Wrecked my car, insurance help?

[LongshotSVT]

My car hydroplaned last night and spun on the interstate. Thankfully I was ok and so was everyone else. Considering what happened the damage was minimal, cosmetically I just tweaked the passenger quarter panel a bit and my rear bumper is smashed pretty good. My main concern though is that when the car slid into the median it got hooked on a drainage ditch hard enough to rip my exhaust clean off from the cats back. The center section of my x-pipe and everything else is gone.

What all should I expect as far as dealing with the insurance company? I'm concerned about the potential for damage to the drive line. I was able to drive it onto the flat bed but I want to ensure that it's not going to have problems in the future as a result of this fender bender.

Also, my car has a bassani X and cat-back. For replacements, will the insurance company pay out to replace it with a ford OEM setup or just give me the cash value of the bassani setup? Reason I ask is the OEM stuff from ford is super expensive.

I have Geico if anyone has any experience with them.

Thanks!

 

[sonicsaleen]

sell it to me wrecked.

 

[LongshotSVT]

sell it to me wrecked.

Yes, because that would be the smart thing to do :dw:

 

[straightliner1]

Have you asked these questions of your insurance company? After all, they're the ones writing the check.

 

[virginiafiveo]

talk to your insurance company. you should have already. explain your concerns to them. Geico is a good insurance company. I've been with them for years. always been helpful. just expect your costs to go up.

 

[MarshallJenkins]

glad to see you came out alright, but i got one question. did you have DR's?

 

[thomas91169]

if they give you shit about aftermarket parts, explain to them they are cheaper than OEM parts, theyll listen anytime you give them a chance to not have to pay as much.

They are obligated to getting your car back to the way it was before the accident, both visually and mechanically. If anything driveline was tweaked, it will be covered. The shop will still do a full suspension alignment as well as a full chassis alignment to make sure the unibody is not tweaked at all.

i believe though who you really need to talk to is the shop you choose from the ones they recommend, as they will be the ones getting the parts. They will then get it approved from Geico to order non-OEM parts over OEM. Geico will always want to use OEM but sometimes thats not even an option, as OEM is only obligated to manufacture parts for 7 years past the vehicles build dates, so even now its getting harder and harder to find 99-04 stang parts. When you see the repair bill, it shows which parts are OEM and which are not.

 

[Blk04Snake]

Glad you're ok man. Still sucks to see someone wreck, especially since it looks like you take really good care of it.

You should be ok as long as you communicate well with the shop fixing it since everything you're concerned about costs alot less than the OEM stuff. You may even come out a little ahead on the deal.

Biggest thing I'd be worried about is the shop getting the paint to match.

 

[Jefe]

Hope you have pics/receipts of the aftermarket stuff as they will most likely make you prove you had those things. Let us know what the adjuster says. Be a pain in the ass about detail, afterall its your car and your future with the car

 

[LongshotSVT]

For those who have had experiences with Geico or other insurance companies; when they did the estimate did they just cut you a check to fix it or did they give the check to the various establishments you had to go through to get the car repaired?

talk to your insurance company. you should have already. explain your concerns to them. Geico is a good insurance company. I've been with them for years. always been helpful. just expect your costs to go up.

I have talked to them, I just wanted to know based on others experiences about how some things were handled.

glad to see you came out alright, but i got one question. did you have DR's?

I knew this one was coming... No I didn't have drag radials.

 

[VirtualSVT]

Tell them you want to use your own body shop so that way they will cut you a check to start. They will write the estimate based off OEM prices which are insane. They will include that into the estimate check.

Deposit Insurance check. Go to body shop of your choice with written estimate and contact info for claims adjuster. Inform body shop of intent to replace OEM parts with aftermarket for the exhaust. Some shops have the ability to save you even more money but give them a chance to try and get the parts you want. If not then order all the replacement parts from the Insurance check you cashed. Drop off the parts at the body shop and wait.

This is what I did when I had my fender bender. One headlight from Ford listed at 3xx.xx. I bought a set off of ebay for 120 shipped.

 

[MarshallJenkins]

I knew this one was coming... No I didn't have drag radials.

damn. usually these horror stories are caused from DRs but not this one... it just proves hydroplaning is possible with anytire, especially with a high powered RWD car.

 

[lokslikasolstic]

Hope you have pics/receipts of the aftermarket stuff as they will most likely make you prove you had those things. Let us know what the adjuster says. Be a pain in the ass about detail, afterall its your car and your future with the car

This.

Insurance companies will most of the time pay for only parts made by the company that made the car (ie. ford parts for ford etc.) so you will have to show that you had other parts from different manufactures on your car.

Also, go to a place they recommend as those places generally have a lifetime guarantee of their work with the insurance company. That way if anything is wrong after you get the car fixed they will fix it for you at NO additional costs to you.

Ask your adjuster about all of this though, they will be willing to listen. DON'T be a pain in the ass, it isn't necessary. They will be less willing to help you if you are.

Good luck.

 

[TaraFirma]

Tell them you want to use your own body shop so that way they will cut you a check to start. They will write the estimate based off OEM prices which are insane. They will include that into the estimate check.

Deposit Insurance check. Go to body shop of your choice with written estimate and contact info for claims adjuster. Inform body shop of intent to replace OEM parts with aftermarket for the exhaust. Some shops have the ability to save you even more money but give them a chance to try and get the parts you want. If not then order all the replacement parts from the Insurance check you cashed. Drop off the parts at the body shop and wait.

This is what I did when I had my fender bender. One headlight from Ford listed at 3xx.xx. I bought a set off of ebay for 120 shipped.

+1
Money saved on rebuying aftermarket part when the insurance CO paid for OEM part will eat up how much you owe in the deductible

 

[LongshotSVT]

+1
Money saved on rebuying aftermarket part when the insurance CO paid for OEM part will eat up how much you owe in the deductible

Sweetness... That's what I'm hoping to accomplish. I'd rather the insurance company just cut me a check and let me handle it from there. One reason I'm so interested in what they base it off of is an OEM mid pipe and catback is about $3k.... about 3x as much as an aftermarket one, so I'm hoping I could use that to eat the deductible and maybe even pocket a bit in preparation for the insurance hike that will follow.

 

[BlckBox04]

this is what my car looked like when i crashed it and the insurance company totaled it:

then i bought it back and this is what it looks like now

the best i could say is judge how bad your car looks compared to what mine did and go from there.

 

[LongshotSVT]

Mine doesn't look that bad, I don't think it'll be totalled unless it really did a number on the IRS, which only a chassis alignment will reveal I guess.

Out of curiosity, how much was it to buy yours back?

 

[BlckBox04]

$1500 then 9 to fix it, so i made out with like 7

and as bad as it looks, it wasnt really that bad in person. just plastics, a few bond jobs and cosmetics is all it was. the dude at the repair shop was as shocked as i was when the adjuster totaled it. so be prepared for anything.

 

[Jefe]

Wait how much were your estimates compared to the adjusters?? ^ And what company totaled it?

 

[BlckBox04]

my repair shop estimated 9k and apparantly the adjuster's was more than 14k cause that's what the car was valued at for some reason. the company is an instate company that mainly deals with commercial trucks because it was under my business insurance, so im pretty sure that's y it was totaled. but then again i have no idea.