Fender Bender in Beverly Hills, CA

[bmw4you]

I was on Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. It was around 3:30 PM and I was stuck in traffic. I was stopped behind someone and out of the blue some a**hole hits the rear of my vehicle. It felt like a bomb went off and I was like "wtf". I looked around and then looked in my rear view mirror and I saw the guy shaking his head.

Question: I have Mercury Insurance, they want me to get the bumper fixed at one of their "preferred" repair shops. Mercury will then "guarantee" the work performed and will repair/replace anything if I'm not satisfied. But if I use another shop which is a BMW recommended shop, Mercury will only pay for the work but they will not "guarantee" it. What do I do? :dunno:

Thanks!

[RCK]

What does their "guarantee" include?

[seanl]

I believe here in CA we legally have the choice as to where we get our cars fixed with regards to insurance claims. Find the shop that you like, and tell Mercury that's where you want to go...good luck!

[Missmodena310]

I believe here in CA we legally have the choice as to where we get our cars fixed with regards to insurance claims. Find the shop that you like, and tell Mercury that's where you want to go...good luck!

yea im pretty sure thats right :thumbup: good luck on your repair! eh santa monica blvd, people never pay attention to what they are doing!

[eynlai]

Try Marco's. They might be a Mercury Preferred, I know that they're BMW approved shop since New Century BMW use them all the time (sub-contract).

[Gig103]

They're just trying to get you to use their discount shop... Any reputable shop will have its own guarantee/warranty. Go somewhere you can trust!

[johnc_22]

Use a BMW certified shop - they will offer you a very good warranty on their work.

[earny99]

If you haven't made a claim with Mercury insurance, just make a claim with the other drivers insurance since you're not at fault. You won't have to pay a deductible. See if you can get a list of BMW certified repair shops and ask the insurance company if any on the list are "preferred" shops. I went to a Mercury preferred shop for my Infiniti G35 and they did a great job.

[SJK]

I have the same question as earny. Why are you doing this on your insurance?

[darkboyz68]

I was on Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. It was around 3:30 PM and I was stuck in traffic. I was stopped behind someone and out of the blue some a**hole hits the rear of my vehicle. It felt like a bomb went off and I was like "wtf". I looked around and then looked in my rear view mirror and I saw the guy shaking his head.

Question: I have Mercury Insurance, they want me to get the bumper fixed at one of their "preferred" repair shops. Mercury will then "guarantee" the work performed and will repair/replace anything if I'm not satisfied. But if I use another shop which is a BMW recommended shop, Mercury will only pay for the work but they will not "guarantee" it. What do I do? :dunno:

Thanks!

sorry to hear about your accident.
I used to be a claims adjuster here in the LA area so i know quite alot of this.
Let me help you with a couple of points:

1. They cant make you go to their bodyshop, you have a choice whether to repair at their approved bodyshop or a body shop of your choice.

2. To be a 'Mercury approved' bodyshop takes a lot of effort and have to provide exceptional service for a number of years. Its easier to be taken out the list than it is get on the list.

3. The correct statement is 'The repair completed at a Mercury approved bodyshop is guaranteed for as long as you own the car.' There is no timeline, if the repaired part does not hold, you can come back to that bodyshop and get it repaired. If the bodyshop is no longer in business, you can call Mercury and they will reopen your claim and send you to another bodyshop. Even if you are no longer insured with Mercury this claim can still be opened. **note** once the car changes ownership the guarantee is no longer valid.

4. If you get your car repaired at a bodyshop of your choice that is not a Mercury bodyshop, you are limited at that bodyshop's guarantee. Since it is not a Mercury approved bodyshop, Mercury cannot guarantee the work.

5. I dont know about 'replace/repair anything if I'm not satisfied'. I know that they will only replace damaged parts with OEM parts. No aftermarket. So if you have a custom bumper and it wasnt listed on your policy under 'Extra equipment' or something then you can have some issues. I didnt make a big deal out this, but i knew others did.

You can always get a list of bodyshops that your bmw dealer works with and see if the Mercury adj can find them on his list of Mercury bodyshops. This way, you feel better about your choice and still get the guarantee :thumbup:

[B!mmer]

Have you heard about diminished value?
It's the concept of the value lost on the car because it now has an history and the carfax or whatever report will show it was in an accident. Make sure you get compensation for that!!!
If you get, and you should get the money for that, you will be able to use any shop you like ;)

[Pat_X5]

If you haven't made a claim with Mercury insurance, just make a claim with the other drivers insurance since you're not at fault. You won't have to pay a deductible. See if you can get a list of BMW certified repair shops and ask the insurance company if any on the list are "preferred" shops......

