Hi, I was in an

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:37 am Post Subject:

Good morning Yury,

Yes, you can have your vehicle repaired at any shop you want, or not at all.. Tell the adjuster the body shop you want to repair your vehicle (if at all). They will either ask for estimates or write their own, if there is some undetected damage, the shop needs to contact the adjuster immediatly upon finding it, (and not repair this unseen or hidden damage until the adjuster has ok'd it) for a supplement.

If you do not want to repair you vehicle at this time tell the adjuster that. Advise them you will repair at a later date, not sure where you are going to repair it. And that you would like the draft made to you alone. Again they will either have you get a few estimates or write there own and pay you accordingly.

Hope that clears it up, let us know if anything else comes up or any problems regarding this, and we will try and be of further assistance.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:57 am Post Subject: thanks!!

woow that was quick, i did not expected somebody to be this late :)

great news!

I was hit about 2 years ago by a school bus in a hs parking lot, they asked me to send them 3 estimates and they sent me a check for the amount of the middle one of them.

Do they all insurance companies have the same policy? I guess not...

On this new accident, the drivers fault insurance (progressive) estimator was kinda pushy in getting my car repaired on their body shop... I did not like that, i would rather have the money and find the best body shop to fix my car.

also, last question, the insurance company offered me a rental car, for the time it will take for my car to be fixed. about 5 to 10 days the body shops says.

can I still use the rental they are paying if they are only issuing me a check for the repairs? ( they even gave my a reservation number for the rental)

Thanks a lot for your help Lori. hope you can answer this too :)

Yury San Martin

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:16 am Post Subject:

Well Yury you're in luck because I happen to know A LOT about the company that is paying for your repair. :)

They want/offer one of their network repair facilities for a few reasons. There are no discounts, kickbacks or anything like that. The benefit to both the company and vehicle owner is that it is agreed (via contract) that their vehicles will 'go to the head of the line' meaning get into production immediately, thus reducing down time and rental expense etc. Also a benefit to you is that all network shops are ALSO backed with a written warranty from Progressive for the repairs at this shop.. Meaning if you have any problems (for as long as you own the vehicle), regarding this repair, the insurance company will back that repair in addition to the shop's warranty. Let's say the shop goes out of business or you move 500 miles away and a paint problem pops up a year from now. If it was repaired at one their network facilities, they will cover the 'rework' at another network facility. Understand? They will not warrant or gaurantee the work of another shop that is not in the 'network'. Not that they won't attempt to help, but the company themselves (Progressive in this case), will not warrant that repair.

Ok, STILL it is your vehicle and you have the option of repairing it where you want or not repairing it at all. Unless this is a remote area (and there are very few), a progressive adjuster will write the estimate of repair and issue payment based on that estimate. They will likewise authorize rental for whatever number of days (calculated by the labor hours on the estimate), while your vehicle is UNDER REPAIR. They will monitor the repair and the ''non-network'' shop will contact them (same as with a network shop), if there is some additional damage found, and the rep will 'reinspect' this damage, and issue payment accordingly.

As far as the rental is concerned, yes you can still use the rental WHILE YOUR VEHICLE IS UNDER REPAIR. You need to let your rep know when it is going into the shop of your choice they will varify same, and set up the rental. Now, let me caution you, if the estimate labor hours mandate that the repair should take 6 days (5-10 is a ridiculous number frankly the time span I mean), then that is what they will authorize. If your shop, (through no ''good'' reason), takes 15days to fix this vehicle, they ''could'' shut that rental down. They would let you know first though.

Let me know if you have any more questions, I'll do what I can to assist.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:40 am Post Subject: you are amazing!

ok!

This is my plan

My car is a little old, 10 years, and it had live about 208ks miles. I live in CA

the damaged was not as bad as it looks in the numbers. the estimates I have run between $1600 and $2900 to fix everything taking from the prelim estimates I got from different body shops I was yesterday.

My idea is to get the most money possible , send preogressive the three top estimates ( over $2000) as I did with the previous accident, and get my car done at the cheaper 1600 body shop which is also a trustworthy friend of mine and at the same time use the rest of money to fix all the dents my car had before and paint the whole car again instead of having a mismatched side.

why? would you ask?

I trust my friend body shop above all.
I could get the accident fixed
and finally I would not have to worry about miss matching of the colors, because the whole car would be repainted again. including other dents.

Finally If i tell all this to progressive they would not like it, obviously they want to pay as little and not worry about me anymore.

What do you think? :)

thanks!

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:48 am Post Subject:

Well Yury,

I can't condone trying to get more than you have coming, (actual/lowest cost to repair your vehicle to pre-loss condition).

Did the progressive rep tell you to get three estimates? As I said, the majority of the time they will complete their own estimate and pay from that, regardless of how many estimates you get. If this is the case where you are located, you could get 100 estimates and it will only be a waste of your time, because they will pay from theirs and theirs ONLY.

Now, that being said, if they write a sheet that is (lets say) $1700.00 and your buddy will repair the accident damge for 1000.00 then yes, you can do whatever you want with the 700.00. The rental will apply ONLY for the period of time it should take to repair the accident related damage to your vehicle, (not your 'extra' work). ok?

If progressive is accepting these estimates, another thing you might want to consider, (and might happen anyway), you don't tell me the make or model or year, but this vehicle is near a total, (this prior dents etc, will come off the value of your vehicle Yury), so by submitting these high bids, you might just get yourself in worse condition that you are already. (ie, value of the vehicle 2500.00 less 500.00 in prior damage, now worth 2000.00 and you have estimates for 2900.00 she's a goner, and would be far before that!)...

Let me know first if they told you to get estimates or you are just going by your prior claim.
lori

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 11:55 am Post Subject:

you know what Yury, I'll bet your vehicle totals with less than a 1000.00 estimate, let me know yr make model etc, this discussion could be moot.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 03:04 pm Post Subject:

One reason why most carriers use appraisers to inspect damaged vehicles, at least an independent. From what I've seen, Progressive almost always inspects vehicles. Not in this case? Additionally, if a carrier does not inspect a vehicle (usually if the damages are under $1000 or so), many times they will have an appraiser review the estimate(s) submitted and will adjust them if appropriate. Not really a big deal as the worst that would happen is they _might_ reduce a high repair estimate sent in. No harm, no foul.

As far as the rental, almost every state allows for Loss of Use. If you don't obtain a rental you are still entitled to compensation for the "loss of use" of your vehicle while it's in the repair shop. So if you don't get a rental, ask the adjuster to pay for LoU (I usually pay $10-$15/day... not as much as a rental would cost but some adjusters will just "cash out" and pay what a rental would cost).

Lori made a great catch... you may want to use an online source to determine the value of your vehicle and be weary about submitting an estimate that is more then 80% of it's value.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 08:06 pm Post Subject:

Progressive appraised my car, to see if was a total or not, they said it wasnt. my car is worth 4ks and the repaired she said, would be a couple thousands. BUT they never appraised the damaged in paper. they just wanted them to go to their shop.

I will call progressive and tell them I would like my shop repair in the shop that I found. and see what they say...

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 08:10 pm Post Subject:

They will then have someone inspect your vehicle.

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:14 pm Post Subject:

they will obvoiusly fight down the price...

so its not my right to fix the car where ever i want after all, they pay whaever their body shop will say, or adjust the price of the body shop i want.

I talked with the adjuster, she said the amount ($2700, $2500) was to close to total the car, and they would estimate the "real" cost of the repair.

let see how much low she offers.