Volvo Update - Claim Filed

"Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo" (akioohtori)
02/27/2018 at 11:17 • Filed to: None

After a rocky start... well it has continued to be rocky. At first I tried to file a claim but her insurance company wanted her address, which I didn’t have. Ok so I called the person who hit me back, and she tells me the car owner wanted to pay out of pocket. Ok, I get the number for the owner, and get her on the phone. After telling her it was easily going to be 2 to 4 grand, she decided I should file a claim. I call the insurance company back and this time they don’t ask for an address.

>_<

Claim is now filed. They wanted to use a “automated adjuster” but I refused. Real actual person adjuster is coming out tomorrow between 8 and 5. Ok... sure... whatever.

Though I tend to worry - and not to trust insurance companies - I have an overwhelming sense of dread that they’re going to try and screw me on this. Volvo parts are expensive and they’re absolutely going to have to replace that door.

Gah! HOW HARD IS IT TO DRIVE A DAMNED CAR!?

DISCUSSION (34)

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:20

If you need any assistance, let me know. I can provide some insight/help if needed.

It’s what I do for a living.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:25

If it’s important to you, make sure they use real Volvo parts. Since it’s her insurance, they can’t refuse. If it were your insurance, there may be a clause in your policy which allows them to use re- manufactured or third-party parts.

His Stigness > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:26

You need to get your own estimate from a body shop with them specifying Volvo OEM parts.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
02/27/2018 at 11:27

Thanks! Hopefully I won’t need it. I worry too much and I know this. I had a really bad experience with an insurance company when I was 16 and so these situations always put me on edge.

Ash78, voting early and often > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:27

Same thing with my car about 10 years ago. $1300 to replace the door (insurance originally wanted them to pop the giant dent and bondo it to MAYBE save $200-$300).

Best body shop in town....door was still never the same again.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > TheRealBicycleBuck
02/27/2018 at 11:27

That isn’t really correct. All the third party owes you is to return you to a pre-loss state. When it comes to claims, especially property claims, they don’t owe you replacement cost, just ACV.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:29

Ughhh...

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:32

They suck, that’s for sure. It is hard being in claims as there isn’t ever a “good claim” so it is really hard to make people happy.

This is basically what I do (albiet, for a competitor as I don’t need to identify the firm I work for). It is difficult to explain to people so I always just say I am an adjuster.

http://www.aon.com/risk-services/claims-consulting.jsp

Ram_Riot_6 > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:33

I had a very similar accident in my first car where someone backed out of their driveway into me as I drove by. They replaced only the door skin and it was ~1200. The door made a popping noise when opening and closing from then on. All the body lines matched up perfectly and nothing else could be seen wrong so I just dealt with the noise.

Textured Soy Protein > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:34

I recommend filing a claim with your insurance who will subrogate the claim to the other driver’s insurance.

Most of the time insurance companies will try to pay for the absolute cheapest repairs when directly paying out a claim against one of their drivers. But if you file a claim with your insurance and they get a subrogation agreement with the other insurance, your insurance will (to a point) be more of an advocate for you.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > Textured Soy Protein
02/27/2018 at 11:38

Good advice. My plan so far is to see how this goes and if they start to be punks about it, bring in my insurance company. Might give them a call for advice though, now that you mention it.

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:42

Where are you located? In CA the insurance companies cannot force you to choose a particular repair shop, and I think this is true in many states. If true in your state, pick your own shop. Preferably one recommended by the Volvo dealer (if not the shop at the Volvo dealer itself). When someone hit my i8 at the end of last year there was no way I was going anywhere but the BMW repair shop.

Future next gen S2000 owner > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:47

I’d take it to a body shop and get an estimate. See how it stacks up against the insurance company. Make sure they include all the little detail like disconnecting the wiring assembly for the mirror, remove and reinstall window stripping. All that stuff, not just new door and paint.

Also, considering the rearending(?) I saw on the highway next to me on my way in, pretty damn hard.

Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/27/2018 at 11:49

They, of course, strongly recommend the use of their recommended repair network. I’ll probably get quotes from both the Volvo shop and my normal body shop. My normal one did a great job when the Land Rover got hit and insisted on using only Land Rover parts, even on a 16 year old car, which I respect.

deekster_caddy > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 11:51

my experience in these situations has always been to deal with your and only your insurance company. They can get all the information they need from the other company, they cut you a check quickly, they make an adjustment when the body shop calls and says ‘we need xxx that wasn’t on the original estimate’ and go after the other insurance company when it’s all done. You will get pushed around by the other company, all over the place. Your insurance company is working for you in this situation, instead of you pulling teeth to get what you should be getting from the other company. It’s part of what you are paying them for!

Future next gen S2000 owner > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
02/27/2018 at 11:51

If you replace a component with a different component have you really returned some thing to a pre-loss state? This is a bit more existential but if I have a car that is all oem parts and those parts aren’t replaced you haven’t returned me to the state I was pre-loss. I’m now at a different post-loss state that is similar but distinctly different that my pre-loss state.

Does that make sense?

