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Am I getting hustled by my car insurance company?

S

SeductivePig

Senior member
Kind of a strange ordeal, but I'm insured with Geico. Here's a summary. Fyi, my car is a 2009 camry, bought it certified from the dealership with a clean carfax. Had two minor accidents (dad bumped into my car on the driveway, and lady bumped into my car backing out, that were both fixed by Geico approved bodyshops, minor accidents).

May of last year, I got rear ended by a guy texting and driving at probably 25-30mph (I was stopped in traffic). Surprisingly, very little damage on the outside of my car. His insurance gets me an estimate of $750 for the damage, and since it was barely noticeable, I just pocketed the money.

October of last year, I get rear ended again, this time with a gaping dent on the side of my rear. The guy hit me at maybe 5mph. This guys insurance is shady and doesn't respond (bogus company) so I decide to do it through Geico and pay my $500 deductible.

Geico gives me an initial estimate of $650, then once the repairs started coming in, they find a shit ton more damage, and declare my car a total loss.

Their reasoning? There was a bunch of damage to the rear from a prior accident that somebody attempted to repair and did completely wrong. I never authorized a repair like this and until now was completely unaware that there were any accidents on the car prior to my ownership.

So basically Geico is saying that somebody attempted to repair my car for an accident that isn't on record, so essentially they are saying the Carfax was wrong and that Toyota lied to me when selling a certified car.

Do I have any recourse in this situation? If I decide to keep the car I would get a payout of $4k and owe $3.5k to pay off my damaged car (have $7.5k on the loan).

The only way to recover money at this point is to go back to the insurance company of the first guy who hit me, and tell them they did the estimate wrong. Wouldn't they be responsible for all the additional damage, or is this a futile option?
 
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Sounds like that accident you pocketed the money on was the real reason. No way you were hit at 25-30mph and only caused $750 damage. There was almost certainly structural damage below the surface. You were taken by the previous accident insurance company.
 
waffleironhead said:
Sounds like that accident you pocketed the money on was the real reason. No way you were hit at 25-30mph and only caused $750 damage. There was almost certainly structural damage below the surface. You were taken by the previous accident insurance company.
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This is what I'm thinking. So my best course of action would be to go after this insurance company? Is there any legal precedent preventing me from doing so?
 
crazypraveen said:
This is what I'm thinking. So my best course of action would be to go after this insurance company? Is there any legal precedent preventing me from doing so?
Click to expand...

Not really.. once you agreed to the monetary damages and you had a shop look at it I'm sure, the issue is closed. You agreed to their settlement, took the cash,the issue is over from an insurance point of view.

Your other option would be to sue in small claims court but you would have to show negligence on the part of the insurance company and/or body shop who estimated it at the low dollar figure but then again, it was only an estimate and the price can change (its usually in the small print).
 
slag said:
Not really.. once you agreed to the monetary damages and you had a shop look at it I'm sure, the issue is closed. You agreed to their settlement, took the cash,the issue is over from an insurance point of view.

Your other option would be to sue in small claims court but you would have to show negligence on the part of the insurance company and/or body shop who estimated it at the low dollar figure but then again, it was only an estimate and the price can change (its usually in the small print).
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Well, if it matters I have a dash cam that shows how hard the impact was; this crash made me rear end the guy in front of me, and him the guy in front of him, although the camera dislodges and just spins everywhere.

The estimator didn't think to look inside the car, and didn't tell me that there might be hidden damage. Couldn't this be a case of negligence?

And regardless of what the fine print says, there was damage that was not addressed and accounted for - it's not my fault, so shouldn't the insurance company have to pay?

Or would I be fighting an uphill battle in small claims court?
 
You were taken by yourself. In being greedy, you caused this to happen. You needed to use the money to get your car fixed so that their could not be any finger pointing in the future.

Also, why did you trust the other insurance company for the accident and not get your own estimate?

You are hosed.
 
waffleironhead said:
Sounds like that accident you pocketed the money on was the real reason. No way you were hit at 25-30mph and only caused $750 damage. There was almost certainly structural damage below the surface. You were taken by the previous accident insurance company.
Click to expand...

That.

You should have been in the hospital being checked for brain damage suffered in the crash if you think getting hit like that caused $750 in damage. I'm surprised paint damage alone wasn't double that. Your car got wrecked and you accepted a settlement for next to nothing. You're fucked and you have no recourse.
 
Maybe you can kindly ask the previous insurance company to nullify the release you signed when you accepted the $750?
 
crazypraveen said:
Well, if it matters I have a dash cam that shows how hard the impact was; this crash made me rear end the guy in front of me, and him the guy in front of him, although the camera dislodges and just spins everywhere.

The estimator didn't think to look inside the car, and didn't tell me that there might be hidden damage. Couldn't this be a case of negligence?

And regardless of what the fine print says, there was damage that was not addressed and accounted for - it's not my fault, so shouldn't the insurance company have to pay?

Or would I be fighting an uphill battle in small claims court?
Click to expand...

Whatever damage was caused was settled and done for with the $750 check you have since cashed and used.

Never pocket cash, ALWAYS get the issue resolved.
 
Capt Caveman said:
Why didn't you report this accident to your insurance company and have them give you an estimate?
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I have a $500 deductible, and it made sense to have the other insurance company pay for it so that my premium wouldn't go up..

You were taken by yourself. In being greedy, you caused this to happen. You needed to use the money to get your car fixed so that their could not be any finger pointing in the future.

Also, why did you trust the other insurance company for the accident and not get your own estimate?

You are hosed.
Click to expand...

GagHalfrunt said:
That.

