You are under no obligation to even work with the lady's insurance company. Since you are 0% at fault, you can have the work done wherever you want and to the level of perfection that you want.

On three occasions I have had my vehicle fixed, paid cash for the repairs, and then submitted the bill to the responsible party with a demand for payment. On one occasion the responsible party's insurance company immediately cut me a check. On 2x I sued the responsible party and the insurance companies ended up spending significantly more mone to pay my attorney.

This is one of the benefits of having f**k you money, you can tell the insurance company to go screw themselves. Insurance companies are managed by crooks and run by idiots. Don't put up with their crap.

You're in good hands with....opps!

ALL STATE SUKS AZZ!

In the State of Florida, you can take your car to any shop of your choice, no matter if it's yourt fault or not. Getting 3 estimates is a thing of history. The insurance companies would like you to take your car to one of their recommended shops and they entice you by giving you a lifetime warranty on the paint and workmanship. The "recommended" shops are generally high volume/lower cost places.

PPG has prime for GM code WA8555 plus 8 variances.

Diamont has prime plus 14 variances.

Tell the adjuster to go to hell. There is NO WAY you can panel shoot black.

He is a field adjuster. Go to the claim rep. If that doesn't work, go to his/her boss.

If that doesn't work, go to the insurance commissioner of your state.

HTH's,

Mark

I've always taken my damaged car to the shop of my choice. The shop calls the agent who contacts the adjuster who comes out to the shop and together the shop and the adjuster decide what needs to be done to make me whole.

That said an insurance contract usually states somewhere in the fine print that they are only obligated to pay damages mandated by a court of law.

If Allstate won't cooperate with the shop, I'd turn it over to my company to collect from them. It shouldn't affect your rates at all. At least it hasn't mine from past experience. It usually doesn't get that far.

An adjuster buddy of mine told me that twisted metal settlements <$25-50K is no big deal. The bodily injury stuff >$100K is.

Good luck and go to the shop you like the best.

I agree. Its really her problem to solve.

Thanks for all the ideas. I will call Idahos Insurance commisioners office and see if they have any advice. I would hate to sue the lady that hit me, It was an accident and she felt terrable but I just cant settle for a repair that I will notice every time I look at my car. I never thought about making a diminished value claim but if the repair is noticable the car is not worth what it was one second before she hit it. I am just surprised that after I told them of all the estimates I got that say otherwise they are not budging from their estimate.

Allstate is not out for your corner

My wife was driving her Lexus LS400 home from work one night, a U-Haul rental truck lost a drive shaft, bounced a couple of times before she ran over it. Chipped the windshild and grill, tore the under engine shield, caved in the oil pan, ripped a muffler, and dented a rocker panel when it came out from under the side of the car. This jackazz adjuster that worked for their insurance compant told me " I can't see a dimes worth of damage ". This after she ran over a truck driveline in the dark at 60mph. Just let my carrier deal with it, as there was no question as to who was at fault. Insurance Co's. are a legal front for fleecing the public.

Rocky,
I feel for ya' - what a PITA. Don't let the adjuster buffalo you into accepting a second-rate repair. Remind them that if you sue their insured, you will have six bodyshops testifying about the nature of the work that needed to be done, versus the adjuster. Ask them who the jury is going to believe, and whether the insurance company has ever heard of punitive damages for bad-faith negotiating (assuming your state allows such damages). Good luck.

The last time I had an accident I tried to work with an adjuster from Progressive. I couldn't even get him to return my calls. I finally got a copy of his estimate from my dealer (In this case a Ford truck) by asking him for a copy. The estimate did not even include some major parts and listed "recondition" as the method of repairing an alloy wheel which had broken at the center. After the accident the wheel center was still bolted to the spindle and the rest of the wheel and tire were in the bed of my truck.

After much frustration I filed a claim with my insurance company, Farmers. They paid to fix my vehicle to my satisfaction less my deductable. Then they went after Progressive and made them pay Farmers for the damage. Once that was done Farmers sent me a check to cover my deductable.

