I think people are asking for pressure on the dealership because most have had bad experiences with dealerships taking shortcuts. Believe me, they will. This is from my past experience and actually working at one many years ago. I despise dealerships. Cant really do much until you see what the car looks like when they're done.

 

so... let me get this straight flee - you're going to notice your insurance company 30+ days after the "accident" in question?

this will raise red flags. why so scared of your insurance carrier? why don't you find a policy and salesperson you can at least speak with (i.e. statefarm)

the op needs to protect himself as the dealer is definitely going FOR THE SCREW.

"no big deal" hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

good luck with that a dealership chief.

i'd call the ****ing cops too. over $500 in damage?

GET A ****ING POLICE REPORT.

so much bad advice on teh nets. facepalm.

only an idiot moron would trust the dealership.

 

Incorrect, unless your insurance sucks. Again, you get what you paid for. I've had similar issues in the past, and my insurance company worked through the problem without opening a claim. They cannot open a claim unless you specifically ask for one to be opened.

You want to call them to let them know what's going on incase they need to step in. They don't want to pay, so they'd go after the dealership's insurance first.

You wouldn't.

Agreed.

Not if you're not at fault, unless, again, you have sucker insurance.

Because it seems that all they want to do is detail it.

Totally agree.... but I would still keep my agent in the loop.

I did the same thing when an EPA person dinged my door against a concrete wall. No harm, no fowl...and they even assured me that I could call them at any time if anything went wrong with the EPA taking care of it.

 

CRXtoZ, FineWine, and lgear080...
You guys are completely WRONG.

You're talking to a former Allstate agent and current Allstate customer, I got my license when I was 18. So without knowing anything about me or what insurance company I had or worked for, you guys are saying I'm wrong and my insurance company is ****?? LOL. (FineWine I see your ******** a LOT on this forum, you hardly ever know wtf you're talking about).

I've worked on both ends of the insurance business, office sales and claims. They are completely different in what they can do and can not do. Trust me when I say you guys are flat out wrong.

Who are you gonna "let know"? Your agent? He'll tell you the exact same thing: file a claim (either that or he will take the information and file the claim himself, sometimes without the knowledge or authorization of the client. Fact is, you may think they helped you without opening a claim when they actually did). Only the claims department can legally look into incidents, your agent has no power when it comes to this. Agents have no authorization to even discuss actions with the other party. PERIOD.

Second, you have ONE FULL YEAR to file a claim on anything, in some states you have more time. NO QUESTIONS ASKED, its not "suspicious" or whatever bs someone said.

Third, dealership admitted fault. They said they will fix the problem and gave you a rental so why would you call your insurance company? The only time you should call your insurance is when they fail to fix the problem. Like i said, GET THE PAPERPROOF. And to be entirely honest, even this is NOT necessary. Lets say the dealership refuses to repair the car to it's original state before you dropped it off and you call your insurance to claim. The adjuster will see that you dropped the car off for an oil change (car completely out of your hands), see that the dealership called you and notified you of the problem, and see that the dealership gave you a rental for free. That is all the adjuster would need to fault the dealership even without paperwork, but its still safer to get it than not.

I can go into more reason on why you should not file a claim with your own insurance company when your not at fault, but I wont. I'm not a ******* teacher, but its clear some of you need one. I think what I said is enough. Of course there are situations when it is necessary to get your insurance company involved (which i mentioned already), for now this isnt one of them.

And FineWine, feel free to keep talking out of your *** bro...

 

If all the car needs is a drying and quick detail, THEN THATS ALL IT NEEDS. What more do you want? Free stuff? I dont understand why you think the OP deserves something more. Unless the OP lost money somehow (like the car is a show car that missed out on a $10,000 1st place prize that it realistically could have won), he deserves nothing more then what the dealership provided for him. Trust me, I hate certain aspects of dealerships but in this case they did everything right.

So what exactly did they do for you? And they can open a claim without you specifically saying "I'd like to file a claim". If all you did was call your insurance agent and say "This happened, I need you to talk to the dealership and make sure my car gets repaired", your agent will say "ok" and then call the claims office to explain the situation. If you think your agent is making runs in the field to fix their clients problems, you're mistaken.

 

I currently have AllState insurance as well. When I had a similar situation (damage to my vehicle caused by another party, not myself), my agent helped me answer all of the questions I had, and personally offered any assistance I needed. How you handled customers has no bearing on my experience.

I'm not sure how I can talk out of my *** about my own experience.

