Insurance Adjuster, What to Expect? AKA Don't Total SWMBO's Baby!!!

Well, the Tue. appointment with VW was canceled, has been rescheduled for this coming Mon. the 13th. When I got the update this afternoon, it was a bit of a relief, we've got plans this evening that would make picking the car up today difficult, and I don't want any potential headache of fighting with the insurance for having a rental after our car was finished.

In the body shop's defense, the holidays really slowed them down, parts suppliers had different holiday schedules than they did, and there have been two ice storms in the past month that has inundated them with collision repairs. We're in no rush, I want my car back, but I want them to take their time and do it right.

While that left rear quarter, I and many others were worried about, straightened to their satisfaction, the rear body panel did not. There were some minor crinkles that they couldn't get smoothed, and the striker for the deck lid (trunk) was a bit off still, so instead of wasting further time trying to straighten it, they installed a new rear body panel.

Allegedly all of the body work really is done now, the car is currently painted and drying, and will be taking a trip to VW Monday. Fingers crossed.

Enterprise hasn't hassled us anymore, so no worries there.

Thursday the 16th will be 1 month. Have I mentioned how much I dislike the new Jetta yet?

• Lee

We got our car back!!!

Overall, I'm pleased, the work they did looks great. The owner of the shop was waiting especially for me to be there to pick up the car. We had talked a few times, he knew my high expectations, how anal I am. The paint looks great, no flaws at all in the body work. Life time warranty on the work they performed, etc.

I'm 98% satisfied, I'm going to sleep on it before saying anything to the shop. My gripes: they took it to VW to be checked out as I requested, however the copy of the RO they gave me doesn't mention a thing about the radio rattling, it wasn't rattling on the drive home, possible it was fixed at body shop, and the trunk takes excessive force to get it to latch, wasn't like this before the accident, but I know this was one of the reasons they allegedly replaced the rear body panel, it could simply need the striker adjusted, if that"s possible.

Bonus, the owner gave us 3 new VW center caps to replace our missing ones. They fit snug, I don't know if they actually fall off on the road, or if street youths are to blame? Stealing and adorning themselves with VW center caps to impress the ladies may be a new trend?

Enterprise has continued to piss me off. Returned the craptacular rental, we bought insurance, may have been a dumb idea, but the way things had been going seemed like a good idea at the time. Thirty-one days of rental insurance adds up, we were prepared to owe some money, they've already charged us twice over the duration of the rental, but we weren't expecting the total they gave us. The math didn't add at all, even with 10% tax, then we discovered they're trying to tack on the "rental tax" at an additional 12.5%, WTF!?!?! I don't think so, insurance should be paying that, if I hadn't taking out additional insurance from Enterprise I wouldn't owe anything, how do they think I'm going to pay the tax on the rental? Peon working the desk by himself couldn't do anything about it. I'm expecting a call from the manager tomorrow.

I put hundreds of customers in Enterprise rentals when I was a service advisor, with rarely an issue, but every time I've used them personally it has been absolutely AWFUL, to the point that I don't even give them a chance anymore. This time it's who the insurance uses, so I didn't think anything of it, turns out, even when I'm not footing the bill for the actual rental they're still AWFUL!

• Lee

I got tired of waiting on a call, so I called Enterprise, got that straightened out. I still don't understand it, guy tried telling me it's a state law, and is charged on all rentals/rental related bull E36 M3. Went on to tell me I was the first he'd ever had question it. I just couldn't wrap my head around paying a "rental tax" when I never "rented a car," I just bought a damage waiver. The insurance company "rented the car," I just drove it, so if they want to charge someone a "rental tax," charge the insurance company. He acted like he was really doing me a favor, whatever, I got what I wanted, I'm content.

I examined the trunk latch closer this morning, I believe the little spring loaded dust cover that covers the striker when the trunk lid is up just has a stiffer spring than we're used to because it's brand new. The latch on the trunk has to push the dust cover down to latch onto the striker. We shall see.

