payment from the other company to get the process rolling!

@turbosix, good points. I do feel my company has been very good to deal with.
LOL But I wanted the Escalade! Maybe they'll just let me take a Harley for a week or two.

Finally, I am not sure on whether they would waive the deductible. I am going to make some calls today and that is a good question for me to ask. As far as the adjusters, I will say the other adjuster was very helpful and polite to me so far. Of course he wanted a recorded statement and such, but I get that. Now he hasn't been quick to get back to me following his estimator preparing the estimate, however. I'm not sure if I am going to be the first one to break silence or wait for his call. I haven't been in a rush to call him back because I'm trying to get myself better educated before I do. All the comments and advice in this thread has been very helpful. Thanks to everyone.

 

bro i already told you...

the claimant carrier is only required to pay for parts of like kind and quality. not oem. if you want oem you can pay the difference.

the estimate you have is a preliminary estimate, if your shop says "umm this is too low i dont even want to start here" i would go to another shop because they clearly don't know how supplements work. the adjuster isn't going to fuck around with the labor rate dude. that's a conversation your shop needs to have with their appraisal department.

"im going to wait until everything is perfect before i accept anything" is not how it works at all. you've got the first check, the estimate and i assume a rental reservation.

there is no modifying the initial estimate, it's done. again. that's what supplements are for.

shit like this is why i would go to lunch at come back to 30 new voicemails. your claim is literally off his desk at this point. he's set you up to get your shit fixed and moved on to the next claim.

 

True. But I also have the right to start filing complaints and asking for reimbursements for medical check-ups etc. Those prices will quickly overshadow any OEM part cost. Some of the aftermarket crap he put on the estimate is more than I can get the OEM parts for myself actually LOL Trying to wrap things up quickly has to be advantageous to them.

And no, I've received no check, and no rental information. I was told the adjuster would call me back after we both receive the initial estimate. He has not yet. The only reason I know they've accepted responsibility is because my company was told they weren't ready to accept responsibility until they received the report. The report became available and the next day an estimator from the company called me and said he was told to come prepare an estimate. And as far as it being "perfect," I most certainly can refuse to accept a shit paint job, etc. Luckily, that is not an issue with this dealership. And I hear you on the initial estimate process. The guy I spoke with when I took my truck there in person said he had seen estimates written for a nominal amount like $50 and just handled after that strictly through supplementals. [Edit: I just spoke with the auto body shop at the dealership and he told me the estimate was something they could work with. He said the primary problem was the low labor rate. When I pressed him if that could be increased through the 'supplemental process' he confirmed he could/would! ]

 

You shouldn't have to deal with this. Your insurance company should, or you should look for a new company. Before I bought my current Taco, a woman backed into my jeep. It didn't look real bad AT FIRST. Anyway, her insurance company started all this private property crap, I was sitting behind her too long etc. Called my insurance representative, and it was taken care of IMMEDIATELY. Got the r entail I wanted for all the days it was in the shop, all OEM parts, don at the bodyshop of my choosing. Not some bullshit cheap shop chosen by her insurance. My agent told me he is her not to take care of claims, he is here to also protect my property when this happens.

 

Thanks @Shadow1, I know without a doubt my insurance will take care or me. My primary question is the benefit of going that route versus not making my company do too much work and have to get reimbursed. How will that affect my premium. In your case where you were clearly not at fault, did you ever renew your insurance on that Jeep, and did the premium increase?

 

Too bad pay is great, job sucks.

 

Your first mistake was letting their adjuster do an estimate. Don't do that, ever.

Next time, take your vehicle to a shop you trust (you get to choose where it's done, not them). Have the shop write up an estimate, give them the name of the insurance company and the claim number. The shop will get it touch with them. You should hear from the insurance company in a day or 2 of whether or not they're repairing or totaling. If it's getting fixed they'll pay the shop directly once the repairs are completed.

And if at that point you find out the idiot that you had minimum coverage, and it won't cover the damage you let your insurance company know, and let them deal with it. That's what happened to me last year. Moron's had enough insurance to cover about 60% of the cost of the damage. Geico is generally a pain in the nuts to deal with (they truly suck donkey balls), but they were actually good enough to waive my deductible even though they weren't able to recover the full cost of the damage from Moron's insurance.

