Last Friday, I was driving down FM 2920 in Spring and got T-boned by an old grandmother. The impact of the hit did quite a bit of damage to the left rear of the auto. Grandma's insurance adjuster came to see the car today and assessed the damage at $3400.00. I am going to take the car to Northside Lexus to have the work done. A couple of questions: 1) I'm assuming Lexus' cost of repair will be quite a bit higher than that of the Insurance Adjuster. At what repair cost would the insurance company consider totalling my car (2003 Lexus GS300 with 89,000 miles). 2) This car was in another accident 3 years ago that also impacted the rear of the vehicle. Should I consider selling the car? 3) Since this car was in a wreck once before, can I legitimately file a Diminished Value claim. I know a car loses value with an accident, but I am not sure if there is a loss of value for the 2nd accident. Thanks in advance.
Not sure about the other questions, but when I was hit the adjuster came out and gave me one number and said there was probably much more damage underneath than he could see and that they would change the cost once I took the car to a shop. Once I took it to a shop it ended up being about $4000 worth of damage about $1500 more than the estimate and I didn't run into any trouble getting that changed.
Getting a lawyer for property damage is just silly. The lawyer's cut is going to get taken out of the cost to repair the vehicle. Jackfruit, When you go to Northside Lexus, ask for Roman in the body shop, and tell him Chris w/ USAA sent you. I work with him on a regular basis. They will work off of and honor the insurance estimate as long as no addl damage is found, so don't assume they will be higher as all shops in Houston honor insurance appraisals. If hidden damage is found, Roman will contact the ins co. and request a supplement, which is very standard. You probably won't be looking at much DV, if any, given the age, mileage and previous damage, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Can't help with your questions but consider yourself lucky she had insurance. I got hit (rear-ended) by an older gentleman carrying bogus insurance that says he was covered. Then, I talked to his insurance company and they said he was not covered. Apparently, plenty of people are driving around with bogus insurance cards in case they have to present to a cop...who just wants to see proof without following up on whether it is valid or not. So, mine came out to just over $4,000 in damage and I'm presently out my deductible of $500 and rental car expenses of $350. I get screwed for being insured and not at fault. Even though my insurance company is going after him, I am doubtful I see any money. I couldn't imagine what would have happened had I been seriously injured and how much more money I might have had to fork over. It's a bunch of bs is what it is. I feel like taking revenge.
Then if the at fault part is uninsured, you should be able to file under your uninsured motorist coverage. $250 ded and full rental coverage.
Also surfguy, if you don't have that coverage as part of your current policy, call your agent and request a copy of the application where you rejected that coverage. On the standard acord application for an auto policy, you're suppose to sign off on a rejection statement if you don't want it. The agent could be held responsible...
Funny that you guys brought up the uninsured part of the policy. I just got a call from my insurance company just today on that and will be getting back $250 of the $500 I originally paid. They were still processing the information on the individual who hit me trying to get the documentation from the company that he represented as his insurance company. They denied covering him but were dragging their feet a little in providing the proof they would not cover him. Also, they had to make sure the truck that hit me wasn't registered to someone else or had any other coverage on it. They haven't even started going after him yet as they are just getting the bills and stuff together. So, I may get my other $250 back yet. But, I don't get my rental costs reimbursed...as I declined that coverage. I may pick that up going forward as it's probably not much to add it. I hadn't been in a collision of any sort since 1995 (when someone backed into my unoccupied parked car on a street and took off)...so it was a good streak while it lasted.
whatever you do, make sure you read EVERYTHING you sign and don't let anyone take your car to platinum motorsports in richmond. i was in a wreck on the 5th and the tow truck driver told us he was taking my car there. he asked me to sign a document saying he was taking my car (after we asked him to take it to toyota, but he said they couldn't cause they were already closed). fast foward two weeks when they finally decide my car is not totaled and they have $8300 worth of repairs to do. i call toyota to ask them to pick up the car cause i wanted to make sure i wasn't getting screwed as is my right in texas. the body shop told me they'd already started repairs (which was weird since i was only informed the car was not totaled that day) and that someone would have to pay for the repairs already done. call my agent who called him and he faxed over a copy of my authorization for them to work on the car. sure enough, the tow truck driver had me sign authorization for them to repair my car even though he represented it as something else and led me to believe that he was not even an employee of this body shop. still haven't gotten my car back either even though they said it'd be done last saturday (up yours for making me leave austin early saturday and skipping juan in a million...at least i got my dojos!). they say all i need to bring is the check from state farm and my deductible, but i'm very nervous they're going to spring something on me when i show up to pick up my car.
It's a good thing I got that $250 back cause I just got a speeding ticket for 76 in a 65. These things have a way of working themselves out. Now I'm even I guess.
Lesson 1 at the scene of an accident: Never, ever, under any circumstance, sign a tow ticket. EVER. Tell the tow operator t.o take it to his storage lot and then call your repair shop and have them pick it up from storage. Because of city regulations that allow it, tow truck drivers have all sorts of loopholes to screw vehicle owners and insurance companies out of lots of money. Example: I had a claim just this week. Vehicle was involved in an accident and towed by the tow company to their "storage lot" aprox. 1 mile away. That was $143.50, which is the city regulated rate. At the scene, the driver had the vehicle owner sign their ticket. The driver told the owner it was to authorize them to store it. Wrong. It was an authorization for them to "transfer" it to their body shop, which was on the other side of the fence from the storage lot (same person owned both the tow company and body shop). The shop then took off the fender, bumper and headlamp, which takes about 30 mins (as well as authorizing transfer, the owner's signature also authorized a teardown). So here was the breakdown in the end: Accident Monday: Tow from scene to storage = $143.50 (city regulated) Moved Tuesday to shop across the fence: 2 days of storage (from Mon to Tues) $20/day (city regulated) = $40 Tax on storage = $3.25 Notification fee (city regulated) = $50.00 Preservation fee (city regulated) = $25.00 Transfer tow from storage to shop = $285.00 (this is the really crooked part, given the fact that the vehicle was driven, not towed across the fence) Teardown fee $500.00 (I usually will only pay about 2 hrs @ $40/hr for this) Total charges =$1,046.75 (this, for about 1- 1/2 hours worth of work for the wrecker driver and shop combined) All because the owner signed the ticket. If they hadn't, the worse the charges would have been to move it to his shop of choice would have been about $400.00. And folks wonder why insurance rates, especially in Harris County, are so high and why insurance adjusters always question so much.
How? 1) Insurance companies getting together to do anything is on the fringe of violating all sorts of anti-trust laws. 2) So many insurance companies do not realize the tow/storage problem that Houston has (the over-charging/fluffing of tow tickets is somewhat isolated to the Houston area).
