yo! this is my first time asking reddit for help so bare with me😭
My car recently got absolutely destroyed by hail a couple days ago. The insurance company came to me to analyze the damage. They got an estimate of about 12k. This is of course with me paying the deductible. Is anyone here handy with this sort of thing? I was told to take it to a shop where they should come close to a similar estimate. From there they would fix my car and once it’s done the insurance will cut me the check to pay the shop.
Does anyone know what I can do if I can find a shop who would do it for let’s say 10k. Would having them tell the insurance that they’re using the full 12k and have the difference be pocketed by me be insurance fraud?😹
Honestly i’m financially devastated right now and i’m very annoyed that this inconvenience even happened and I still have to pay a deductible. So if there’s any hope of me coming out winning please share some aid🙏🏽
Posted by Clean_Pick_8888
2 Comments
Shop around. Do some research for local shops that can do paintless dent repair and see what their estimate is.
It may not be impossible to find a shop that is cheaper, but it may not be likely (I say this because 1. insurance typically write pretty tight initial estimates and 2. if this was an area wide storm, the demand for shops may increase costs.)
If you do find a shop that can save on costs, etc. then you can keep any extra money over what the insurance is willing to pay, per the insurers estimate.
Not that this helps you, but I had a friend who took his vehicle to a friend who had a shop. Took months to get his vehicle back, but it saved him thousands in repair costs and not to mention the damage was not noted on any Carfax, etc. That is a rare situation, but everything was above board. The insurance paid what they estimated and my friend found a cheaper option and pocketed some cash…
Do you have a loan on the vehicle?