Well, for those who don't know yet, I was in an accident last night coming home from a drive. I was driving south bound on Hawkins going to make a left on to Garman (east bound). So, I turned my signal on, slowed down and started to turn. As I get half way though my turn, a lady on Garman (headed west bound) was going to turn left onto Hawkins (south bound), went right into me. She hit my drivers door, rocker panel and rear 1/4 panel. The drivers door is smashed good, the rocker is not so good and the rear panel is dented in pretty well. Hope my pictures show up here... She was cited for not stopping and yielding to traffic. Her insurance is though Progressive and mine is though State Farm. After talking to her insurance some, they come across that I can only take it to one of the two shops (collision shops of theirs) to get the work done. I talked to her some about the car and told her about how much work was involved, she replied with "You just drop off your car, pick up our rental and your car should be ready in a week." I called up Panelworks and Stoddard both, they told me it would take at least 2-3 weeks to get the car back on the road, so right there I don't feel to go about their Collison shop. Plus, that they have to do the work and no one else??.. I want my car back to good condition, not some half *** job. Who knows, they could be a good shop but I don't want to just "trust" them on it, I want someone who knows these cars inside and out like the two places I checked out.

PS: Oh yea, the important part, I am fine, just lost some pride....

 

That is complete bull**** they're feeding you, you take it to one of there shops to get it appraised, then they cut you a check for that amount. What you do with the money is completley up to you.

 

Pictures!!

 

It's your car - some company tried to pull that on my parents too. Let state farm handle the insurance. IF they need to, tehy will sue for it. BOTTOM LINE: it's your car and they have to pay for where YOU want to take it.

 

More

 

Ok, I talked to them and told them I have hear/deal with Stoddard before and want to go there. So she said that would be O.K. but still tried to get me to go to the other place. Off to the dealer, first time it will be to a dealer since I have owed it, 2 1/2 years!

 

oh man I'm sorry to hear and see that

I know how you feel about the pride issue. Talk with State Farm and tell them that you would like the car taken to an authorized dealer to be inspected by PROFESSIONAL techs. Have the techs write up some papers about what needs to be replaced and the shop they recommend to get the car back to it's original appearance and specifications. Progressive is very shady when it comes to car accidents and a lot of people just want cosmetics repaired (when obviously there's in what lies beneath). You can use the paperwork from Porsche (Stoddard or whomever you went with) to argue with Progressive. At the same time this gives you a very strong basis in a lawsuit, assuming they refuse to take your car to the proper facilities to get repaired.

Good luck to you man, I lost an '84 and I'm still missing that car after a year and a half since the tragedy I hope the worst never comes to you.

 

Good choice on Stoddard, they should know what it takes to fix it properly and the potential little problems that would be related to the damage (if they don't actually farm the bodywork stuff out like other dealers do).

I'd be curious to see what the final bill is. I bet it won't be too far under the amount that Progressive thinks will "total" the car.

 

The crap that some of these insurance companies try to pull is really rediculous! You know darn well that Progressive is getting a discounted price for the work at their recommended places.

Good thing that you checked with the Porsche "matrix mind" here. Hope it all turns out OK for you.

 

HATE to see that.

Watch out for that totaled call!

 

I am going to take the car there tomorrow when the Adjuster comes to look at it and go from there. Worst comes to worst, my insurance told me to just have them (state farm) do the write up, only thing is I would be out $250 for my collison on the car. Then I asked if that would count agaist me, he told me no because they look at the facts involved, not just if they had to pay.
Yea, I am guessing Progressive is going to have some low ball number for totalling (spelling?) my car out. I would take a guess at not more then $3,000 for them!! I at least know State Farm (my insurance) is at least in the 8k range if not higher considering my work into it and condition!

 

heh, their estimate must not include colorsanding and proper re-application of the 'knock-down' style surface on the rocker panel.

 

How did you come to that conclusion? They haven't given an amount for the estimate. Or are you reading another thread that I cannot see?

 

What is probably going on here is that they have a deal with the two shops they recommended. If you go to them, everything gets taken care of lickety split and no hassles (except perhaps afterwards ). You are always entitled to take it anywhere you like. However, they can challenge the estimates you receive and otherwise hold things up.

Call your insurance. If it's anything like mine (Allstate), what they will tell you is that you can have them handle it for you and they will argue with her insurance company. You may or may not decide this is for you. Also, your insurance company can also question any estimate you receive, but they are far more likley to be reasonable with you. However, IIRC this is not without the danger of this affecting your insurance (but I'm not sure). What will happen is you will have to pay the deductable that your policy carries. If they settle with the other party's insurance for the full amount, you will get the deductable back, aleit sometime in the future. If they settle for less, you may be out your deductable.

In the end you can take it wherever you like. It just gets a little more complicated when you go someplace other than that recommended by either insurance company.

When my turbo G20 was totaled (not my fault in the least), my insurance company offered to settle with me and let them go after the other party's insurance. I opted to just deal with the other insurance company. They were reasonable with me and the only downside is I had to wait a bit for a check. In my situation at the time, that didn't bother me, especially since the other party's insurance was paying for my rental car while we discussed the resolution. It simply turned out to be the least hassle solution for me - especially since I felt they were fair with me.

 

I should also mention that they aren't considering the mechanicals damaged hence the $3000 probable estimate. Tifosi if you had a Porsche wrecked too I'm sure you know that car insurance companies always look for the 'easy' way out.

Dunno if it's me or not but $3,000 ironically seems to be the running ball park figure for most minor collisions. I guess it's the magic number