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Question about Car Insurance repairs

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desiplaya4life

Golden Member
In December I got in an accident

I got rear ended. the other person had Geico. I went to see an adjuster where he just gave me a check for the outside visible damange.

Told me to take it to my choice of body shop and they will send another adjuster to inspect the internal damage/frame and write a supplement check.

My question(s):


1) I have the rear bumper and trunk sitting from before I modded my car. If the body is going to charge me for something I dont want, do I have to right to take my car somewhere else?

Any tips/ suggestion/ experience you like to share in this matter? That's what I am looking for.

Thanks guys.
 
You have the legal right to have your car repaired wherever you want and they must have your written permission before they begin repairs.
 
Why would the bodyshop charge you anything? You see a body shop and get an estimate and show it to the other persons insurance adjuster. Once they see your car untouched from the accident and if the body shop price quote is reasonable they simply write you a check.
 
I thought that once you take it to that body shop, you will be in a binding agreement to get it done from there. As you could probably tell, I never been in this situation before..
 
desiplaya4life said:
I thought that once you take it to that body shop, you will be in a binding agreement to get it done from there. As you could probably tell, I never been in this situation before..
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Nope, you can take it anywhere you want. I *highly* recommend taking it to an insurer-backed garage though. They do fantastic work and warranty it for the lifetime of the vehicle. (At least the 3 Geico approved shops, I've seen work done at, were immaculate.)
 
desiplaya4life said:
I thought that once you take it to that body shop, you will be in a binding agreement to get it done from there. As you could probably tell, I never been in this situation before..
Click to expand...

No, that's a lie if anyone ever told you that. I've been in the auto repair business for over 30 years. An estimate of reparis is not a binding contract in any way shape or form.
 
I just assumed it actually :X

Lastly, I have two body shops in mind when it comes to "insurer-backed"
One is a lexus body shop and the other one which i personally prefer because he is a good guy + small business owned. But would it matter to which One i take it to? What I mean is that would the supplement check figure be in more favor to lexus body shop since they charge a little bit more..or what I assume that Geico follows their own standard rates?

Thanks
 
desiplaya4life said:
I just assumed it actually :X

Lastly, I have two body shops in mind when it comes to "insurer-backed"
One is a lexus body shop and the other one which i personally prefer because he is a good guy + small business owned. But would it matter to which One i take it to? What I mean is that would the supplement check figure be in more favor to lexus body shop since they charge a little bit more..or what I assume that Geico follows their own standard rates?

Thanks
Click to expand...


Probably won't make any difference. Geico probably pays one hourly rate to every shop. It might even be less to Lexus if they are a preferred shop.
 
desiplaya4life said:
I just assumed it actually :X

Lastly, I have two body shops in mind when it comes to "insurer-backed"
One is a lexus body shop and the other one which i personally prefer because he is a good guy + small business owned. But would it matter to which One i take it to? What I mean is that would the supplement check figure be in more favor to lexus body shop since they charge a little bit more..or what I assume that Geico follows their own standard rates?

Thanks
Click to expand...

When I got my car painted after getting rear-ended, I took the Geico estimate to my VW dealer. They looked it over and agreed it was a fair price.

The paint job they did was freaking horrible after a week or so. Sure the paint matched, but I had a very aggressive orange-peel texture to the paint.

When I took my car to a local Geico garage (walking distance from work!) it looked extremely professional and the paint matched perfectly. Even I can't point out where the dings I fixed were anymore. It's that good.
 
In reality though, it doesn't matter what it costs does it? What you should really concerned about is getting it repaired correctly, not how much it costs Geico.
 
i can tell you from experience, ask around before going to the geico selected body shop.. auto insurance companies prefer to use salvage or oem parts instead of the part made by the manufacturer.

the reason you don't want generic parts especially bumpers, is that there not certified parts and may not work as well.. for example a ford bumper can withstand collision up to 5mph which is basically someone bumping you in the patking lot/mall, etc.. a generic bumper may have no rating and will dent at 1mpg.. something you don't want.

take the car to a well known body shop of your choice, i had both my bumpers, trunk, side panels and headlights replaced.. the place did a fantastic job overall. in my case a drunk ran a red light and rear ended me which caused my car to smash into the car in-front of me.

i paid absolutely nothing out of pocket and filed a personal law suit against him as well.

edit--make sure you take pictures of the damage as well as insurance companies will try to screw you.
 
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what? usually, around here people do not take it to the insurance preferred body shop because they have a 'deal' with each other.

we take it to the most expensive place and let the insurance work with them.
 
When you go to an insurance approved shop; the repairs will be guarenteed for life.

Otherwise; you need to determine what the warranty will be from the shop your choose.
 
Pepsei said:
what? usually, around here people do not take it to the insurance preferred body shop because they have a 'deal' with each other.

we take it to the most expensive place and let the insurance work with them.
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More expensive doesn't automatically = better. If I had taken my car to a Geico approved shop, I wouldn't have a trunk covered in orange peel today.
 
Pepsei said:
what? usually, around here people do not take it to the insurance preferred body shop because they have a 'deal' with each other.

we take it to the most expensive place and let the insurance work with them.
Click to expand...

A) expensive != good
B) The other guy's insurance is under no obligation to pay the rates of the most expensive shop in town. They are only required to 'make you whole' for the loss and if that can be done for $500 and you elect to go to a shop that charges $1500, that extra $1000 is coming out of YOUR pocket.
 
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