subject: Using Your Accident Compensation Claim to Get Body Work [print this page] Using Your Accident Compensation Claim to Get Body Work
Insurance companies will evaluate a claim, quantify the extent of damage, calculate the cost of repairs, write out a check to the automobile victim, and send the check to the auto repair shop. Based on the projected cost, the auto body repair shop will massage their numbers to obtain the most profit; in other words, they want the biggest amount of insurance cash as they can. This is done through adding labor cost, finder fees, program costs, and handling fees. In addition to this, they will perform a fix using pre-owned components, discount components, and lousy materials such as bondo and fiberglass. To make sure that you, the victim, can get the repair you deserve on your car, complete the following steps:
1. Never deliver your accident compensation claim money to the auto body service shop before they repair your automobile properly. Auto body service shops will tell you all kinds of stories to explain their excuses for poor performance. Don't forget, the repair center should not get money until you determine the work ended and don't budge on this point.
2. Tell them that all damaged auto body components should be swapped for completely new auto body components. Unfortunately, you can't avoid using body putty and/or fiberglass in order to get seams consistent; on the other hand, it's not necessary to use body putty or fiberglass to cover indentations when simply using completely new components. Excessive use of body putty or fiberglass will devalue your automobile.
3. Inform them you will not agree to pre-owned auto body components. Consider that, you pay car insurance to make sure that if a collision does occur, they must pay a settlement to take the vehicle back to its pre-accident form. The one and only occasion you will need second-hand parts is when the brand new parts are unavailable.
