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Cash out or go for the repair due to understated estimate?

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k3n

Senior member
EDIT: Sorry, I thought I was in the off topic forum. Mods please move or delete this topic

A distracted driver struck a fire hydrant which deflected off my car's bumper & quarter panel. I took it to a body shop that was "certified/approved" by the that driver's insurance for an estimate (also approved by another major insurance company).Total came to around $680.

I was told that even if the dent on the quarter panel was fixed and repainted; its area could still end up worse than it currently is, as a result of the repair. The adjuster stated that the paint would start to peel off the car 6 months down the line. He suggested I take money & use a cheap spray paint can to mask the car's defect.

The areas marked green were caused by the fire hydrant:
http://i.imgur.com/lM1zogA.jpg , you may notice the rusting area on the right side of the tire, which will keep on spreading.

This is the left side of the car, which looks flawless in comparison:
http://i.imgur.com/2ww7RbY.jpg

As you can see in the following picture, rust is starting to develop on the quarter panel's area near the splash shield.

It seems it would be wiser for me the cash out and put that money towards fixing the rust.

The same body shop had an estimate of $1200 to fix my car after it was rear ended; and the total cost came to around $2000. It turned out the owner of the vehicle hitting my car had insurance coverage, so I didn't have to may anything except $12 times 5 days for car rental insurance. They did a good job, which is why I went to the body shop again.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=35770437&postcount=30

So 1 of my concerns is, I may not be getting compensated enough from the current estimate of $680.

At 170k miles now, I'd like to keep my car to 200 thousand miles at least.

I was suggested elsewhere to cash out and then go to a "mom and pop" body shop to do repairs and such, but I'm a bit uncertain.
 
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With the mileage and plans on getting rid of the car I would take the money and save it for the next car.
 
I would probably try to fix it but, seeing how there looks like rust on the panel, I'd probably take the money and run.

Then again, at a local econo paint, I had a dent that I never was able to get correct on my own and then quoted me an extra 20 dollars per dent with the paint job.

That piece on the back of the car is called a filler panel, there are some on ebay, if you decide you want to get all of the stuff fixed.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/?_nkw=integra%20filler%20panel&clk_rvr_id=584097225957
 
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Cash out and get some cheap spray paint at best. Since those dents are purely cosmetic, it's not worth the investment, imo.
 
With a car that old Id shop it around for a higher estimate. Get the company to pay that and cash out.
 
k3n said:
EDIT: Sorry, I thought I was in the off topic forum. Mods please move or delete this topic

A distracted driver struck a fire hydrant which deflected off my car's bumper & quarter panel. I took it to a body shop that was "certified/approved" by the that driver's insurance for an estimate (also approved by another major insurance company).Total came to around $680.

I was told that even if the dent on the quarter panel was fixed and repainted; its area could still end up worse than it currently is, as a result of the repair. The adjuster stated that the paint would start to peel off the car 6 months down the line. He suggested I take money & use a cheap spray paint can to mask the car's defect.

The areas marked green were caused by the fire hydrant:
http://i.imgur.com/lM1zogA.jpg , you may notice the rusting area on the right side of the tire, which will keep on spreading.

This is the left side of the car, which looks flawless in comparison:
http://i.imgur.com/2ww7RbY.jpg

As you can see in the following picture, rust is starting to develop on the quarter panel's area near the splash shield.

It seems it would be wiser for me the cash out and put that money towards fixing the rust.

The same body shop had an estimate of $1200 to fix my car after it was rear ended; and the total cost came to around $2000. It turned out the owner of the vehicle hitting my car had insurance coverage, so I didn't have to may anything except $12 times 5 days for car rental insurance. They did a good job, which is why I went to the body shop again.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=35770437&postcount=30

So 1 of my concerns is, I may not be getting compensated enough from the current estimate of $680.

At 170k miles now, I'd like to keep my car to 200 thousand miles at least.

I was suggested elsewhere to cash out and then go to a "mom and pop" body shop to do repairs and such, but I'm a bit uncertain.
Click to expand...

What you can do though I don't know if you're up for it is to take estimates that are reasonable, then take the adjuster's estimate and closely compare them. Look at the estimate from the body shop, it should have more items listed while the adjuster's might have items omitted. Now if there are no items omitted and the hours are the same with the only difference being the labor rate, then the only thing you may be able to do with the BODY SHOP is to negotiate the labor rate DOWN but NOT increase the adjuster's rate UP. I.e. You won't get more money from the insurance company.

Labor rates for off the street consumer's is typically more than the negotiated rate with the body shop. When I got an estimate from the adjuster, I was able to UP negotiate the money they paid to me because I was able to correctly point out missing items on the estimate. They won't pay for everything like bolts, screws, disposable things but if the job shows paint but no body work and the other estimate shows body work, just point that out. Don't mention the other estimates, just work off of the adjuster's estimate and tell them about things that are omitted if there are any.

quick tip: The adjuster won't negotiate on hazardous waste disposal, hourly rate or small incidentals...just the big stuff...
 
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I would get it fixed, and pay a little more cash to get the dent and rust fixed. It would probably cost you $200 out of pocket.
 
I'd either cash out and not worry about it or get my head around having to spend quite a bit more to get the real problem fixed...the bubbling rust on the leading edge of the fender well. If there's not a hole under the bubbling paint yet, there will be if it isn't fixed soon.
 
I took the money and put it towards a timing belt (+ water pump, gasket, etc), change. Best decision ever. Turned out the water pump was leaking.
 
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