Rawkerstatus

gaurantee you won't get anymore more then what it would cost to repair it back to normal. you probably won't even see the money. his insurance will probably just send it to the body shop either way. btw sorry if someone already mentioned this.

superwhiteTC20

Great information thanks!

I will be going to a scion dealership that I bought the car from to find out the body shop they use and that way I know the body shop knows what they are doing.

Thanks for the quick reply's everyone

RammsteinNicCage

I forgot to mention... when I went to the approved body shop, there is a warranty on the parts and labor for as long as you own the car (at least that is how it is with progressive). The paint on my replaced side view mirror began bubbling and then chipping, which was a defect and not the result of something like road debris, so that was replaced again for free.

landark

iTrader: (1)

I was a Progressive claims rep as of 3 weeks ago. Did it for 2 years.

reelknead1 is pretty much right.
The only thing I will say is YOU need to call the insurance company for the other driver. You don't need to contact your own insurance company unless something starts going wrong with the other company and they can help you.
Once you get the check from the insurance company you can do whatever you want with it. If you can get a body kit bumper for less than an OEM, go for it. But once you start doing stuff like that, it'll be harder for the insurance adjuster to justify any extra costs needed to repair your car.
If the body shop needs more money than what is on the estimate, which happens 80% of the time, the shop will contact the insurance company. You may not even know it happens.

My advice - go with whatever program the insurance company has in place. It will be a lot faster, you won't have the hassle of coordinating everything, and you will get a free rental car for as long as it takes since the insurance company has control over the repairs. And you will probably get a lifetime guarantee.

You will not get "Diminished Value" for a tC. I was working with people who were having trouble getting it for their 2008 CLK convertible with 800 miles on it that got hammered with $26,000 in repairs. Even if you do, it will be based on a percentage of the total cost of the repairs - somewhere around 10-20% - so not very much.

FYI - replacing the quarter panel is a hassle and your car may never be the same.

jonathan110987

this was mine.. and it was about 6 grand to fix at toyota... luckily the other guy had insurance..(drunk guy backed into my car while i was parked)

landark

iTrader: (1)

Oh yeah, and having seen about 300 repairs over the last 2 years I can honestly say I will NEVER take my car to a dealership body shop / the one the dealership uses.

Most independent body shops if they are reputable (and you can typically tell by looking at them if they are) are filled with guys who used to work at dealerships and wanted to go somewhere to get paid better - so they are happier.

Dealerships take longer to do the work, charge a LOT more for the same work, and give the adjuster a hard time which will also slow the process. They do it because they can because people take their cars there without knowing what kind of work they do. They have nothing to prove unlike independent shops.

Get a lifetime guarantee, it is worth it. Going thru the insurance company's shop - which is likely an independent shop - will mean the insurance company has to fight with the shop if they do something wrong, not you, like with the dealership (and good luck with that!).

Sorry for the near rant!

superwhiteTC20

That is perfectly fine, you have offered all the advice I was looking for. As for the body shop sounds like I need to do some research.

Jonathon, that is exactly what my car looks like (color and everything) only thing is he managed to miss my tail light and just slam all down the side.

It scares me to hear that replacing the Quarter Panel will make my car never be the same, its my baby and I haven't even had it a year yet. Just won my first trophy the day before =\

BZinn1

that is incredable......a guy hit your car and then came to look for the owner.....my faith in mankind has been given a boost......thanks for sharing.

Sorry to hear about your car though.Probably not gonna get much more than the repairs cost out of it though.The nice part is those parts are gonna have nice fresh paint on them with no dings or scratches.