If you are in fact a former agent, I would say your advice trumps my advice any day (at least when it comes to advice for a random person). I have no problem admitting that, so I'm not sure what you're getting at about me continuing to talk out of my ***. I'm telling you what I would do, what I have done in the past, and what I would do again in the future. However, I would also trust my agent over anything you have to say about my policy any day.

My insurance agent knows me by name and face. I'm sure that's not the case with everyone, but it's certainly the case with me. Therefore, my position stands -- I would let me agent know what's going on in.

So, tell me, again, how I don't know what I'm talking about? Would you like to fill me in on how my own experience actually went, "bro"?

 

lmao

 

You can't possibly know that that's all it NEEDS without looking into the problem. As someone else said, their shop took out the uphostery and let it air dry, and replaced everything that was damaged. That is what I would expect...not free stuff. Assuming that the damage is only a little bit of mess is ridiculous.

If it was a dent in the car, I would expect them to take care of the dent... not just give me a free polish. I wouldn't expect them to paint the entire car, but I would expect a reasonable effort to make the dent disappear, and fair compensation if they couldn't.

Same thing with rain damage. If all it actually needs is a detail, then fine.


Explained my options, answered my questions throughout the process, and even tried to suggest where I take the car to get repaired. They assured me that I would be covered in case the testing station did not cover the damages, and walked me through how that would work and affect my policy.

Even if that's "standard" any time there's an inquiry -- no harm no fowl.


Well, that sucks. I think I took his word as a rule instead of just good customer service

 

Again, you have one full year to file a claim. If the car is not as you left it when you pick it up, take it back and tell them to fix it. If they refuse or fail to fix the problem, then you bring your insurance company into the picture, not a second sooner.

Who wouldnt expect this? All the dealership legally needs to do is get the car in the condition it was in when he dropped it off. Seems like they are doing just that, so whats the problem?

Ok so you proved my point. Your agent (guy who SELLS insurance) took care of you. All agents do is make the customer feel comfortable and suggest things to help. They have no power in pressuring the dealership. With that being said, why is any of that necessary?? Dealership said they will fix the problem. You dont need recommendations on body shops or a step-by-step on anything. Dealership will fix the car, come pick it up when its done. Simple.

 

Fair enough. I would just not accept "free detailing!" as a resolution. That is all I was saying.


It was an example of how doing a detailing does not necessarily correct damage.

Fair enough again, but I'm ok with that. You said to explicitly not contact the insurance company, though, as if it was somehow worse to do so.


I don't disagree with you. Again, my suggestion stems from the fact that "all" they were going to do is detail it and sweep it under the rug as if nothing happend.

I don't see anything wrong with your suggestion of keeping a paper trail. I had a problem with you suggesting that contacting insurance would somehow leave you worse off, is the worst idea ever, and your car would blow up.

If the dealership is taking care of it to your satisfaction, there's no reason to do anything else. I inferred that they were not, so I suggested getting advice from your insurance agent. I don't see your issue with this, or your need to call me out on it. It worked perfectly fine for me... or at least did not hurt.

 

I'm the one that pointed out the possibilities of water damage. My main point was, make sure the dealer understands the op would be concerned about future problems occuring from the currant water damage. If mine there would be documentation of "said" occurance, with dealership quaranteing repair of any water damage associated problems including free use of a rental car . He would be asking for an insurance policy. If the dealer is confident of their repair it would'nt be a problem.
"WE" seem to be having a bigger problem with this than the op!

 

Finewine, Flee, etc. - you guys lighten up. You're debating something that has nothing to do with OPs problem at this point in time. It's pointless until he posts a followup and it relavent to his situation. Besides, you're giving me a headache.


Hmmmm... I wonder what happened to Tai_Lee ??? I'd like to know how the whole deal worked out.

 

I'm not debating anything. I was giving advice. I'm not the one calling people out

edit > Ok, now I'm debating whether or not I'm debating

 

sorry to revive....

but i read...reread...rereread this topic(it was under my profile..) but Fine and flee seemed very civil about this topic even tho they may have gotten off task who knows maybe the OP is reading this right now and taking action?!? It def. gave me some advice from both parties(insurance/YOU). the only times i've informed my insurance agent was when i was reended(totaled 2 cars...rip 99 maxima) neither were my fault but i felt the need to let him know(you know "i'm gonna need to add a new car to my policy) both times he opened a claim .02

 

 

X100; then if anything breaks electronically inside you car, they shoudl cover it and replace it, free of charge.

 

I see the OP hasn't said a word after the first post. Anybody have any idea how this worked out?