Car Accident Insurance Settlements : How to Prevent Paying for Auto Repair

Usually during the car accident insurance settlement, you and the insurance company don’t see eye to eye on the amount your auto repair costs are worth.

If you get your own repair prices, the insurance company will try to push you to accept their own smaller settlements. The bad news is that the insurance company’s estimates could be hundreds and even thousands of dollars below what your actual repair costs.

If you don’t know how to sort out these disputes with the insurance company, you will end up getting less cash for your auto accident claims.

In order to avoid paying for your car damages from your own pocket, here are a few basic steps you can follow:

1. Get Full Written Estimates

To begin with, you need to get a thorough itemized quote for your auto damages. Getting the list of replacement parts and their costs clearly shows how much money it will cost to repair your vehicle.

By having a detailed estimate, you may then ask the insurance company to provide their own detailed estimates. By using this method you are looking at reasonable estimates, and not simply some random number from the insurance company. If you are upset with a lower estimate, you've got a right to know how exactly they arrived at the low settlement figure.

Be certain your estimates are for the same exact factory vehicle parts. You have a right to get your car in the SAME condition as it was prior to the accident. The insurance adjuster’s estimates may be lower mainly because they used less costly non factory replacement parts. You don’t have to say yes to this, so get the estimates for the same quality parts.

2. Get High-quality Estimates

You should get your estimates from a shop that will do the actual repairs. Don’t just go to a random mechanic or service station and get a bad estimate.

Insurance companies try to classify your damages as falling in a small range. For example, they may presume replacing a broken down bumper shouldn’t cost more than a few hundred dollars.

However, this really is dependent upon who does your repairs and the model of your vehicle. So always make sure that you get your estimates from a repair shop that is familiar in restoring your make of vehicle. This will give you a more complete cost of labor.

If the insurance company disputes this estimate, make them provide another repair shop that can guarantee the same top quality work. If they don’t offer a satisfactory alternative, you can argue that their estimate is inaccurate and you shouldn’t have to agree to poor quality work.

What if your vehicle is Totaled?

If the cost of your car repair is more than the cost of your vehicle, this is what's called a "total loss". The insurance company will attempt to give you what it considers the Actual Cash Value (ACV) of your motor vehicle. This could also increase disputes because you may think your car is worth more than you are getting.

The best way to see if you’re getting a fair deal is to check your vehicle's Kelly Blue Book value. The blue book lists the present value of the car and you can check how much your car is worth.


What if I am not good at negotiating my settlement?

Implementing these methods really depends upon how good you are negotiating car accident claims.

To learn more helpful tips on how to increase your settlements please visit www.after-car-accidents.com