So far I have a new front and rear bumper form people hitting me......____es me off as I drove beater cars my whole life and hoped somebody would hit me and now I have a car I pray no one touches and get plowed into 2 times in 6 months.

superwhiteTC20

The funny thing is I had a scratch on my quarter panel all the way to the metal from a body shop before that I was gonna have to have it repainted, now I don't have to worry about that haha

jonathan110987

yea my car isnt really the same... the antenna area rattles like crazy... and u can see wehre they fused teh quarterpanel to the wheelwell and hatch area

BlackMetal

I had a bad accident myself with my last tC I had, there was $12,000 in damage - and the other guy's insurance wouldn't total it (air bags didn't go off). I was smashed on the driver side buy a Chevy Tahoe on the Highway (dude was drunk and fell asleep). Just like everyone else is saying, it may never be the same again, I had soooo many rattles, squeek noises, paint chipping, and to replace the rear quarter panel they acutally saw that section off your car and re-weld a new one... I kept it for 8 months before I got rid of it and bought my '08, plus it was on the title so my '07 was worth jack ... Hopefully they fix your car better then they did my old tC ...

ihearyou69

OP, this is exactly why I suggested you be very careful about the body shop you choose to do this job. My quarter panel replacement came out about 99.9% perfect. No unusual noises, and more important perfect fitment and paint. Only way you can tell is if you get on your knees and look inside the wheel well, you'll see where the new quarter was welded in as the inside lip of the wheel well looks a little different from the factory build. Unfortunately, your car WILL never be the same, but it can come close.

BZinn1

Guys this was aparking lot accident........guy in the sapce across from him hit him at best at 15 mph.....no structural damage can really occure.........our sheetmetal is so thin that minor damage crumples it up badly.......his car will be fine.

InfiniteVisi0n

either way the accident was his fault..by no means will your insurance go up. You can simply go to a shop and tell them to give you a quota on the repairs..look at after market kits...tell them your situation and bam they will mark up the price a little more in order for you to get a kit of your liking. Lol something like that, pretty simple if you ask me. Its not like the body shop is going to deny you, they're in the same boat as you..they want to milk the situation for what its worth.

superwhiteTC20

Will they actually jack the price up like that to try and get the most out of everything?

I talked to a TC owner today who was t-boned about 2 years ago and she refferred me to a shop that she used then and said they did awesome work.

Calling everyone tomorrow about quotes and such.

Also to Infinitevisi0n: Will they jack it up for a whole kit, is that wat your saying, or like just a rear bumper for the kit?

RammsteinNicCage

You have to determine the cost to fix the car legitly first - if it's only $1000, I think the body shop is going to have trouble trying to figure out how to add on another ~$1000 for a full body kit and the cost / labor to paint it (what's that, at least another $500-1000?). They might be able to find a way to squeeze a few more hundred dollars on a minor accident, a more severe accident, they could probably find a way to get even more.

ihearyou69

Also to Infinitevisi0n: Will they jack it up for a whole kit, is that wat your saying, or like just a rear bumper for the kit?[/quote]

As mentioned earlier, this guy's insurance company is going to send an adjuster to appraise your car's damage. Your body shop and the insurance adjuster are working from the same auto repair computer program so they should come up with a figure that is similar in amount. If your body shop pads the repair price, they need to have a really solid reason for it because they'll have to submit a repair adjustment to the insurance company to have them cough up more dough than they originally estimated. And that adjustment will be scrutinized and most likely require another look at your car by the adjuster before they pay out more.

I like to have the insurance adjuster review my car's damage at my body shop, that way your body guy can push for parts of the repair that insurance may deem unecessary. You may be able to "milk" the repair job later by having your body guy skip parts of the repair that are possibly marginal, such as the need to blend the paint into the next body panel.

Though once this guy's insurance cuts you a check, it's up to you to spend it however you see fit. You will need to get that quarter panel fixed, but what you spend the remaining money on can vary. If you want to buy an aftermarket bumper and throw it on that's your right. In repairs I've had done in the past, insurance adjusters have called for repairing body panels, where i've taken the money allocated and had my body guy replace them with new parts. One example, I was hit in my hatch and insurance wanted to do a bondo repair because only a small area was damaged -- I didn't want that so I priced it out and fund it actually cost $100 LESS to replace the entire hatch with a new one so I went that route instead.