Through all this my Farmers agent, Todd Spence here in Dallas, worked with Farmers and their local adjuster. He got the job done for me because he carries all of my insurance so my business matters to him.

When RockyL32 went to Allstate that was the problem, they have no reason to care about what he wants. In such a case they look at law and court precidents to determine the following: How can we get out of this for the least possible cost? They have absolutely no desire to insure you are happy with the repair past what the law requires them to do and even that can be twisted by using their F**K you money and time to push you where they want you to go. I don't give a damn what their television commercials say they are not into making you feel warm and fuzzy.

Here's the bottom line. If you are involved in an accident and need to make a claim make it through your own insurance. They have an incentive to take care of you because you are their customer. Also, for the same reason its best to carry all of your insurance through one company. The more money they collect from you for various types of insurance, auto, home, liability, life, etc, the more incentive they have to take care of you. This is the very reason I would not touch one of the internet auto insurance companies with a ten foot pole.

Money talks and auto insurance companies have made an art out of screwing those who don't have enough of it to fight back. Don't take it personal, it's just business.

Okay you need me on this one... now pay attention.


Allstate is instructing you to adjust your claim as if you were their insured (policy holder). It is true that under their policy terms for their policy holders they agree to work with one of their repair centers.

You are NOT an Allstate policy holder and those sections of their policy or methods of adjusting claims do not apply to you.

The section of their policy which applies to you is the Liability section and it says "we will pay of behalf of the insured (the guy who hit you), all damages for which you are legally liable". Do you see any ambiguity here? Any terms or conditions? Nope. That is because there aren't any.

You have no issues with Allstate. Your beef and recourse is against their insured and if you sue their insured their only role is to pay for his defense and also pay WHATEVER the judge rules - period.

So, go to the shop of your choice have them write up what ever they think is the best way to do the repairs and tell Allstate pay this or I sue your insured - period. Don't forget their insured has caused you other losses due to his negligence.

1. Is loss of use. You are entilted to recover for loss of use including renting a like kind and quality replacement rental vehicle. They will tell you they will approve a Geo. Your response.... see ya in court.

2. Diminished Value. Your car now has a negative carfax showing an accident history. Trot on down to your friendly local dealership and ask them what your trade in or resale value is now - try to be sitting down before the answere comes.

3. Anything and I mean anything including loss of consorsium (sex) that this accident has caused, or inconvenienced you.

Most of this stuff can be handled through small claims court.... as soon as you file the paper work against their insured watch the smiles and handshakes return from the good hand people.

Google, and search this forum for DV - I have personally collected it.

30 years retired insurance broker, began with the Commercial Division of Allstate (they had one then) in 1971.

BTW... saying "see ya in court" is not a threat to an insurance company. It means the adjuster gets to move your file off his desk and they will send it over to their full time in-house legal staff. Don't use to try and scare them. When, and if you say it... mean it as a matter of fact! They do however know that it automatically increases their claim by at least five grand.

You could settle through your carrier and they will subrogate (sue) Allstate to recover they money they spend. If your carrier is any better than Allstate, Geico, etc. you might try them. It may be simply jumping from the frying pan into the fire, or it might work out better for you.

What ever you do. Remember despite all the crap your about to hear from all the insurance carriers involved here there are no rules or limits on what the party who caused the damage owes you (except their Property Damage Liability limit which is probably $1,000,000). Another fella here suggested including some Bodily Injury to wake them up... that's okay if she really slapped into you, and I've found that story works best if you were actually in the car at the time of the accident... lol It's all gamesmanship to try and keep their costs down and you can bend over for them if you find it more expedient or show 'em how the game's really played. Do you want your damage panels repaired or replaced (will the repair be detectible), they cannot charge you "betterments", etc. or any of the other myriad of games they like to play. Why? Come on now... say this with me.... because...... you are not one of their policy holders, you are not obligated to their policy terms and conditions.... this is a third party liability and they are only responding on behalf of their client to put you back to where you were before the accident - no rules need apply.

