**OFFICIAL** Ask an insurance adjuster anything...

Originally Posted by wrighterjw10

what was ur deductible? the estimate might have paid $700, you have to pay ur own deductible.

the estimate was $700. my deductible was $500. they wrote me a check for $200.

Originally Posted by carsos

the estimate was $700. my deductible was $500. they wrote me a check for $200.

oh sh!t lol. now that makes sense. yeah u have a case there.

Originally Posted by wrighterjw10

all commercial/business insurance. from joe "on-the-side" plumber to multi-million dollar businesses.

Cool. I'm mainly a D&O and E&O guy

Originally Posted by NOVAbimmer

Because our company tells us that for the most part, we're not allowed to question the customer's story.

Then you must not work for progressive, heh.

On a serious note, thanks for the info in here, I do have a question tho. I know that I will always call the cops in the event of an accident, regardless of how minor, but is that something you would suggest as well?

is it true the owner can negotiate for $ based on depreciated value due to an accident? i.e. car worth $15000 sustains $8000 in damages, owner contends lost value on resale due to car accident/history. I always see this pop up when someone posts a thread with extensive damage to their car.

Originally Posted by n3985

is it true the owner can negotiate for $ based on depreciated value due to an accident? i.e. car worth $15000 sustains $8000 in damages, owner contends lost value on resale due to car accident/history. I always see this pop up when someone posts a thread with extensive damage to their car.

I believe most policies specifically exclude diminished value.

what kind of an investigation goes into a car that is totally stripped down for parts? is it common for people to strip down their own car, take insurance money, and sell the parts? is there some sort of insurance record which other insurance companies can see claims and deny based on that?

Originally Posted by dwass325

I believe most policies specifically exclude diminished value.

actually, i think it caries by state/company.

I've been a PropCas accountant at a large insurance company for a year and a half, and have been looking to make a switch into either Claims or U/W for quite some time now...with that said, I got a couple questions for you guys:

NOVABimmer - How do you like being in claims? What would a "day in the life" of an adjuster be like? What background would you need to work in claims?

wrighterjw10 - Same question as NOVABimmer - How do you like being in underwriting, and what is a "day in the life of an underwriter" like? My company's background prefers you to have a degree in business/finance-related, but they put you in an underwriting associate position first (regardless of what your degree was in) before transitioning you into becoming an actual "Commercial/Personal/whatever Underwriter"

Thanks in advance!

Originally Posted by deadpass

Then you must not work for progressive, heh.

On a serious note, thanks for the info in here, I do have a question tho. I know that I will always call the cops in the event of an accident, regardless of how minor, but is that something you would suggest as well?

It never hurts to have a police report, because that can help solidify stories at the time of accident. I've seen lots of cases where someone changes their story after the fact, when they're talking to insurance companies, at which point the case becomes a lot harder to resolve.

Remember, though, that police officers do not determine liability. That is ultimately answered by the insurance companies.

Originally Posted by n3985

is it true the owner can negotiate for $ based on depreciated value due to an accident? i.e. car worth $15000 sustains $8000 in damages, owner contends lost value on resale due to car accident/history. I always see this pop up when someone posts a thread with extensive damage to their car.

If you are at fault for an accident, the only person you can blame is yourself.
If you are not at fault, and dealing with the other person's insurance company, it is negotiable. Here's my understanding of the process (I've only dealt with it a couple times):

1. Your car gets fixed, and there are issues with it. The first thing we're going to do is get the issues you have taken care of. We will bend over backwards to ensure that the repair is done correctly.

2. You start asking about depreciated value, based on having an accident history. It needs to be a large accident, on a relatively new car. If you were already planning on selling the car, and had a buyer lined up, even better. If not, then you're going to have to do some legwork, as the responsibility becomes yours to proove the depreciated value. The way our region operates, you need to get three value estimates showing what the car is worth after the accident, and how much more it would be with no accident. From vehicle appraisers, not from your buddy around the corner. At that point, my manager (not just my supervisor) will make a determination as to whether or not the value has been significantly impacted.

