OK. So on Saturday I was bowling with a gang of my friends and everything was going cool. We bet our first game and so the losers had to buy the winning team lunch [Panda Express]. Thankfully we won, so I got a free lunch. But as we start our second game, a young man walks up to us and asks, "Hey does anyone here own a white Nissan?"

The world stopped spinning for a moment there.




I quip "yea, I do."

so he proceeds to tell me that he backed up into me with his GMC Sierra. Apparently he was on the phone so he wasn't paying much attention and it seems that my car was just out of sight from his rearview mirror. Anyway, he gives me all his info. and now I'm going to get an estimate on Monday.

What my question is... If it turns out that fixing the hood will cost more than just replacing it, can I opt to replace it with the hood of my choice, provided that it costs less than fixing it of course.

Thing is... I already got an estimate, just in case, and it billed just the hod at $766 including repair, paint, and labor. So I'm thinking the new place will estimate somewhere near that. The way I see it, I can get a Seibon TS for much less than that. So will that be possible? Or am I out of luck? BTW, yea, the guy is paying with his insurance.

Cliffs:

1. Guy backed up into my Z
2. His insurance will cover all [bumper, fender, light, hood]
3. Got hood quoted at over $750
4. Buying a CF Sibon TS is less than $750
5. Will that be an option for me?

Any help is appreciated.

 

i believe you can....my ins co gave me a check for my last car....i could use it for whatever i wanted.....thats kinda an easy way to mod ur car, ha

 

Does California law require you to collect estimates?
Can you pick a shop, and the shop bills the insurance company?

 

you know we're are getting lazy when there are cliff notes in a thraed, lol...

 

Answer Choices:

Definitely Yes -- Yes -- Maybe Yes -- 50/50 -- Maybe No -- No -- Definitely No

 

Umm... So out of those answers...

What do you think Korki?

 

I've had alot of customers who were in accident replace there hoods with CF hoods. Generally the body shop is the ones to place the order, but have also had customers. Hope that helped.

Jim

 

Well while I am not in the industry, I have been a target for more than my share of getting hit by people not paying attention.

I will say this.. it depends on the insurance company that you are dealing with and what your body shop will do for you.

Some insurance companies want to pay the body shop directly others seem to want to pay you and you pay the body shop. Some body shops will write up what they are going to do to the insurance and do something else when they get paid.

I would say you should be able to get a replacement hood if that is going to be less or if its more you should just have to pay the difference from fixing your hood to the new one.

 

Hope you got a police report. He sounds honest since he did tell you about it, but people have short memories sometimes.

 

I am incompetent to give any legal advice.

But, in dealing with insurance I've found that you can usually get them to give you a check for the damage so that you can repair the problems when and where you'd like to.

If they will not do this, tell the body shop that you would like the new hood and that it will be cheaper. Let them talk to the insurance about it.

 

Also, I wouldn't be a dick to the insurance company. But I probably wouldn't let them tell me when and what I'm doing about the car.

It seems like the guy hit you, if its his fault the insurance company should pay. I'd be pissed if they told me they were going to "have the car fixed" but not pay.

 

You'll find out soon enough.
One scenario:
The adjuster will probably look at your car, you will take it to get some bids of places they OK, the insurance company will probably write you a check for that amount if you sign off holding them harmless from anything else.

 

His insurance is definitely paying guys. His rep. called me and told me about everything. They called Haddad Dodge [where my Nissan gets repairs done] and arranged a time on Monday for me to come in and get it checked out. Once that is done, I'm gonna get a date where they actually begin repairs on my car and Enterprise gives me a car for the duration of the repair time. So it's all being legit.

I'm going on Monday, like I said, so I'll definitely talk to the people in the body shop about it. Now the only thing is finding the best deal I can on a CF hood.

 

It all comes down to the insurance company and the body shop. I find that the honest approach works best. If you go and get your estimate(s) like the insurance company wants and then suggest a cheaper method, or even a more expensive method and offer to pay the difference, they will usually work with you. If they feel you are being sneaky and trying to manipulate the situation at all, they make it hard on you. It all about people skills. Lies tend to snowball up and people can tell when they are being bs'ed or not by how long it takes to answer a simple question. Just tell them what you wanna do and hope for the best.

 

Cool. Sounds like the insurance company is working with you. BTW Hertz will rent you a 350Z.

 

I just got through a situation with someone keying up my whole car. I promptly filed a police report and it has been under investigation for awhile now. Turns out that the investigator is apparently close to closing the case and will have the answer of who done it whenever he sends me the paperwork. Once I have that individual prosecuted for guilt, my insurance company will go after the money and I'll get my $500 deductible back. My car is currently in the body shop right now.

After I got my original estimate on the car, my adjustor came out to give their final estimate. The adjustor made the final decision on what should be done to repair the car. With that estimate, I received a check for that exact amount made out to myself and the body shop. Body shops will typically want to keep your car as close to stock as possible when repairing it, but it's all going to depend on the body shop you're dealing with and the way your insurance company handles it.

 

I got a ****in' taurus, man. I'm pissed.

 

from what i understand the check comes to you and you go get it fixed...

 

That's what my insurance company did.

Mine was for an exact amount from my adjustors estimate, so I couldn't change anything on there. However, I could get other things done once at the shop, but at my own expense. That defeats the purpose, of course. The guy threw in some minor details for me, but he still wanted to keep it as close to stock as possible for whatever reason.