Ah, I miss the old days I used to eat these carriers and their games for breakfast.

Yeah, well he ain't the only one.

Boy would I give good money to have a guy who knows what you do on my side the next time I have to deal with these Bozo's. They have an insurance lobby, they have their own lawyers, legally I am forced to do business with them and... they have managed to get most state laws written in their favor. They really have it all their own way.

Me, after any accident, I just want them to put my car back the way it was before it was damaged. I want the same parts I originally had on it and I want it painted to at least the level of the factory paint job I already had before the accident (anyone can do Corvette orange peel).

I am not interested in ripping them off and I don't need a rental car because I have 3 cars. It would be so easy for them to deal with me if they would just do what I ask and move on.

I do not ever want my Vette involved in an accident. With all of the aftermarket parts I have on the car hell will freeze over before they cover my real losses.

I am an Allstate policy holder. My wife wrecked my pickup a couple years ago, and the adjuster gave me his estimate that was considerably lower than any of the body shops I went to estimates. I told him this, and he said they would not budge on their estimate. I explained that it was a 1 year old, $35k truck that needed to be repaired, but they did not budge. I took it to the body shop of my choice, who in turn called the adjuster to his shop to look at it again. He pointed out the areas that needed repair and showed him the estimate, and the allstate guy approved it. The truck was fixed the right way, and I was only out my deductible.

You have to remember, the insurance company is in business to make money. Therefore, they are going to try to skimp on whatever they can.

In 1974 my ex-wife was involved in an accident with a driver who was insured by Allstate (I had State Farm). When I went to Allstate to have them look at the car and they refused to replace the front bumper (the car was less than 1 yr old) which had a large gouge in it. I threatened to sue them. The adjuster laughed and said "Go ahead kid!" So I got a lawyer and sued them for both property damage and personal injuries. I won and hand delivered a copy of the settlement to the adjuster to let him know that he lost big time. Although the ex was really injured I would not have sued for the injuries if they had not jerked me aroung about the frt bumper.

Bob K.

It boils down to the simple distinction of contract vrs. tort law. This fella doesn't have a contract with Alllstate and their contract with their insured reads:

"we will pay on behalf of our insured all sums they are legally obligated to pay resulting from third party bodily injury or property damage"

The fun part is if you sue their insured in small claims court then Allstate can't even send in legal representation. Their poor insured (if he appears at all) has to go in bare naked. He will get a summons and try to pass it to his carrier, but will find out small claims (limit $5K) doesn't allow lawyers. That's gonna be one pissed off insured. The most important thing - liability - has already been established, the rest is a cake walk. You walk up to the judge show him the pic's & estimate for repairs from the shop you choose and that's that. I like to really bury them... rent a corvette while it's being repaired and go after diminished value when, and only when.. the other party is 100% liable for the damage - you will hear a lot of arm chair second guessing on this one... the truth is if the other person is 100% responsible, then DV exists in all states!

No reason to even comment on color sanding & blending to match factory orange peel, etc. those things are too easy - of course he's entitled to them.

Remember you are really in good hands with Allstate ,, Just ask anyone in Louisiana or Mississippi that are getting claims checks on their flooded homes . I dropped Allstate 37 years ago. vettdvr

There are two types of DV claims. Actual and inherent. Actual comes from faulty or detectible repairs. Usually the carrier will just keep sending you back to the body shop to resolve this one and you should agree as you want undetectable repairs.

Inherent DV means the repairs are now PERFECT, but the vehicle has a traceable accident history via carfax, etc. Carriers will argue unless you sell the car you suffered no loss, or repairs are perfect so what's your problem? To make this easy, I personally collected $3K for DV on my '02 vert from Geico (and they are tough despite their friendly lizzard) for a rearend which was their insured's fault. Sure it was a 6 month run around after the repairs were done. Sure I heard all the stuff they spew and was ignored for month and months... but with resolve & tenacity it gets done, they just don't instantly lay down on this one.