You should have been in the hospital being checked for brain damage suffered in the crash if you think getting hit like that caused $750 in damage. I'm surprised paint damage alone wasn't double that. Your car got wrecked and you accepted a settlement for next to nothing. You're fucked and you have no recourse.
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If you saw the outside of my car, you wouldn't have been able to tell that it was even in an accident. I was there when the guy did my estimate - he looked at literally everything, got underneath the car, and was very thorough. I thought it was in his best interest to find as much damage as he could, so I trusted his judgement. The car drove fine since the crash and had zero mechanical issues - I had literally no idea that there was hidden damage.
 
crazypraveen said:
Well, if it matters I have a dash cam that shows how hard the impact was; this crash made me rear end the guy in front of me, and him the guy in front of him, although the camera dislodges and just spins everywhere.

The estimator didn't think to look inside the car, and didn't tell me that there might be hidden damage. Couldn't this be a case of negligence?

And regardless of what the fine print says, there was damage that was not addressed and accounted for - it's not my fault, so shouldn't the insurance company have to pay?

Or would I be fighting an uphill battle in small claims court?
Click to expand...

And you didn't think of getting your car repaired where any internal damage would have been identified and their insurance(and your) insurance company would have been notified of the additional damage. You screwed yourself. If you rear-ended someone else, you should have reported this to your insurance company.
 
crazypraveen said:
I have a $500 deductible, and it made sense to have the other insurance company pay for it so that my premium wouldn't go up..





If you saw the outside of my car, you wouldn't have been able to tell that it was even in an accident. I was there when the guy did my estimate - he looked at literally everything, got underneath the car, and was very thorough. I thought it was in his best interest to find as much damage as he could, so I trusted his judgement. The car drove fine since the crash and had zero mechanical issues - I had literally no idea that there was hidden damage.
Click to expand...

If you were not at fault, you wouldn't have been responsible for the deductible.
 
crazypraveen said:
I have a $500 deductible, and it made sense to have the other insurance company pay for it so that my premium wouldn't go up..





If you saw the outside of my car, you wouldn't have been able to tell that it was even in an accident. I was there when the guy did my estimate - he looked at literally everything, got underneath the car, and was very thorough. I thought it was in his best interest to find as much damage as he could, so I trusted his judgement. The car drove fine since the crash and had zero mechanical issues - I had literally no idea that there was hidden damage.
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He works for the insurance company and it is his job to fix it for the smallest amount possible, which he did. The other insurance company got off paying $650 for a $5k repair.
 
Capt Caveman said:
And you didn't think of getting your car repaired where any internal damage would have been identified and their insurance(and your) insurance company would have been notified of the additional damage. You screwed yourself. If you rear-ended someone else, you should have reported this to your insurance company.
Click to expand...

Here's the thing - the guy in front of me didn't have any damage, same for the guy in front of him.

I guess you all are right that I didn't make the right decision, but all facts at the time had no indication that there was internal damage.

Do I really have no options at this point?
 
crazypraveen, See above responses. While others may have been shady, so were you or at least very naive.
Always call your insurance company. Don't ever try to profit from an event.
When I was rear-ended, everything was taken care of. Completely. I even got my whole deductible back. But you have to have the police, insurance co and shop all be truthfully informed.
 
crazypraveen said:
Here's the thing - the guy in front of me didn't have any damage, same for the guy in front of him.

I guess you all are right that I didn't make the right decision, but all facts at the time had no indication that there was internal damage.

Do I really have no options at this point?
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Nope you do not.
 
yinan said:
He works for the insurance company and it is his job to fix it for the smallest amount possible, which he did. The other insurance company got off paying $650 for a $5k repair.
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Well, the guy I went to was an independent body shop - the insurance company brings them clients, I didn't think it was in his best interest to find a lower amount of damage - wouldn't that hurt him financially? Less labor?

So you're saying that I can't take this to small claims court and prove that this was negligence?
 
crazypraveen said:
Here's the thing - the guy in front of me didn't have any damage, same for the guy in front of him.

I guess you all are right that I didn't make the right decision, but all facts at the time had no indication that there was internal damage.

Do I really have no options at this point?
Click to expand...

Pretty much. Your car insurance company is unaware of your prior accident and the other insurance company isn't going to pay you anything since you've now gotten into another accident. They're just going to say that the damage is from this accident and not the prior one since you never got it repaired and uncovered the additional damage. How are you going to prove anything?
 
Capt Caveman said:
Pretty much. Your car insurance company is unaware of your prior accident and the other insurance company isn't going to pay you anything since you've now gotten into another accident. They're just going to say that the damage is from this accident and not the prior one since you never got it repaired and uncovered the additional damage. How are you going to prove anything?
Click to expand...

The second accident was just a minor one - have dashcam proving the level of impact force. It could not have caused the kind of damage Geico found.
 
crazypraveen said:
Well, if it matters I have a dash cam that shows how hard the impact was; this crash made me rear end the guy in front of me, and him the guy in front of him, although the camera dislodges and just spins everywhere.

The estimator didn't think to look inside the car, and didn't tell me that there might be hidden damage. Couldn't this be a case of negligence?

And regardless of what the fine print says, there was damage that was not addressed and accounted for - it's not my fault, so shouldn't the insurance company have to pay?

Or would I be fighting an uphill battle in small claims court?
Click to expand...
You were rear-ended, it pushed you into the car in front of you, and that car into the car in front of it? My bet is that it was a lot more than $750 damage to your vehicle... Now that you've cashed the check, I'm going to bet there's no way you're going to prove anything.
 
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