BunnyGirl

I'll have to post pictures later, probably tonight.

My dent came out great and the paint matches perfectly! I can't wash or wax my car for 30 days, though, which is when they can reapply my sealant to the hood. They said they would wash and wax it all up in about 10 days after they apply the sealant, so the owner of this body shop is completely wonderful. (He also owns a racing team that races rotaries in the Star Mazda open wheel). I paid my $100 deductible and the insurance paid $687, which included six hours of labor. The insurance didn't want to pay to fix anything originally except maybe two hours of work to "hammer" it out from the underside. After numerous hours of phone calls and screaming, along with threats and filing complaints with the insurance commissioner they finally signed off to fix my car, all the while telling me the body shop is ripping me off and how there are numerous complaints with the DOJ against them, where I didn't find a single one and even called to find out. The part that is really unbelievable is that the insurance company would have rather spent over $1200 more to give me a new hood, which involved taking the bumper off and the side panels and repainting all of them along with the hood and reassembling the car. Their own preferred body shop was even going to charge them more money than this body shop did!!! It's completely beyond me why they didn't want this shop to fix my car and they kept wanting me to take it somewhere else after it was already at the shop of my choice! I'm cancelling my insurance with this company by the end of this week and I already have my new insurance set up. All I have to do is tell them what date I want it to be effective on. At least I got my car back and it looks great!!!

NgoRX8

iTrader: (1)

wow that's expensive! glad it's done with.

ALP22

Just be careful about crossing the powers that be in the insurance world.
I once made the fatal mistake of getting an insurance assessment on a dinged-up wheel bearing (from a wet rear slide-out in my miata). I decided not to actually claim (it came in too close to the deductible), but next year when I was out shopping for insurance, the bastards had listed it as an at-fault accident on my record, and my rates went up.

Switching around a lot between insuurance companies can get very expensive. Sure you can get good deals for a couple of years (e.g. progressive), but in the long run you're far better off sticking with one company. I went through 4 different insurance companies between 98 and 2001 (age 25-29), and always paid about $1000 per 6 months. I've been with state farm since '01, and and now pay less than $400 per 6 months, even with a couple speeding tickets. This has dropped steadily over time, not any sudden drops (like when I turned 30), just a steady decline in premiums due to customer loyalty.

BunnyGirl

I talked to my new insurance company about my problem and whatnot because the agent asked why I was switching. No issues with it. My rates now drop from $1102 for six months to $760 for six months. I am using who my mom uses, so we also are getting a multipolicy discount because I live at the same address. I should have gone with this company to start with. My mom has never had any trouble with anything with them (also uses the same body shop). They don't argue about the estimates or anything, just pay it.

Detrich

Think about it for a minute, because this is not rocket science... The reason they want to use their preferred place is because they have a kickback scam going on- ie overbilling and doing expensive repairs so that they can get kickbacks and pocket some money under-the-table. It's total BS, but at the same time it's difficult to prove to the insurance commission. Why? Because "in theory" replacing your bumper is actually better for safety. A collapsed and remolded bumper is probably not going to collapse in a collision up to factory specs.

BunnyGirl

The only thing wrong with my car, though, was a rock dent in the hood.

Detrich

That is exactly why it is a scam... They can squeeze some under-the-table profit money by doing a more expensive repair, even tho it's completely unnecessary. Good thing you dumped that insurance company.

BunnyGirl

The owner of the body shop couldn't quite figure out what the deal was with that and said they were all morons until we finally got to the head head-guy and he signed off on the work. Progressive was also telling me that they would only pay a maximum of $300 and anything else beyond that I would have to pay, including my $100 deductible, if I insisted on having my car repaired by this particular body shop. That is why I reported them to the insurance commissioner.

Detrich

I would avoid using their "preferred" body shop as well, since they are in on the scam...

BunnyGirl

Yeah. They told me to drop it off at their insurance office and their adjuster would look at it and they would DRIVE it over to the body shop or have it towed if it were inoperable. Yeah right!!! I told them I was taking to a certain body shop personally to be fixed by them because we have always had good luck with them. They could just go there and look at it. They weren't too happy about it.

playdoh43

it cost $687 to fix a little rock dent?! whao, i wanna see pics of the dent.

BlueEyes

I have never heard of anyone having a 100 dollar deductible.

fray

iTrader: (1)

My insurance agent offers: $100, $250, $500 and $1000 deductibles.. the lower the deductible, the higher the insurance rates.

hedgecore

A $100 deductible is only available to people who buy rustproofing and paint treatment.

They are a special class of customer.

BunnyGirl

My dent. Haven't had time to take pictures since it has been repaired. I was going to do it before I had to go to work but I have to sign paper work for my other new job I start on May 15, so I don't have time today as I have to leave a little earlier than normal.

My mom and step-dad have a $50 deductible. My mom asked me how come I didn't change to $50 and it was actually because I forgot about it when I was getting the new policy set up over the phone for the new company. I think it just depends on the insurance company. When I was first looking one of the companies I looked at didn't have anything lower than $250.

jisoo26

I have a $100 deductible

"Shanika"

WOW!! That must've been one big rock. Glad you were able to get it fixed. In regards to Progressive: you should have just told them to give you the money and run straight to get a MS kit.. w/ a little more out of pocket.

playdoh43

outch thats a big dent! glad its fixed.

BunnyGirl

The major part of the dent is quarter-sized and then widens out to the size of a baseball and then there are two minor scuffs in the paint where it skipped on the hood.

They got it out no problem with all their tools and it is totally smooth with no indication of damage. Yay for J&M!!!!

BlueEyes

Okay, I know $100 dollar deductibles are available. However, anytime I've checked, the increased insurance costs to carry $100 dollar deductible make a higher deductible more attractive.