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Often during the car accident insurance settlement, you and the insurance company don’t agree about what your auto repair costs are actually worth.

If you get your own repair quotes, the insurance company will attempt to pressure you to accept their own smaller settlements. The bad news is that the insurance company’s quotes can be hundreds and even thousands of dollars below what your actual repair fees.

If you don’t fully understand how to resolve these disputes with the insurance company, you will end up paying more for your car repair.

To protect yourself from spending money on your vehicle damages, here are a few simple tips you can follow:

1. Get Thorough Estimates

To start off, you should always get a detailed itemized estimate for your vehicle damages. Capturing the list of replacement parts and their costs unmistakably shows how much money it will cost to repair your vehicle.

With a detailed estimate, you may then ask the insurance company to present their own detailed estimates. In this manner you are comparing reasonable estimates, and not merely some random value from the insurance company. If you are unhappy with a lower estimate, you have a right to know how exactly they determined the low settlement figure.

Make certain that 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 before the car accident. The insurance adjuster’s estimates may be lower simply because they used less expensive non factory replacement parts. You don’t have to agree to this, so get the estimates for the same quality parts.

2. Get Quality and Realistic Estimates

You need to get your estimates from a shop that will do actual fix your vehicle. Don’t just go to a random repair shop or gas station and get a rough estimate.

Insurance companies try to sort out your damages as falling in a selected range. For instance, they may expect replacing a broken bumper shouldn’t cost more than a few hundred dollars.

However, this really relies on who does your repairs and the model of your vehicle. So check to make sure you get your estimates from a repair shop that is qualified to repaire your brand of vehicle. This will give you a more reliable cost of labor.

If the insurance company disputes this estimate, ask them to provide another repair center that can ensure the same high quality work. If they don’t offer a satisfactory alternative, you can argue that their estimate is incorrect and you shouldn’t have to consent to poor quality work.

What if My Car is Totaled?

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

The easiest way to see if you’re getting a good 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 vehicle is actually worth.

What if I am not good at negotiating my settlement?

Working on these suggestions really depends upon how confident you are negotiating cash settlement costs.

Find out more tips to negotiate your car accident insurance claims and personal injury settlements

Mar012011

Tags: advice, auto accident settlements, automotive, business, car accident claims, car insurance, cars, consumers, finance, insurance, Trucks

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