rear ended

I was driving in traffic yesterday, and came to a complete stop about three feet from the guy in front of me. Just as him and myself are rolling forward, I check my rear view, and a gold subaru legacy is bearing down on me doing about 25-30 miles an hour. This was on a two lane road, and the right lane, was still at a standstill, so I had place to pull off to to avoid him hitting me, and even if I did, he was coming in so strong that I doubt I could have pulled far enough away to even avoid him clipping my rear side panel. So he slams me, and I get out, fuming, and I check my back bumper. The 2 exhust pipes on the drivers side, have come off from the rubber holder under the car, and the 2nd one in is bent at about 2 oclock (saying a normal pipe would be at 12 on a clock face). There is a 2 inch whole on the drivers side of the license plate, and a 5x3 white semi crack on the passanger side of license plate. Those are the worse marks, but on the top left side of the rear bumper has moved about 2 inches down from being connected under the "Mitsubishi" written on the back.
I took it to a local dealer today and all in all it is going to be about 2100. We'll see how much insurance plays in.

Until then I don't know, the car is still drivable.

Well if you got a police report and reported it to the insurance company then you shouldn't have to pay anything. Sorry to hear it bro, glad you're ok.

Sorry to hear about that. Hopefully you come out on top financially though.

you can do like i did

do some investigation and see if anyone caould do the job a lot cheaper then your quote and do a good job

then go to the most expensive place and get there quote, send it in. and have them send you the money

example. insurace gives you 2100. you find someone to fix it for 1300 and you get 800 left for..... whatever you want to do to your car :)

just a thought

Well if you got a police report and reported it to the insurance company then you shouldn't have to pay anything. Sorry to hear it bro, glad you're ok.

I don't know about other states but in Cali, stupid cops don't come unless if someone's about to die due to the accident. :screwy: But yeah, sorry to hear about your accident bro. When dealing with the insurance company(ies), make sure you ask and document everything as my gf's accident has been a living nightmare.

you can do like i did

do some investigation and see if anyone caould do the job a lot cheaper then your quote and do a good job

then go to the most expensive place and get there quote, send it in. and have them send you the money

example. insurace gives you 2100. you find someone to fix it for 1300 and you get 800 left for..... whatever you want to do to your car :)

just a thought



fyi that's insurance fraud. and people wonder why insurance is so high.

fyi that's insurance fraud. and people wonder why insurance is so high.\

:owned:

oh it is. because your able to find soemone esle able to fix it for less?

if they cared so much why dont they just send the money to the company instead of you?

what exactly makes this insurance fraud?

and why would this make it higher?

as a matter of fact. the place i was suppose to send it to, were trying to cut down the labour so i could fix my tranny at the time.

not only that but, the insurace company asked me to go to two different places and get quotes, specific places.


your owed what its worth right? if getting a proffessional job done on your car cost 3grand

and you decide to not get the top of the line, even though thats what they owe you? for paying thousands of dollars a year. you do deserve to of the line work, so whats so bad about not getting top of the line? its not there car, there job is done.

Its still insurance fraud. If you didnt fix it at all it would be a different story.

doesnt make since to me

so whats the difference from not fixing it at all and fixing it cheap?

well let me enlighten you then, since you don't get it.

I would first advise you to actually read your insurance contract. It has alot of information you probably didn't know. I'll even give you a few parts of it.

1) If your vehicle is damaged and new parts need to be put on your vehicle, replacement parts are put in, and not OEM.

2) Insurance companies will pay the least amount to fix your car. That doesn't mean Joe Schmo who charges $100 to paint your car (and do a shitty job) is going to do your car, but a reputable shop that can get it fixed for the most reasonable amount.

Since you don't get "why" it drives up insurance, let me enlighten you on that as well.