All-in-all, if you weren't thinking about selling the car already, I wouldn't worry about trying to argue for depreciated value, as it's going to be a large hassle for you. Worry more about makeing sure the vehicle has been repaired properly, that it looks good and drives well.

Originally Posted by 217Bimmer

what kind of an investigation goes into a car that is totally stripped down for parts? is it common for people to strip down their own car, take insurance money, and sell the parts? is there some sort of insurance record which other insurance companies can see claims and deny based on that?

are you asking about, like, a fraudulent theft claim? Every total theft (ie, the entire car is taken, not just broken into and some things taken) get a pretty big investigation. It is outside of my area, though, as our Special Investigations Unit takes care of those investigations. We get weekly stories from SIU, though, about some pretty elaborate investigations. If you report your car as stolen, then it's found torched in an open field, your life is going under a microscope. We can investigate bank records, loan records, talk to neighbors, friends, family, local police.

Now, if your car is a total loss, and let us keep the car but strip it down for sheet metal and interior before it gets taken, our salvage return is going to get significantly cut, and we're going to talk to you about getting that money back.

And yes, insurance companies talk to each other.

I'm not entirely sure what kind of situation you're asking about, but I hope this helps.

Originally Posted by rocketpants

I've been a PropCas accountant at a large insurance company for a year and a half, and have been looking to make a switch into either Claims or U/W for quite some time now...with that said, I got a couple questions for you guys:

NOVABimmer - How do you like being in claims? What would a "day in the life" of an adjuster be like? What background would you need to work in claims?

It's like many other jobs, there are good days and bad days. There are easy places to work, and hard ones. I come from Northern Virginia, which is one of our highest volume areas in the country. My first two months as an adjuster, I wrote over 500 claims.

There are three areas for our adjusters to work in: drive-in, Direct Repair, and field.

The drive-in is by far the most structured, and all our adjusters start out there. All claims are drivable cars, and the customers take the car to whatever shop they want to get it fixed. The only thing you're responsible for there is writing an estimate and keeping the customer's rental car payments up-to-date. No supplements, no cradle-to-grave work, no driving around. Very easy, for the most part.

The Direct Repair (every company calls it something different. Progressive has their "Concierge Service", GEICO has "Auto Repair Express", etc) is the next step up. Our company sets up an adjuster in the shop, and you work all the claims coming in from start to finish. The claim is filed with an internal adjuster, but after that it's all you. Customer drives their car in, you write a preliminary estimate, car gets torn down, finish the estimate, and give the customer a total as well as an expected repair timeframe. Lots more customer interaction here, which can be good or bad, and lots of work with the shop itself, which can also be good or bad. It takes a lot of charisma to do well here, and your abilities really only make up for half. If you're in a bad shop (been there, done that), it'll make life even harder. Here you'll start seeing a lot of harder hits, and you'll also get tasked with writing some of the tow-in cars for the field guys. You'll write all of your own supplements when things need to be changed on an estimate. Bottom line, you become the liaison between your company and that shop. There have been a couple shops that I've absolutely loved working in, and that typically comes from a good relationship.

The field reps are typically the most experienced adjusters. They tour around to several body shops in their area, writing cars that get towed directly to the shop, and also writing supplements when shops have adjustments to estimates written by other adjusters. They have the most autonomy, but also typically the most responsibility.

If you can't tell, I've spent most of my time in direct repair shops. I've done a little of everything, though.

Adjusters, for our company at least, are usually the only person that a customer will meet face-to-face. The skills required are a lot of patience, and a strong customer service focus. We can teach you the parts of the car and how to run the estimating software. Without those two, though, you can't succeed. All the customers you see have just had their cars damaged, most are already a bit frustrated, and some think they already know what's going on and don't want to hear it from you. Patience is a must.

Ok, there's a lot of talk about finding "BMW Certified Bodyshops" to fix your car. These are myths. You may as well be hunting bigfoot.

Bodyshop technicians do recieve pretty intensive training in collision repair. They are certified by I-CAR at different levels (Gold, Platinum, etc). This means that they attend a certain number of classes a year, and pay I-CAR to maintain their certification. I am I-CAR Platinum certified, even though I have never done collision repair in my life. I paid to go to the classes, and paid to keep my certification up. Actually, mine has probably expired by now.

