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.
Not a ramble at all, this is a ton of good information and you're clearly an expert in this area so I really appreciate your input. There was one small wrist injury on our side that already seems to be going away, but I did mention it in the report as wrist pain and they told me if it gets worse or persists go to a doctor and send them the report and the bill and they'll take it from there. It feels fine today at least and I don't have any other pain. So I'm keeping an eye on that. It was low speed; we were slowing down to a red light when someone hit us from the side (because they were hit from the other side). Most of the damage is just because I got hit on both sides; one from the car that hit me, and the other from being popped up into the median. I don't drive an SUV so even the fairly small gutter / median was enough to scratch and dent things and break the wheel and tire.
I've got the estimate in hand for the body damage at least...it's nowhere near the KBB of the car but still a lot (it's nearly brand new and it was not an entry level car) so I don't think I'll have to worry about it being totaled unless they get under the hood and realize there's significant internal damage. I'm hoping that isn't the case, but it hasn't been up on a lift yet so I can't be sure.
Interesting that you say it's better to use the insurance companies shop, that surprises me. I figured they would use the cheapest possible shop that does the shadiest possible work to save themselves a buck. I had them take it to a shop nearby me that specializes in my type of car that seems highly rated with a ton of reviews and has been in the neighborhood a long time. So I'm hoping this place is a place I can trust. I do always see lots of nice cars outside their place and in the window so that inspires some confidence in their work at least.
Anyway really appreciate your input, this does help. It sounds like I'm doing things the right way for the most part so that's validating at least.