I need to call the body shop and ask, but anyone have a "rule of thumb," or recommendation on how long to wait post paint before waxing?

• Lee

Glad to hear all is working out well and you got your concerns with ERAC straightened out. All rental cars have taxes. It can vary based on state, location of rental, etc..., but they all have it. And just to clarify, the insurance company didn't rent the car. The rental was actually yours. The insurance company just gets some or all of the bill and pays it directly instead of having you pay it and them reimburse you. Enterprise is the 1000lb gorilla in that business. They have direct billing agreements with pretty much all insurance companies. If you rent from other companies, you may have to pay up front and get reimbursed.

Usually the rule of thumb is 30-60 days, but it depends on the exact paint and the climate.

we bought insurance, may have been a dumb idea, but the way things had been going seemed like a good idea at the time.

When you rent a car, your own auto insurance will cover you - especially if they're the one actually renting the car. At least that's how it works here.

Guess who's expecting a call from the adjuster Monday?

8 days short of a year since the incident that started this thread...

Needs both left doors (yes doors, not just skins), left rocker, a fender, a wheel, and maybe some straightening, the brunt of impact was on the left B pillar/driver door. The driver seat and left side curtain airbag, and seat belt tensioner all deployed. It's got 101K and some change, miles on it now. I don't have high expectations for the estimate.

Craigslist, Cars dot Com, Autotrader, and NADA show it to be a $11.5-13K car prior to being sideswiped. I've never had a car totaled, don't know how big of a struggle it'll be to get in that range. Same as before, we'd MUCH prefer to have the car repaired vs. fighting with insurance co. and car shopping.

The lady that hit us is insured with Cincinnati Ins., she was cited by the state trooper, she hit us after taking to the shoulder to avoid rear-ending the car behind us and the pin-balled off of the guardrail into us. I'll be dealing with her ins. co. to try and save our car, or get the most out of it.

Any thoughts or advice this time around?

I hope this doesn't continue to be an annual occurrence.

If they total it, buy it back, fix it yourself and put some money in the bank. My son just did this with his Sidekick. Very low mileage 'kick, basically worth nothing. They paid him everything he paid for it two years ago ($2500 + tax), then he bought it back for $150, and fixed it for $400. Like you, all he wanted was to have it back, fixed. In the end, he got that, and put $2k in his pocket.

I have no bodywork experience, but from your description I thought it was way worse. It looks like it can probably be fixed.

My '11 Fiesta got hit in the drivers door. All side airbags deployed. My Ford body shop manger said it was most likely totaled. Air bags alone $3K. damage to the door post.

He was right, adjuster called and said totaled and the insurance company offered more than I expected. Simple procedure, some legalistic papers and send them the title. Received the check. Put it down on a new '13 Fiesta. Nice part as the dealer gave me a lowner Focus for the time it took. No charge.

Curtain air bag, driver seat, and seat belt pre-tensioner will have to be replaced, and whatever is involved with reprogramming/resetting the SRS system.

Both left doors, front won't close, rear won't open. Hing of rear and striker for front is tweaked from B pillar damage. Handles for both doors are fubared, and front door will require lock cylinder keyed to the car.

Fender and wheel seem straight forward.

Rocker panel needs replaced, unknown hidden damage. I could find junk-yard color matched doors and fender, but rocker panel will require actual body work.

That's just what I know from my novice inspection.

If it tweaked the b-pillar, they're going to total it. That stuff requires a bunch of dissassembly before pulling. Air bags ain't gonna be cheap.

Now, seeing what you have done in your build threads, im sure you can buy it back and put it back together enough for most to never notice it's been hit. You'll see every single flaw. So will your wife. Can you live with that? Also, you will need to get a salvage title. Dunno how that works in your state.

My daughter totaled one of our cars this summer. It had 165k miles on it and was ten years old. The insurance company gave me about twice what I expected. They even bumped the value above average because it was so clean. It took about a week from the date of the accident to get a check in my hands. It was her first accident and the cheapest insurance option for the replacement car was from the same company.

