Title. Was in an accident (nobody was injured we all safe) that screwed up 3 cars. I was at 0 fault (a car hit another car that hit me into the curb). Just dealing with insurance this week and it's a nightmare. It's all theoretically going to be solved at no cost to me because that's what insurance is for, but dealing with estimates and towing and rental and this and that and the other is just taking it's toll on me. I feel I'm over my head with it.

Does anyone have any advice here? It's going to require a lot of body work to fix and the car is basically brand new (yeah I know I'm PMC bourgeois over here) so I'm really concerned about not getting it back in junk shape. Has anyone gone through this? What do I need to look out for? What should I be asking?

Anyone have any general accident / insurance stories? Feel free to share those too if you want, even if it's not helpful to me. Would be nice to hear about how others managed this stuff.

  • Infamousblt [any]
    ·
    11 months ago

    Thanks. I did get an estimate for the body work from the insurance at least, it doesn't seem like they want to total it. LOTS of replaced parts though, mostly in the front, mostly body parts...wheels, lights, fenders, hood, door...so I guess really it boils down to "how bad is the suspension" and is there any internal damage. It sounds like I should call the shop I'm having them take it to when it gets there and ask them for an independent estimate as well? Would they do that?

    Mostly I'm worried that they're trying to source aftermarket parts for some of the stuff like the headlight assemblies.

    I'm also kind of lucky that the guy who was at fault has the same insurance I have, so it's all through my insurance company. I have been on the phone once with my rep and his rep though that was kind of funny. It sounds like I can use that again though, if I'm not happy with something, maybe get my insurance rep involved to advocate for me?

    Honestly it just sucks it has to be like this. Everyone trying to squeeze the dollar out of each other and all we want as the owners is for our cars to be restored to how they were. Thanks for the reply

    • Shinji_Ikari [he/him]
      ·
      11 months ago

      Mostly I'm worried that they're trying to source aftermarket parts for some of the stuff like the headlight assemblies.

      my car has headlights that are worth like 10% of the car, so I understand. Push for OEM, you want "to be made whole". Aftermarket headlights are worse than OEM.

      maybe get my insurance rep involved to advocate for me?

      I don't know how it'd play out since its the same insurance company, but generally you'd want your rep to advocate for you.

      Honestly it just sucks it has to be like this. Everyone trying to squeeze the dollar out of each other and all we want as the owners is for our cars to be restored to how they were

      I know the feeling. I invested in good dash cams just so I could calm down on the road.