 

SouthFLTaco, I had the jeep for 2 more years, and my premiums did not increase. My agent said that protecting the integrity of the vehicle can help them in the long run.

 

lololol no. don't listen to this guy.

 

In hindsight I wish I did it that way! In the past I’ve always just gone through my insurance and let them get reimbursed. But in this case the police report hadn’t been written and so I had no proof that I wasn’t at fault. The fact that they wanted to send out an estimator just to me confirmed that they’re admitting liability. They already had told me I could use the shop of my choice a few different times previously. And, I have my shop a copy of the estimate said they should be able to handle the extra costs through supplementals

(Actually what I kicked myself for doing this perhaps jumping the gun and even opening a claim with my insurance company. But as was previously stated I know all that stuff gets reported through a central database, so I figured it was best to make them aware of what happened right away. Just hoping that.their not having to make any payouts will help keep my premiums from increasing.)

 

Oh excuse me, you rather let them give you a low ball estimate, cut you a check, and deal with all the extra b/s when it's not enough to cover the bill?

Good for you, but no one should listen to you.

 

That’s great and speaks to the integrity of the company!

 

so... you can file "complaints" all you want. if the adjuster has done what he was supposed to, no one cares. managers would get pissed off voicemails and it'd be like... "TURBOSIX... WHY IS THIS LAROSE LADY ALL PISSED OFF??" "she wasn't happy erac gave her a 2021 rav4 even though she drives a 1998 oldsmobile alero" "LMFAOOOO alright well she's a moron. i'm not calling her back."

you can ask for reimbursements for medical... and guess what. the auto adjuster doesn't care because that's BI and it's completely separate. it would be like you being pissed off at your water bill being high and thinking the gas company would care.

your truck is driveable so sometimes they wont give you the rental info until you're ready to drop it off, especially now due to parts delays. it's probably already setup though. if it wasn't driveable you'd have been in one as soon as they accepted lx.

my point was if you are using your shop of choice they can ABSOLUTELY stop paying for your rental vehicle. if it's a 10 day repair, and day 10 you go get it and throw a shit fit because they did a MAACO quality job, that's on you. if you were going in network (which isn't a bad thing, despite what every moron on the internet thinks considering their shop is probably actually in network anyway...) and they do a shit job then yeah they're going to extend the rental and the shop is going to end up paying for the additional days since they fucked up.

and yeah, see, the shop knows whats up. thats what the appraisers are for. usually it's not an issue because they'll come to a middle ground.

 

you're (at least) 0 for 2 this week.

insurance advice and aluminum wheel advice.

 

Of course I didn’t intend to start arguments! For me that is the problem with the insurance industry… in the past there have always been shifty companies and some unscrupulous agents that has tainted the overall impression people have. Then you have the instances of people making false claims making the companies have to be more careful with payouts.

The good thing in my case is the dealership has already confirmed they have no problem getting parts and are ready to start next week. I just have to make sure I get the rental car situation sorted out.

 

My wife and I just went through this with her vehicle. (2013 Ford Escape)
-The other party was at fault and given a ticket.
-We did not go through our insurance company, we dealt directly with the other parties' insurance.
-We did not settle for non-oem parts and the insurance appraiser re-submitted his estimate 3 times. (not using supplements)
-We received a check exactly 3 months after the accident.

We went this route because my wife's vehicle was still functional and we had no problem arguing with the insurance company/adjuster until they cut us a check for exactly what the body shop quoted to fix the damage. Personally, I did not want to accept a low ball appraisal and go through supplements 1, 2, maybe 3 more times down the road.

 

The repair shop prepares the estimate to repair your truck, then they forward it to the adjuster to approve it. Also if you need to do a supplemental repair on the same claim, it's the same process.

It just doesn't make sense for the adjuster to make the estimate... They're not a mechanic and don't know what needs to be done. Go have the shop prepare and estimate and send it to the adjuster!!!

At least this is how my claim last year went when I had my truck repaired after my 'Comprehensive Flood Claim'. I went to a shop that I know and trust, not the dealership. I ended up adding 2 additional supplemental estimates to the claim. I also have USAA and they're super easy to deal with. I highly recommend them.