Insurance Estimate Times on Wrecked FR-S's/BRZ's?
 

Hey guys,

Unfortunately, I rear ended someone a week and a half ago when trying to read a street sign in an unfamiliar town.

The full thread about it is here: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20894

Anyways, the body shop has still not completed the estimate on the car yet. They keep telling me that it is not in their estimation system and they are having to get parts lists from Toyota and Subaru to complete the estimate.

For those of you who have also wrecked your BRZ's or FR-S's, how long have you had to wait to get an estimate and to get the repairs completed. I am dying to get my car back, but it seems that no progress is being made. I am considering dollying the car to another body shop if this shop can't get the estimate done soon.

What do you guys think? I would post pictures, but the insurance company hasen't even taken any yet. I'm with Liberty Mutual.

Thanks!

The insurance company is supposed to do the preliminary estimate.
The body shop just tears the car down and then requests a supplement request for additional damages, if any.

Call the insurance adjuster.

Mine worked like that when I wasn't at fault.
When I hit someone from behind, the adjuster called me and told me where I could bring it (he gave me options of places in their "network"). That place handled everything. That was with a jeep wrangler so of course parts were easy to come by.

This FRS/BRZ is still fairly new.In jan 2007 I bought a 4D wrangler, In feb I got into an accident.Because the vehicle had only been in production for a few months,it was very hard for the dealership to get parts,since the demand for new jeeps was very high with the new body style.

My jeep sat at the dealership for 4 weeks before they got the parts and 3 weeks to complete repairs.In all I waited nearly 2 months to get my Wrangler back.

You might as well get use to your rental,it might be a while before you see your FRS/BRZ

I'm an estimator at a Toyota Dealership Collision Center. I have a database for your vehicle. I use CCC ONE estimating system. I was fooling around with it the other day. They are slow....

That's what I've been thinking. Even if they don't have it in the system, can't they just get some parts lists from Subaru and Toyota and estimate it their selves? A week and a half without pictures or a completed estimate is pissing me off. I would expect to wait this long for parts, not an estimate. If they can't do it by Friday I think I will dolly it to a Toyota collision center. It is currently at Liberty Mutual's recommended service center for that area.

I work in auto body and I can understand why it is taking so long. When a brand new model comes out, there is pretty much no information on the vehicle. For Audatex's estimating system, you would need to enter all your own hours and labor times.

I can see why there would be a delay, however, it shouldn't be taking as long as this.

I did the same thing in July. It took 2-3 weeks to figure out what was needed and then 30-45 for parts to arrive from Japan as there is no US supply yet. When I picked up my car a few weeks ago it had just showed up in their database. I had to wait and extra 5 weeks since they needed to order a second batch of parts. Hopefully you should be looking at no more than 2 months at the very latest (I waited 3...). Have them contact different dealers before order the parts as some are much more afressive in getting you the parts asap where others are like we have none and no clue how long it will take.

The good news is most parts are now available within 3-5 business days. This is according to multiple dealers. Depending on the extent of your damage expect to be out of service anywhere between 17 and 30 days if nothing is on back order, I am still waiting on fender liner,. Be sure you get alignment sheets after your work to make sure they did proper work on suspension. Take a week to drive if to find any issues.

Most body shops will not have their systems updated however insurance companies should at this point. All parts will likely come directly from the body shops preferred dealer.

I worked automobile insurance claims for 25 years. Your insurance company should tell the shop to go ahead, order the parts and get the work started and if there are any discrepancies in costs after the work is finished they will work it out with the body shop. After all, no matter what the cost of the parts might end up being the work is going to be done so there's no reason not to get it going.

Insurance adjusters can become wrapped up in procedures but every now and then an unusual circumstance comes up that requires a little thinking outside the box. When I worked claims there was a pretty good saying: "Don't do the right thing, do what's right".

After reading these posts I think I am going to make the 3 hour drive down and pick up the car today with a tow dolly. I just got off the phone with our local Toyota dealer and they said that the car is in their system and they can get the estimate done quickly tomorrow. I know dealerships are normally full of crap, but I actually believe them this time. Apparently the car is at a Chevy dealership down there. I know this is my fault to begin with, but I am very irritated with my insurance company right now.

Dale, Don't be angry at your insurance company. Be angry at the person handling your claim. They might be so new to the job that they're afraid of doing any thing that's contrary to their written procedures or it's possible you got an adjuster that truly doesn't care about giving good service. No company has 100% star performers in any job. Don't hesitate to ask to talk to the claims manager. You can tell them that you have a friend that's a retired claims manager and this would not have been a problem were he handling the matter. I explained above how I would have handled it.

Just got back home to Greensboro, NC. I dolley'd the car over to Rice Toyota in Greensboro all the way from Wilmington, NC (3 hours one way). Hopefully they can get to work on it in the morning!

BTW here's a picture of the wreckage. It got torn up pretty good but hopefully it will be back on the road in a month or so.

http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...v0832920PM.jpg
http://i663.photobucket.com/albums/u...v0872639PM.jpg

Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I got in a similar accident yesterday. How much was the damage and how long did it take to get fixed?