A guess a better example, if I have a rare hood on a 60's muscle car and the value of the car is dependent on originality, an aftermarket hood would decrease the value, not returning me to my pre-loss state.

Future next gen S2000 owner > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/27/2018 at 11:52

I’ll bet you a beer that dealerships farmed your body work out to separate shop.

His Stigness > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
02/27/2018 at 11:53

But you can argue in court that using original parts is returning it to the pre-loss state. The only time they don’t have to do that is when they have a prior agreement with you in writing saying aftermarket parts are okay. I ran into this with a windshield on my Mercedes. Of course there was a clause saying they would only pay for aftermarket. But when it comes to the other party being at fault, you have no prior written agreement with them, so they have to use OEM parts.

That’s how it is in California at least. Canada may have different laws on the books to mitigate losses.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Future next gen S2000 owner
02/27/2018 at 11:54

You had a car with used parts, you should just get a used/recycled or re-manufactured in place.

If in your last example you are relying on the 3rd party insurer instead of your own haggerty cover or something that is exactly what you are going to get. 3rd party insurers owe you nothing but what the law states.

TheRealBicycleBuck > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
02/27/2018 at 11:59

While you may get used/recycled, you can demand OEM parts if you so desire.

TheRealBicycleBuck > His Stigness
02/27/2018 at 11:59

Exactly.

Future next gen S2000 owner > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
02/27/2018 at 12:03

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

This makes sense for certain items, but a door panel made by Volvo and an aftermarket replacement may not be the same. I pointed that out to an adjuster who once tried to tell me something was both a structural and non structural component.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Textured Soy Protein
02/27/2018 at 12:05

If you subrogate, you fall under the stipulations of your own contract. This means that if your insurance allows non-OEM parts or if your insurance has a low rental reimbursement, you have to follow the limitations of your contract. I recently went through this with a claim. My insurance allows $30/day for a rental. We needed an SUV to replace our crunched SUV (the space was necessary for a planned trip o ver Christmas). Since we filed with our insurance , we had to pay the difference out of pocket and wait for the subrogation claim to be resolved for reimbursement for those expense.

Wrong Wheel Drive (41%) > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 12:06

Good luck! I HATE dealing with insurance unless its my own company. Why can’t everyone be insured by quality insurance companies?? I intentionally picked one based on customer service being top notch but when other people hit me, they usually have companies that are subpar to deal with.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > Future next gen S2000 owner
02/27/2018 at 12:06

100% he’s getting a OEM part for this case. As pointed out by others, some states/countries/provinces will have differing legislation. It also depends on the 3rd party insurers and the vehicle involved.

Textured Soy Protein > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 12:07

I agree with what deekster already said.

In my case, my wife’s car was hit while parallel parked in a neighborhood. They ran in to the back of her car and pushed it into the car in front of it. Low speed but still needed both bumper covers replaced, new muffler, and re-aligning most of the front clip.

The person left a note on it. Their insurance was State Farm and ours is USAA. Initially I contacted their insurance and they made the process all very easy. The other driver had also called them and admitted fault so I just had to upload pics, pick a body shop, etc.

The problem came when I said I wanted OE parts. Her car was maybe a little over a year old and I wanted it to be good as new. But their insurance said even on a new car they don’t guarantee OE parts. So I called USAA and they said on all cars less than 2 years old they guarantee OE parts. So I filed a claim with USAA and let them sort it out with State Farm.

Textured Soy Protein > TheRealBicycleBuck
02/27/2018 at 12:09

Yes this is true, if you happen to have lesser insurance and the other driver has better insurance, then you might come out ahead going with theirs.

I have good insurance.

rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S > Future next gen S2000 owner
02/27/2018 at 12:59

I think you owe me a beer...

BMW SF owns a collision center, which is the only one in SF (maybe the whole bay area) specially trained to work on the i3 and i8. Technically the collision center is not part of BMW SF, but owned by the same group that owns BMW SF and BMW Mini.

Future next gen S2000 owner > rb1971 ARGQF+CayenneTurbo+E9+328GTS+R90S
02/27/2018 at 13:03

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

I win on a technicality! That is definitely a weird relationship. Not a typical practice.

Derpwagon > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 13:51

Hope it works out for you. Sorry your bork bork got borked :( That’s a pleasant color.

Cash Rewards > Akio Ohtori - RIP Oppo
02/27/2018 at 13:57

I had an incident where the shop specifically advised me to use my own insurance. Theirs Geico, would make them use third party parts, while mine authorized OEM.

NKato > Textured Soy Protein
02/27/2018 at 19:50

What qualifies as “good insurance”?

Textured Soy Protein > NKato
02/27/2018 at 21:19

A combination of the level of coverage on the policy and the little things specific to one insurer or another like OEM parts guarantees, flexibility when working with adjusters & shops, etc. I have USAA and they’ve been solid when I’ve needed them.

NKato > Textured Soy Protein
02/27/2018 at 22:29

I use Safeco insurance. Apparently I have “Superior Coverage”, whatever the hell that means. I plan to dig into the nitty gritty of it later.