subject: Be Sure The Estimator Gets Everything [print this page] There are few things in life that hurt as much as seeing your brand new car crunched in a car crash. Of course, presuming the everyone is okay, the attention then turns to the car and what might need to be done to fix it. The time is always taken at the accident to get insurance information so that the appropriate insurance company can pay for the damages to the vehicles and make sure that they get repaired. If any of the cars involved are too bad to move, a tow truck will be called to come and pick up the car and tow it away to the home of the person or to a body shop of their choice.
Sometimes, a car damaged that much is almost better in that situation because then the likelihood of small damages being overlooked is not nearly as likely as when there is minimal damage. One of the biggest culprits of unnoticed damage is in the moldings of the car. They can have broken mounts behind them that is not noticed right away, but may cause problems down the road, well beyond the time that they could be covered by the insurance based on that accident. That can be a frustrating time for the owner of the car to discover that something was missed and now they will be stuck paying the bill on their own if they would like to repair it.
It is important that if you are in an accident and your car needs to be repaired at the auto body shop, you make sure that the estimator looks thoroughly over the car. In particular, make sure that they look over the mounts of the car. This is not easy for them to do and will often require them to get on the ground and look up, underneath the car. Even then, some mounts cannot be seen until the parts are removed and the mounts are then exposed.
However, you can be there as they do the estimate and ask them if they have considered possible mounts that could be broken that they cannot see until they have taken things apart. This will give you the best chance to make sure that they do not miss this and cause you to pay more than you need to. If you are thorough in your questions to the estimator, they are more likely to be more thorough with their estimate, making it more likely that you will be happy with the results.
