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What Happens If You Have An Accident? Here's What People Have Been Asking:
A. From our experience, the answer to this question is almost always yes. Provided you have not filed multiple claims recently, it will most likely be to your benefit to utilize your coverage. Even if your insurance company assesses you a surcharge (rate increase), often times the surcharge, when analyzed is less than the cost of the claim. Combined with the fact that surcharges are typically charged over multiple years, it becomes a basic financial calculation. For instance, if your premiums are $1,000 per year and your company's policy is to assess you a 30% surcharge over 3 years, the cost of the claim to you would be $900.00. If your claim was $2,500, it would be sensless to pay the claim out of pocket to avoid a rate increase. In this scenario, you would be paying $2,500 up front instead of paying $300 per year for 3 years. Don't let the insurance company scare you into not using your coverage. Contact your agent and discuss your options. Calling your agent to inquire about a claim is not the same as filing a claim. Your agent should explain how filing a claim will affect your premiums. No insurance company can raise your premiums for inquiring about a claim, so use your agent's expertise. That's what you are paying him or her for.
A. Collision claims include all incidents where your vehicle is damaged as a result of impact with another vehicle or a stationary object. Even if your car is parked when it is hit, the claim would still be filed as a collision. Therefore, hit and run claims are considered collision. One stipulation that applies to hit and run claims is that they are categorized as "non-chargeable". This means that if you have a police report to verify that the vehicle was damaged as a result of hit and run, the insurance company can not raise your premiums by law. Comprehensive claims cover damages other than collision which are beyond your control. For instance; vandalism, fire, theft, hail damage and impact with wild animals such as deer are all examples of comprehensive claims. Damage caused by flying objects such as rocks, are also covered under comprehinsive coverage. Comprehensive claims are also non-chargeable and generally have lower deductibles than collision claims.
A. Absolutely not! Q. Will i have transportation while my vehicle is being repaired? A. If you are a claimant (someone else did damage to your vehicle), you are entitled to transportation while repairs are being performed. Depending on the insurance company, payment may be made directly to the rental car agency for you. In some cases, however, you may be expected to pay for your rental up front, and be reimbursed for the rental car once repairs are completed. If you are the insured, check your policy or contact your agent to find out the limits regarding rental coverage. In most cases, you will have enough coverage to pay for the majority of the rental expense. Most policies also have a 30 day rental car limit. If you do not have rental coverage, we advise you to add it to your policy. It is relatively inexpensive considering the inconvenience not having the coverage can cause.
Q. How long will the repairs take? A. There are a few indicators we use when estimating vehicle downtime. The first way is to multiply the labor hours on the estimate by 1.5. For instance, if there are 20 labor hours on the estimate, using this multiplyer, you can expect 30 hours of shop time. Factoring 8 hour work days, the repairs should take 3.75 days. This is the formula that most insurance companies use to calculate downtime. Another quick way we use to estimate downtime is to calculate 1 day per $500 of total repair dollars. For instance, a $2,000 dollar repair would take approximately 4 days to complete. Collision repair by its nature is an unpredictable type of service. There are numerous variables to consider. Insurance delays, parts delays, and hidden damage are a few of the problems we face in our industry which can delay completion of repairs. A. Our goal is to make certain that it is. Your vehicle will be repaired by technicians who have years of experience in the industry. We guarantee that your vehicle will look and perform as it did before the accident.
A. Toole Auto Body offers a lifetime warranty on all collision repairs we perform. A. Yes. We utilize state of the art refinishing procedures to insure perfect color match. Our paint supplier, Standox, works closely with auto manufactures to provide us with the most up to date color information available. We mix every color in house on our computerized mixing scale. Our painter has undergone extensive training and utilizes tinting and blending techniques to achieve unsurpassed quality in this area. Q. What are aftermarket parts? A. These are parts which are made by companies other than the original manufacturer of your vehicle. Aftermarket parts are generally 25% to 50% less expensive than the O.E.M. (original equipment). Although the quality of the aftermarkets are improving, we still find them to be inconsistent and therefore sometimes difficult to fit. There has been a great deal of debate in our industry lately regarding the use of aftermarkets. Many insurance companies are paying for aftermarkets on vehicles as new as only one year old. Some companies refuse to pay for aftermarkets no matter how old the vehicle or what the condition. There was recently a huge settlement paid by one of the largest auto insurers related to the use and subsequent failure of aftermarket parts. In this competitive business environment aftermarket parts have their place. We are of the opinion however, that the consumer, not the insurance company should make the final decision on what type of replacement parts are used to repair their vehicle. Q. Do i have to accept used parts? A. The newer your vehicle, the easier it will be to convice the insurance company to pay your claim using new parts only. As your vehicle ages, it will become increasingly difficult to make an argument against the use of used parts. The vehicle's condition is also taken into account when determining whether or not to utilize used parts. If you feel strongly about your vehicle being repaired with new parts only, contact your claim representative and explain that used parts are not acceptable to you. We have seen many cases where insurance companies have paid the extra cost for new parts after the customer became involved and demanded that new parts be used for the repairs. Used parts, if in equal or better condition than the parts being replaced, are a viable way to repair your vehicle correctly, while keeping claim costs down. The key to using used parts is that they should be of like, kind, and quality (LKQ) to the parts they are replacing. What this means is that the insurance company cannot utilize a used part from a 1995 vehicle on a 1998 vehicle even though the parts may be interchangeable. The part must be of the same model year or newer and be in equal or better condition than the part it will replace. When we install used parts on your vehicle, they will be thoroughly inspected and reconditioned if necessary to ensure the highest quality repair.
A. This has been a topic of great debate in recent years. In order to protect consumers, infomation regarding a vehicles history is now available online. This information includes any insurance claims filed and the amount of damage. It stands to reason that a vehicle that has been damaged, no matter how well it is repaired would be worth less than the same vehicle that has never been damaged. Since this is the case, many consumers feel that this "dimunition of value" should be factored in when calculating the total of the insurance claim. Although this issue is far from being solved or standardized, being aware that the debate exists may give you some leverage when negotiating your claim. If more people inquire about dimunition, sooner or later the insurance industry will have to address it.
Your newly painted vehicle is ready for normal use. Normal driving conditions and washing with mild detergent will not harm your paint. The only restriction
regarding your new paint is that we would ask that you not apply
any wax coating to the painted areas for 30 days. This is due to
the fact that solvent in the paint film slowly dissipates over this
time. Waxing prior to then could cause the clear to become dull
or cloudy. Waxing too soon still will not cause permanent damage
to the paint. If it were to occur, we would have to re-polish the
clearcoat. |
