Post Vehicle Crash: Getting Estimates For Repairs

Getting involved in a car accident is no laughing matter. Once involved, you need to do some important things, aside from getting medical assistance. If you are not seriously injured, you need to report the accident to your lawyer and insurance company, whether it is a single vehicle crash, multiple vehicle accident, or vehicle rollover crash.

Reporting a vehicle crash also compels you to do some other things, including getting estimates for repairs to your vehicle.

What is an Estimate?

An estimate is the amount of money, which an insurance adjuster considers, will bring back the vehicle to its condition prior to the accident.

Process for Getting an Estimate

The process of getting an estimate for repairs to your vehicle has a few essential steps. They are as follows:

Inspector or Adjuster

Usually, your insurance company will have a qualified inspector or adjuster check on your vehicle and draft an estimate of how much the repair will cost. They can also send you to particular centers to examine your vehicle instead of sending an adjuster to your business or home.

If your vehicle sustained only minor damages, then your insurance company will ask you to get estimates from numerous body shops or mechanics for the cost of repairs. If the estimate, however, is less than your deductible, then you will pay for the repairs yourself.

Making a claim does not hurt, even if you think that the damages can cost less than your deductible. If later on you end up injured or discover any additional damage, which is related to the accident, the insurance company will also cover that.

Body Shop or Mechanic

In choosing a body shop or mechanic, it is important to choose the one you trust. Your insurance company can suggest one, but you have the freedom to choose your own.

If ever your insurance company asks you to give estimates from various repair providers, they can then choose which of those you will go to. If seeing your regular mechanic is important to you, you should make that clear to them.

You should bear in mind that your insurance company could not force you to go to a specific body shop or mechanic that they may possibly have a partnership with. However, it is important to listen to any suggestions as they also have much at stake in having your vehicle correctly fixed the first time around as you do.

Additional Damage

During the course of repairs, the mechanic may discover additional damages and will then contact the insurance company. An adjuster or inspector could re-inspect the vehicle and again, assess the cost of repair given the additional damages.

This situation is somewhat common as there are many times in which some types of damages are not evident until after the repairs have began.

Cost of Repairs

You will want to know what type of parts that is going to be used during the repair estimate. Many insurers ask that body shops or mechanics repair your vehicle with an aftermarket or used parts, but you may ask for new parts you may be required to pay the difference in price.

Appraisal Provision

An appraisal provision explains how arguments on the value of a loss are resolved. So if you and your insurance company cannot come to an agreement regarding the amount of the repairs, you should check if the policy of your insurance has an appraisal provision. Usually, this instructs you and your insurance company to each hire appraisers. Then, the particular appraisers will choose a "neutral umpire" who will also be an appraiser.

All the appraisers will examine your claim information and if they cannot settle on the value of loss, then the claim information will be passed to the umpire. The amount that will be agreed upon by the two of the three of them will be the value of your claim and that decision about the value will be binding.

Getting an estimate for repairs after a vehicle rollover crash or any other accidents is much essential as it may have a huge effect on your claim.