The closest you will find to a "BMW certified body shop" is the shop that a dealer recommends you go to. All this means is that the dealer has a good relationship with that shop. I've seen several terrible shops that have good relationships with their local high-end car dealers. I've seen one marginal body shop that is owned by a BMW dealer.

Mechanics can get factory training, but collision repair is collision repair. I-CAR teaches the fine differences between attaching a BMW fender versus attaching a Toyota fender (here's a hint, there are different numbers of bolts).

When your adjuster gives you some suggestions for good shops, listen to them. We are legally prohibited from "steering" you towards shops, to prevent the appearance of impropriety, but we can let you know of shops that have good reputations in your area. I cannot give you my opinion of those shops, I can merely reflect on what I know as fact. Are their repairs good? Do they get things done quickly? Are they easy to deal with?

I typically won't offer this information, since offering it without you asking could possibly be construed as "steering", but if you ask me for recommendations, or you ask me about a specific shop, I will certainly tell you what I can about them.

When you ask a dealer for a body shop recommendation, they're going to recommend whoever they have a good business relationship with, or whatever shop they own. The quality of work doesn't matter as much to them.

I'm not going to bad-mouth any shops in this thread, because that's not what this thread is for. But if you have questions about specifics, I can certainly answer some about shops that I've worked with.

Question!

Hit at red light from behind. Rear bumper is scuffed up.. almost positive it will buff out. Buuut I feel a bit of play in the center of the bumper when I push it. I want to have my dealer check it out. Just curious... I am sure the damage is gonna be less than the girl's deductible. Normally my dealer would contact the insurance company and deal with them, leaving me alone. But what happens in this case? Do I have to deal with girl? Will dealer still take care of everything?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by pointman

Question!

Hit at red light from behind. Rear bumper is scuffed up.. almost positive it will buff out. Buuut I feel a bit of play in the center of the bumper when I push it. I want to have my dealer check it out. Just curious... I am sure the damage is gonna be less than the girl's deductible. Normally my dealer would contact the insurance company and deal with them, leaving me alone. But what happens in this case? Do I have to deal with girl? Will dealer still take care of everything?

Thanks.

depends on the insurance company, etc.

Your best bet is to have the car checked out at a body shop. Bumpers, being plasic piece mounted with plastic tabs, will tend to have play in them. It's possible that a tab was torn, or that a clip came loose. It's possible that you never noticed it before the accident. This happens quite often, believe it or not. The first time someone takes a really hard look at their car may be after an accident.

But yeah, have it checked out by a bodyshop, and they'll be able to point you in the right direction from there. General rule of thumb, if your fingernail catches on a scratch, it'll take paint. If not, it should be buffable.

Originally Posted by NOVAbimmer

depends on the insurance company, etc.

Your best bet is to have the car checked out at a body shop. Bumpers, being plasic piece mounted with plastic tabs, will tend to have play in them. It's possible that a tab was torn, or that a clip came loose. It's possible that you never noticed it before the accident. This happens quite often, believe it or not. The first time someone takes a really hard look at their car may be after an accident.

But yeah, have it checked out by a bodyshop, and they'll be able to point you in the right direction from there. General rule of thumb, if your fingernail catches on a scratch, it'll take paint. If not, it should be buffable.

Nice. Thanks.

Do I need to contact my insurance company at all? I was trying to bypass doing that.

Originally Posted by pointman

Nice. Thanks.

Do I need to contact my insurance company at all? I was trying to bypass doing that.

New Jersey, I believe, is a "no fault" state, which means that if you're involved in an accident that goes through insurance, it goes through yours. I'm not sure about the ins and outs of New Jersey insurance though. The people to check with would be your insurance company. If you file an accident with them, but they don't pay anything for it because you go through another company or pay out of pocket, it shouldn't have an impact on your rates. Your rates go up when we spend money on you.

Nice. Thanks again!

no problem

Is it possible to claim stone chips on your hood under comprehensive? What about bent or cracked wheels?