Insurance Question for the hive

My daughter was an unwilling participant in a fender bender this week.

She was driving maybe 15mph slowing down for a light, woman with a Prius pulled out of an alley without looking right and tagged her on the front bumper, fender and wheel. Hood has a bunch of scratches that weren't there before as well.

Not sure where that screw came from- it didnt actually go into the tire itself.

She thinks the other driver was cited, as he cleared Olivia to leave & told the other driver to stay.  Still waiting for the accident report to be 'approved'

So after a conversation with the other driver's rather unpleasant claims person, Im concered they're going to screw us over and offer like $50 since it's a 2011 Civic, but feom my point of view it was in excellent condition until their person hit it - virtually zero rust, a couple small scratches.

Its literally been 25+ years since Ive had to deal with this kind of thing.

I know there's a couple insurance people in the GRM family - how does this process generally go?

What they offer doesn't really make much of a difference. The initial quote of repair you get is going to be laughably low. As long as they deem it 100% the other drivers fault, you'll take your vehicle to a repair shop that will work directly with the insurance company and will pay them directly. If for any reason they try and screw you, you get your insurance involved. When I had a similar fender bender, my insurance was not involved at all. 

Had a few just like these and ran through the other person's insurance each time. Every one of them had me pick from a list of like 5 shops in my area based on zip code that were the ones they were approved to do work with, take the car in, get an estimate $ to fix. If I didn't like it could take to one of other other 4 shops. Once agreed on that #, I could either take a check equal to that value (in my most recent case, $1,200 for a rear bumper for an accord that a guy lightly rear ended me) or leave it at the shop for a week for them to fix. For the accord just took the check and pulled a junkyard bumper for $50. In your case will likely leave at the shop and they'll take care of the rest so long as it's not totaled out. If they replace the tire, push for at least the pair if not all 4 to match.

Also, here's my threadly reminder that as the victim, you are in no way obligated to use their recommended shops.  Take it where you want to take it.

In reply to Duke :

This is true, however. If there are any delays with the shop, its alot easier with their recommended shop. A friend of mine chose his own, and they wanted the rental car back after so many days even though parts weren't available. I went through the recommended shop that took 12 weeks on something that should have taken 1 week, but had a rental car the entire time without issue. 

I would just take them to court and let a judge decide. But then I do that for a living.

Most insurance companies would rather negotiate than pay legal fees.

When my Miata got wrecked I actually got a check and got to keep the car even though they wanted to total it and take it in the beginning.

I found a replacement trunk lid on Craigslist for $50 and sourced the rest of the parts in a friend's backyard and fixed it myself.

Take it to a body shop with a good reputation that does collision repairs and let them deal with it.  That's what they do.

Thanks for the input everyone!!!

Local PD still hasnt released the accident report, and Allstate hasn't called my wife with their initial offer (title is in her name)  . 

On the plus side, we did get the first accident attorney call today - 'most importantly, how are you feeling today' from a spoofed #,asking to call back to another spoofed #.   Somehow they got wife's phone #, which must have come from Allstate. 

Fortunately Pat knows everyone everywhere so I have a solid shop contact, will hopefully get there tmrw.

The tire has some scuffs but holds air, it drives straight and from a quick look it underneath doesnt seem like suspension or tie rod were bent, but who knows what's behind door #2 when the bumper comes off.  I definitely want a new pair of tires.  Not too concerned bopping around in town at 30mph for a bit, but she'll be going back to school next month which is 100mi each way.

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

I would just take them to court and let a judge decide. But then I do that for a living.

Most insurance companies would rather negotiate than pay legal fees.

When my Miata got wrecked I actually got a check and got to keep the car even though they wanted to total it and take it in the beginning.

I found a replacement trunk lid on Craigslist for $50 and sourced the rest of the parts in a friend's backyard and fixed it myself.

I love you, bud, but OMG...really? Why complicate what is a simple claim in this case? 

Allsnake isn't a particularly good company. Lots of body shops don't like working with them. The shop I used to run was a direct repair facility for them, however, and it made life much easier/tolerable doing it that way. So, I'd recommend using their suggested shop(s). Ask for a couple choices, then Google them and see what the reviews are like. Nobody will have a full 5 stars because it's the auto body business and someone is always mad about something silly. Generally, anything over 4.2 stars I consider a decent shop. That's what I did with my own DRP shops when I was temporarily a claim rep.  "Oh, here's one that is 4.8 stars and only 2 miles from you. That's the one I'd go for."

Cars are worth stupid money right now. That Civic should get fixed pretty easily. All aftermarket parts, of course, but it's an '11 Civic. 

Ambulance chaser attorney got your info from the police blotter, not from the insurance company. Privacy laws prevent the latter, and obviously they have no incentive to get an attorney involved. Attorneys won't be interested in this little hit anyway once they find out there are no injuries. No meat on the bone.

I'm sorry to hear about your frustrations. 
 

Side note...

Whether or not you were at fault, it will show up on your driving record and likely effect your future insurance rates. It just happened to me for an incident that happened several years ago. Other driver was 100% at fault, and was cited. My claim was entirely made with his insurance company- no cost to mine at all.

It still showed up as an incident when I went to get new insurance. 
 

The driving incident my ex-wife had also showed up on my records, and will remain for 5 years. 
 

I also had something show up on my records when I asked for an evaluation and was told it was a mechanical failure that had no coverage. No claim, no money, but it's on my record for 5 years. 
 

Insurance sucks. 

Sooo, while Im on GRM anyway, a pseudo-update:

Car is FINALLY at the bodyshop as of Friday, so not optimistic that it will be done before she leaves for school Friday.

Not a fan of Allstate so far.

I did notice it seems to have a good amount of negative camber on that wheel, so guess we'll see once they get it pulled apart. She is NOT going to be happy if it ends up totaled. 

She's been taking the RSX to work but doesn't like it, even though its about the same platform with 80 more HP and one more gear. 

There's a reason repair shops call them "Allsnake". 

So, to summarize:

How it started:

How it's going:

The bodyshop called it the Kitty Kar due to the heavy application of Hello Kitty accessories, unicorns, etc.

So we ended up with new fender and bumper, knuckleand struts to fix the camber, new front tires, headlight and wheel cover.  The paint looks great.  Also got the windows tinted today; they spared her anime decals which made her happy.

The timing sort of worked itself out, as my wife is having surgery tmrw so Olivia is home anyway after the horror of drivong my Saab for a week. Drama....