BRZ accident advice

[Chee-Hu]

My sister was involved in an accident very similar to yours. Some douche made a left turn on a red light as she entered the intersection. She t-boned the car as well. The car she was driving was a less than a year old Subaru Impreza. She ended up getting a completely new car in a different color.

Good luck.

[Jive Turkey]

if this is a body shop you trust...go there and make sure the car wont start.

[FV]

Taking the car to the dealership won't do anything. Everyone knows they charge way too much and insurance companies rarely honor their labor rates.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2.

[BostonJohn]

Originally Posted by FV

Taking the car to the dealership won't do anything. Everyone knows they charge way too much and insurance companies rarely honor their labor rates.

In this situation I starting to agree. The insurance company sent their own inspector the next day. The inspector asked the body shop I selected to tear down the car before he arrived so he could really assess the damage. The inspector prepaired the quote rather than the body shop.

Short of hiring a lawyer to take this to arbitration I'm not sure I have much negotiating room here.

[brzninja]

It's weird saying this, but I'm sorry it wasn't totaled. Same thing happened to my last car. I was $500 under it being deemed totaled. I was able to drive it another 5-6 years but due to some frame damage it needed to be aligned almost every 6-8 months. Sorry dude.

[EZalybored]

Funny story actually, my BRZ was just involved in a hit-and-run yesterday also in the San Diego area. I talked with the police and my insurance company yesterday and this morning, and I am taking the car back to the LA area (where I'm from) to get it appraised there and so I can switch out the car for another one.

BostonJohn, if possible, I would like to talk to you more about the damage to your vehicle and how you handled everything so I can get the most out of my accident and hopefully get a new BRZ.

[Opie]

Don't forget to go after the other company for diminished value of the car and the factory warranty. I've used these guys in the past: http://www.autoloss.com/

[Kiske]

The insurance adjuster will write their own estimate. Also have the body shop write one. IF you see any "*" next to labor/prie it mean it is an adjusted value (be it more or less.) A lot if insurance will cut labor costs to save them money. IT also will vary depending on which program/books they use.

According to Mitchell program my shop uses around $13941.00 is about a 60% loss on a base FRS/BRZ.

[EZalybored]

Will my own insurance company cover the DV costs? Since my accident was a hit-and-run (luckily I was able to jot the down license plate number of the other vehicle) I'm afraid that if I got the license plate number wrong or if the other party doesn't have insurance then I won't be able to claim DV on the car.

[Opie]

Originally Posted by EZalybored

Will my own insurance company cover the DV costs? Since my accident was a hit-and-run (luckily I was able to jot the down license plate number of the other vehicle) I'm afraid that if I got the license plate number wrong or if the other party doesn't have insurance then I won't be able to claim DV on the car.

If you are not at fault, they should.

[gily25]

Originally Posted by BostonJohn

The car did not go to the dealer, it went to the shop that I selected. My concern was that if the damage was only superficial I didn't want the dealer doing body work.

I've since chatted with the appraiser and the adjuster. Both are saying it does not meet their 75-80% damage requirement for total loss. I asked the appraiser if the supplements brought it over the 75% mark would they total it even after repairs start... he said no.

The adjuster on the other hand said that at anytime if the repairs exceed the total loss mark they will stop, even if they are only days away from completion. I don't buy this for a second, maybe I can get that in writing =)

Once they have placed the parts on order they'll have a clearer view of what the value is going to be along with the initial break-down of the car which will accrue most of the labor since the tech has to differentiate what is broken from what can be re-used. If they're more than 50% of the estimated value after this point they will probably stop.

If they insist on going through with this repair I would be at that shop or calling that shop every other day or every third day to see what the progress is. You are going to document this aspect heavily, not in your phone but in a nicely formatted word/excel document which can be shared with others if necessary. If you haven't already discussed this with an attorney I would strongly recommend that you do, many DUI or PI attorneys will have experience working with your insurance company and may be able to get that "worked out" sot aht you get a new car.

[spitfire481]

People who think unibody damage or airbag deployment means instant total loss have no clue. Probably half of our insurance work at the shop falls in one, if not both of those departments

[White64Goat]

Originally Posted by BostonJohn

Since a few people asked I am OK. I immediately went to the hospital to get checked out. Other than some whiplash I came out pretty unharmed.

The appraiser and body shop already list some frame damage but I think it could be worse. If you notice in the picture below all of the bottom panels have popped off the car, front to rear. This tells me the entire unibody was flexed and stressed.

Since a picture speaks a 1000 words, here she is:

Invisible car? no picture here...........

[ntron1]