Wrecked my car.. any bodyshop tips/questions to ask the appraiser?

[AmirV]

Hey Guys,

I accidentally wrecked my 335i sedan this weekend (no other car involved and no injuries). The damage is fairly significant. It's been towed to a body shop - South Valley Collision & Auto, San Jose, CA.

Any tips on what I should make sure to ask the appraiser. The bimmer was only two weeks old (where time of birth = time of vehicle delivery)! Any opinions on South Valley Collision and Auto? Anything to ask regarding retaining my 4 year 40k warranty. Any tips at all?

Thanks in advance for your help!

(BTW for those who are thinking what an idiot. I agree. But I'm an excellent driver. No accidents in the past. Clean driving history for 10 years! Can't believe this happened to me! )

(Second BTW.... I was too cheap to get GAP since I'm such an excellent driver... :-( )

(Third BTW... positive posts please... I'm already feeling really bad about the whole thing)

[vocalthought]

:cry:

Is it one of those tail getting ahead of the front thingy? I thought DSC is supposed to control that already. :dunno:

[wingspan]

1) You are safe.
2) If in doubt about your opinion on this, see 1) above.

Good luck and hope things work out for the best.

[wyb]

yeah - I know that's hard to think positive when you prang your pride and joy... but here's another plus point.. you get to visit with Alma Jimenez again sooner than expected... ;)

[0330i6]

yeah - I know that's hard to think positive when you prang your pride and joy... but here's another plus point.. you get to visit with Alma Jimenez again sooner than expected... ;)



What a great memory you have:rofl:

[BMWFM1]

Good luck with repairs or new car! Glad you are OK.

[jwac]

Hey Guys,

I accidentally wrecked my 335i sedan this weekend (no other car involved and no injuries). The damage is fairly significant. It's been towed to a body shop - South Valley Collision & Auto, San Jose, CA.

Any tips on what I should make sure to ask the appraiser. The bimmer was only two weeks old (where time of birth = time of vehicle delivery)! Any opinions on South Valley Collision and Auto? Anything to ask regarding retaining my 4 year 40k warranty. Any tips at all?

Thanks in advance for your help!

(BTW for those who are thinking what an idiot. I agree. But I'm an excellent driver. No accidents in the past. Clean driving history for 10 years! Can't believe this happened to me! )

(Second BTW.... I was too cheap to get GAP since I'm such an excellent driver... :-( )

(Third BTW... positive posts please... I'm already feeling really bad about the whole thing)

What happened? Pics?

[Cains10]

Some insurance companies have a clause that gets you full price in the first few months. Hope you have this coverage.

[AmirV]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the super-positive posts.

I agree... I'm quite lucky there were no injuries.

As for how it happened... long story short... I made too wide of a turn. Don't know how it happened - didn't think it would happen - still can't believe it did happen - the whole experience was surreal... anyways... once the right side of the car was no longer on the paved part of the road, although I still had a firm grip on the steering wheel, I no longer had control of the car. The right rear-end hit the side of a hill, the air bags inflated, and the car came to a stop...

As for pics, sorry guys... the whole accident puts a bitter taste in my mouth.

I appreciate your attempts to cheer me up (wyb you do have a great memory :-) )!

Don't know the details of state farm coverage... but I'll find out soon enough.

Thanks once again guys. And if anyone has been through this before, your advice is appreciated. Thanks!

[slant83]

pics?

[Tex]

Don't know how it happened - didn't think it would happen - still can't believe it did happen

Well, that is why they are called "accidents"....you never see them coming. My $0.02 worth: chalk it up to lessons learnt, go take a refresher course on a track (did you need a good excuse to go do that anyway?) and shrugg if off.

Reg. body shop and appraiser: if the car is really looking bad, you may want to have the body shop tech or an independent appraiser confirm that the chassis is not damaged. If it is, then you would qualify for an automatic totalling of the car. For the rest, just pick a qualified shop.

State Farm: they recently totalled my car and I have nothing but praise as to how it was handled by every one of the employees. Courteous dealings, expeditious way to address business and fair money. You may need to get your agent involved though, so as to help you navigate the maze of such a large organization.

[Mech_Man]

A couple of tips:

DIMINISHED VALUE
Google and search these forums for Diminished Value. Some states recognize this and require the insurance to include it. Others don't. It is the amount that the insurance pays to account for the fact that even repaired, the car's appraised value is less than if it hadn't been in a wreck and then repaired. I had a friend whose car's damage wasn't quite over the limit to trigger listing as totaled, but then he got several professional appraisals of the DV and required the insurance to add it in, and it pushed the car's damage cost over, and he got it totaled.

Non-OEM
St Farm allows you to require that all work be done with OEM parts, but they require the repair estimate to be from non-OEM, and you will have to pay the difference. The say this lets them keep the repair prices (and therefore the premiums down, due to greatly improved competition over pricing). I actually think this is acceptable, as they also provide their own warrantee for any non-OEM parts they allow.

For their description of non-OEM part use, and their warrantee, see:
www.statefarm.com/insurance/claim_center/auto/promise.asp
(Clickable compressed-link) http://tinyurl.com/5qbqy9

I would get in writing from the shop their estimate (using such non-OEM parts as the insurance adjuster will accept), but make sure that the estimate identifies in detail all the non-OEM parts to be used, (so you know to keep special track of them in the future).

This is especially important since your 335i is still in factory warrantee.
Example: Say your dented fender is replaced with a non-OEM piece of cheap-made sheet metal, saving the shop (and also the insurance company) a barrel of cash, but then later you get your front bumper dented. The non-OEM fender might make the bumper repair much more expensive, possibly not even covered by your BMW warrantee. You could pull out the proof that St Farm needed to pay for the extra work. This specific case happened to me, with a non-BMW car, (but I didn't know to keep records and had to pay up).

[AmirV]

Thanks Tex and Mech Man. Really good tips!