Insurance premiums are determined by the area you live in (as with other factors, but I'll just stick with location for now) Let's use Kansas, Florida, and New Mexico for example. In Kansas, the likelihood of you hitting a deer (or other animal) in that state is much higher than any other state in the country. And because of that, your comprehensive coverage is usually more expensive than other states. In Florida, your liability coverage is usually very very expensive because it is the #1 state for seniors, and because of that, there are alot of accidents. In New Mexico, the likelihood of you getting hit by an uninsured motorist is much higher that just about any state because it's right next to Mexico, and many motorists drive up from Mexico (uninsured), plus also just generally speaking many people drive uninsured, so your uninsured motorist is usually more expensive in state.

With that being said, the amount of insurance claims/payouts in your area directly affects your insurance rate. Let's say in your area, for a given year, your insurance company pays out $5,000,000 in claims. The next state over, the payout is $50,000,000. In the state with $50,000,000 payout, the insurance is going to be much higher than the state with $5,000,000 payout.

Now, with THAT being said, every time someone gets "more" than they should in a claim, that drives up the total payout the insurance company has to pay out, and that is why your insurance gets raised (as with other factors, however, as in before, I'm limiting myself to just this for now)

So if you can get the job done for $800 or $1500, and somehow the insurance lets you do the $1500 or whatnot, that just drives up extra claims payouts. If 50,000 people in your state do the same thing, thats an extra $3.5 million they have to pay out, so then they just increase the premium of your insurance policy by $3.5 million divided by the number of people they have insured in that area.

So thanks for making our insurance go up.

Gateway, nicely said and explained, but i'm gonna be practical and ask: do insurance companies ever follow up with their customers after the check has been cut and after the supposed repairs at supposed shop X have been made? if so, this would be a good way of combating or cracking down on insurance fraud. if not, then that's lazy, irresponsible, and the easy way to make money by just letting the company raise the premiums.

so which is it?

Well I don't handle claims personally, but I do still "kind of" know about stuff on the inside. Usually they have preferred shops they want you to go to and stuff like that. Also, if you had 2 different estimates and showed them that, I'm sure they would make you take it to the one with the lowest cost, of course it would have to be a reputable shop.

It still isnt much different if you go get it fixed for the amount given or just pocket the money, they still have to pay it either way.

Well if you get it fixed for $800, or just pocket the money for $800, that's your choice...that's not insurance fraud, and is your right to choose to get it fixed or not.

Also, something I also forgot to mention, is alot of times the claimant (that's you) and the shop, will work together and overstate the damage to get more money. It happens ALOT, and that also drives up insurance.

I get to read alot of stories about how people "fake" their vehicle being stolen, vandalized, etc etc, to get "free" money basically, but what they (and you) don't realize that it just drives up the cost of insurance for EVERYONE.

It's estimated that you pay an extra $200 - $2000/year extra for insurance just because of insurance fraud. How would you like to have your insurance premiums cut in half? Well if people were honest then it would be that way.

This is just a sore subject for me because auto insurance is my job, and after I became an agent, my ways have changed when it comes to things like this, and it just upsets me when so many people think it's "ok" to fuck over the insurance industry.

On a daily basis, I read www.insurancejournal.com and usually 1 article per day talks about someone busted for fraud. One day, it could be you. The penalties for insurance fraud are so strict now, as well. Usually people get sentenced to 10 years in jail + have to pay back what they got in the first place.

I am not trying to sound like this "holier than thou" person and come down and talk about how bad you guys are, I really am not. I was just trying to explain to you that it's not right.

Usually they have preferred shops they want you to go to and stuff like that. Also, if you had 2 different estimates and showed them that, I'm sure they would make you take it to the one with the lowest cost, of course it would have to be a reputable shop.

how do they make you go to one of those 2 shops? don't they just cut you a check for that amount? (the lesser of the two). the only 'check' they have is to follow up with you. actually, they should follow up with that shop to make sure that you brought your car there as promised.

for them to just make you get 2 estimates, then cut you a check for the lesser of the two amounts, and let it end there....well that's just plain stupid.

IMO, if insurance companies were truly worried about rising insurance prices, then they would take more initiative and be more responsible to find out where 'their' money pay-outs are going.

I completly agree. Im typing through a phone right now but though that may be fraud i do not agree with there ways. Nothing against u gateway, but i belive they owe u the best job done and if u want to fix it urself or watever. That should be ur choice. Ill post later