Airbags on VWs are $$$. That's not going to help. I'd have written it for used everything: doors certainly, and probably a rocker/B pillar section. VW sells the uniside in a huge chunk and it's just too expensive to buy new in most cases.

Though I understand it's a hassle I don't get why people are so reluctant to just let something go when it's a total unless it's something special. Most cars aren't; there are thousands more out there. I suppose it's because most people rarely buy an actual 'comparable' car and instead go for something more expensive because it's newer/has fewer miles. Doing it everyday as I do, though, the hassle of keeping it and trying to fix it/being without a car for all that time just doesn't seem like the best plan to me. Being in the business perhaps makes me more jaded/immune to the 'automotive attachment' thing.

I've only done it when it puts money back in my pocket. A car is just a car.

ddavidv is right, it's just a car. He's an appraiser, he knows exactly what he's looking at. I agree with his thoughts. VW stuff is expensive, I'm guessing the car is a total. I'd probably be OK with paying for a 2 or 3 hour teardown to allow the shop time to pull the doors, fender, etc...to see the extent of unibody damage (that is assuming the SRS parts don't half total it alone...I don't have access to the software from here).

I get the, "It's just a car" argument, but there's a lot of estrogen involved in this scenario. While you may think it's easier to just replace it, in reality it will not be.

This was HER car, and her very first brand new car. It has been a phenomenal car for doing everything we've asked it to, and has been with us through some important life events, trips, etc. From day 1 this car was going to be a drive it "forever" car, fully expected to be at 250K+ miles before any consideration of replacement came up.

I'd be lying if I said I too didn't have an emotional attachment, I'm sure I could get over it, but getting her to pick another car is not going to be fun, nor is dealing with buying a car.

I'd much rather suffer through a rental car for another month and get our car back, than having to deal with replacing it.

Feel free to call me irrational, but that's the way I see it.

Believe me, I understand. I've seen countless claims where the person was seriously injured, but they were more concerned about the car than themselves. People have attachments to cars.

I understand but if she is going to get run into every few months you may want to take the insurance money and look into something armored.

Why the heck are you dealing with her insurance? Every time I've been hit, I called up my insurance company and let them handle things. I take my car to one of my insurance company's partnered shops, and they handle payment to the shop and "going after" the other person's insurance company. I get my rental and pick my repaired car up a week later.

In reply to Sky_Render:

If you don't carry full coverage, you get to deal with the other parties insurance. I don't carry comprehensive or collision on anything but the wife's car.

We carry full coverage on the Jetta, it's the only car in the fleet with full coverage because it's our primary car, we carpool in it 95% of the time.

I'm using the other at fault party's insurance to prevent ours from having any inclination of "adjusting" our future rates in their favor. Did the same thing for the previous incident and it worked out well. If the other party's insurance gives me more grief than necessary I'll turn it over to our insurance and let come what may.

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

I know what you mean about being attached to the car. I felt like that towards by '03 TDI wagon for a long time. First brand new car. Ordered to spec. 99.9% of the 329K miles have had my butt in the driver's seat. Now, after a year of it sitting on the lift in my garage, the attachment has waned. It takes time. For the last couple years of me driving it, I was almost hoping it would get hit and totalled as it would force me to buy something new.

This reminds me I need to drop full coverage on it... not worth enough anymore...

FWIW, doors are incredibly expensive, and going used there could make the difference between totaled or not.

On my E39, insurance paid out for a new rear door when I was hit. IIRC it was $1200 give or take. I bought a complete door, already the right color so no jam work was needed, from a junkyard for $250. I took it to the bodyshop myself, and the savings was enough to pay for an aftermarket M5 front bumper to be installed and the whole car be resprayed, versus just one side. As a bonus, the door that was hit had a dead window regulator and the one I got had a functional one. Win!

In reply to bigdaddylee82:

She needs to learn sometime that Old Yeller just had to be put down......