This site is an eye opener on the murky world of the auto insurance industry and body repair work:

http://www.safecollisionrepairs.com/...tell-you.shtml

 

Sometimes a person's mind gets made up by something someone told them and no matter how many other people tell them differently and what those people do for a living, that person will never change their mind.

Just sayin'.

 

They will be able to match the paint color pretty much perfect
with non OEM paint. But the refractive index will be slightly different
due to painting the clear coat by hand instead of in the factory by
laser guided machine (or whatever process) and all at once.

If you get somebody that is really, really good with lots of
experience you should only be able to tell it was repainted
in bright sunlight looking really close at it. A casual observer
won't notice it.

 

Got the insurance company's repair estimate today: $2,947.21 for a new hood, new bumper and new grille.

Still to be determined is underlying structural damage. I'm going to take it by a body shop (Amato's, for those of you in San Diego) tomorrow morning to see what they have to say, then I'll take it to Brecht Mini on Friday morning for their opinion. Amato's does regular repair as well as PDR so hopefully they can give me a well informed opinion of the situation.

And my insurance company (21st) called to let me know that State Farm told them they didn't have the other driver on a policy or some other such complication. 21st is giving them a couple days to figure it out before they submit the claim as is.

Stay tuned...

 

What State Farm is trying to say is this: The driver of the other car is not listed as a household driver on their policy. This means they have to talk to their First Named Insured to find out of the driver had permission to operate the vehicle. That's necessary for them to determine if coverage applies. They may be having a hard time getting a call back. In my job, I've made as many as 20 attempts to reach an insured and when that failed, I had to send a field rep out to knock on their door.

You always have the option to proceed with your own insurance company. If and when State Farm completes their investigation and accepts liability for the accident, your insurance company will subrogate them... meaning seek reimbursement for the money they paid out plus your deductible.

That estimate is very reasonable. Given that, I would be SHOCKED if you have any structural damage to the unibody.

 

Haha you sound like you work for SF! (I do..!) You use the lingo well!

 

Yep, 14 months as an Underwriter.

4 years as an Underwriting Manger.

15 months as a Claim Rep, handling PD and BI claims.

How about you ??

 

Just started in an agent's office about 2 years ago. I get enough wacko client people that I would never never want to be an underwriter! Oops..let alone a claim rep!

 

I'm not sure I'd rather work in an agent's office... dealing with people late on their premiums, having to be the first line of defense when we terminate someone for accidents/violations (by the time they got to me as an underwriting manager, boy, they were rrrrreally pissed)... but, of course, having a good agent makes all the difference.

I thought I'd hate being a claim rep when my Underwriting Department closed down. But, so far, I like it... challenging enough to keep me interested and never a slow day. And negotiating bodily injury claim settlements is always fun.

 

Remember, no one has opened the hood yet to assess anything other than cosmetic damage. If they find some, the cost will go up, of course.

 

True... they might find a condensor needing replaced, a couple of brackets, and what not. But structural damage ? Highly unlikely. Not impossible, mind you. Unlikely.

 

I love the insurance industry! Whoops! Did I say that?

 

haha! awesome! me too!

 

Good thing you know your agressor... I go to work very early in the morning, and during the night the sinisters mexican streets were repaired leaving behind the debris... Of course the car in front of me and I knew nothing about it and my baby's nose (fog and extra lights included) were destroyed as the car in front of me was shooting the debris... Needless to say a very unhelpfull officer only made jokes about it and said: there is nothing we can do 'mam!...
I still haven't finish the repair but I'm on it... Things my poor Mini has to face, tough he stills looks great!

 

^ Sounds like a claim against the City or State, or whosever road that was for their crappy road repair work. And if they refuse, your insurance company should handle it as an Uninsured Motorist claim. Of course, I'm not up on Mexican laws and coverages.

 

Who cares what her first language is or your deductable, she should be concerned what her deductable is!!

 

Agree that her language doesn't make a difference. People can tell the truth or lie in any language. Which leads me to why his deductible is important. If she does choose to lie, there is no way to disprove her version and bee is going to have to fork out his deductible.

 

I would like to say that after almost having my MINI smashed on a couple of occasions I am 100% for banning the use of cellphones while driving.



I don't care who you are If you're on the phone you're not focused on your driving.
Not to mention that you have lost peripheral vision with the hand that's holding the phone up to your ear.

Sorry to hear about the damage to your MINI..

 

im with you on cell phone ban. when you driving a fire truck with lights and sirens going and you get the finger from the women/guy talking or TEXTING on there phone you tend to get a little pissed off. BAN ALL PHONES AND GO BACK TO PAGERS hahaha

 

I also concur on that cell phones should be banned from driver's hands. The problem lies on the heavy lobby of the cell phone industry to prevent state and local governments from imposing a ban and issue hefty fines to people that talk while they drive.

Regardless of the phone you have, whether it is hands free or not, the sole act of carrying a conversation behind the wheel diminishes your alertness and capacity to quickly respond in an emergency.

This and people that install LCD screens to watch "Movies" while they drive

 

I just got back from Germany, and, even though the speeds on the autobahn give Mini owners some serious highs (i LOVE the autobahn!!!) the German Poletzei are MURDER on cell phone users at any speeds. I back that idea 100%. It's too easy these days to get a freakin' Bluetooth, or an alternate cell in your vehicle. Or just try pulling off to the side! If you don't have hands-free, don't drive!!

 

this coming JULY - no more cell phone use in CA while driving!

 

I totally agree. There was this dude here at work I got into
an argument with the jist of it was he says he's a much
better driver while talking on the cellphone because he drives
slower and watches out more. I disagreed. Actually I came close
to just beating him up but that's not the point.

I remember way back before I could drive the neighbor explaining
how much a better driver he was when he was drinking, because
he would drive slower and watch out more.

 

It is interesting to see the effects of technology in the daily habits of people. Before cell phones became accessible to everyone, if you needed to make a phone call, you had to scoot out for a phone booth, make sure you had coins or loose change, stop the car, get out and make the call.

People survived without cell phones for decades and you and me are just fine, thank you very much.

Now days folks can't live without the cell, the laptop, the iPod, you name it. If you take that away from them, they'll die on the water...Literally!

I think technology is good (I am an IT computer guy) but I also think that it brings with it a lot of maladies and ingrained bad set of habits.

I think the rest of the country needs to follow the CA example and ban cell phone yanking while driving.

 

This is an entirely separate and worse issue isn't it?