Ouch, yeah I had the same accident years ago. Sorry to hear, but SM Blvd is a bad congestion street with drivers that don't pay attention - they are too wrapped up in themselves instead of driving....

Yes, don't even charge this one on your insurance - why pay for the premium if it's not your fault ? Get it all charged on the other driver's fault insurance. Make sure you get the other party's insurance to pay for your rental!
:dunno:

Now if you and the other driver both happen to have the same insurance (Mercury) then that makes sense - you have been fed the standard insurance company line. If that's the case, then you should have zero deductible and a rental included automatically on the other party's tab....

Remember, using their "approved" body shop just saves the insurance company money and does nothing do with your car or you.:confused:

In my rear end accident where my vehicle got hit so hard that it pushed the next 2 vehicles in front of me - and had a very bad time with the other party's insurance company "approved" body shop (Schiro's Collision in North Hollywood). They failed so miserably going back and forth for months that I ended up having the entire repair redone by my insurance company approved bodyshop: MARCO's Autobody who specialize in BMW & MBZ. Marco's took care of the entire vehicle and redid all the work that the "approved" shop could not do right. All the costs were subrogated against the other insurance company and didn't have to pay a penny!

Next accident, I will definitely take it Marco's Autobody! :thumbup:

Here is the link:
http://marcosautobody.com/locations.html

[slant83]

I was on Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. It was around 3:30 PM and I was stuck in traffic. I was stopped behind someone and out of the blue some a**hole hits the rear of my vehicle. It felt like a bomb went off and I was like "wtf". I looked around and then looked in my rear view mirror and I saw the guy shaking his head.

Question: I have Mercury Insurance, they want me to get the bumper fixed at one of their "preferred" repair shops. Mercury will then "guarantee" the work performed and will repair/replace anything if I'm not satisfied. But if I use another shop which is a BMW recommended shop, Mercury will only pay for the work but they will not "guarantee" it. What do I do? :dunno:

Thanks!

Use a BMW recommended shop. Mercury wants their "discount" shop to do the job. :mad:

[jwac]

I was on Santa Monica Blvd. in Beverly Hills. It was around 3:30 PM and I was stuck in traffic. I was stopped behind someone and out of the blue some a**hole hits the rear of my vehicle. It felt like a bomb went off and I was like "wtf". I looked around and then looked in my rear view mirror and I saw the guy shaking his head.

Ouch, you seem to have bad luck with E90's and accidents, bmw4you. :(

[RambleJ]

This happened to me in Jan of 08. I also have Mercury insurance, but I was able to take my car to the dealership and have the work done with no hassles at all.

[bmw4you]

Wow guys, thanks for the responses. I'm getting an estimate from a BMW recommend repair shop "Precision Auto Body" in Reseda. Any one have any experience with them? I will speak with my insurance company and make sure his company pays for everything including the rental. I thought I had to report the claim to my insurance company. I don't? How does the "diminished value" work? Will my/his insurance company actually provide me with compensation? Yes, JWAC... People love to hit me in my BMW. It wasn't this bad in my other cars. Just shows how many (bleeped word) there are on the road.

Thanks!

[earny99]

You don't have to report it to your insurance plus you don't want to risk any chances of your premium going up. If you made a claim through your insurance company, they will be compensating you and then will recoop the costs from the other drivers insurance company. If you go directly through the other drivers insurance company they should be compensating you and probably will respond better than your insurance company. When I was rear ended, the other drivers insurance company (AIG) sent an adjustor, gave an estimate of damages and sent me a check to go to any shop. If the check didn't cover the costs at the body shop, the shop would then call AIG to make adjustments to the estimate and get approval for additional work.

[darkboyz68]

You don't have to report it to your insurance plus you don't want to risk any chances of your premium going up.

Wow guys, thanks for the responses. I'm getting an estimate from a BMW recommend repair shop "Precision Auto Body" in Reseda. Any one have any experience with them? I will speak with my insurance company and make sure his company pays for everything including the rental. I thought I had to report the claim to my insurance company. I don't? How does the "diminished value" work? Will my/his insurance company actually provide me with compensation? Yes, JWAC... People love to hit me in my BMW. It wasn't this bad in my other cars. Just shows how many (bleeped word) there are on the road.

Thanks!

Hi bmw4you, I think Precision Auto Body is Mercury approved body shop, so u win either way.

Just clarify, the only way your insurance premium goes up after an accident, is if you are found more than 50% liable for the accident. Oh and not reporting it to your insurance is not to your best interest unless you are an expert in doing insurance claims yourself. These guys deal with accidents all day and can spot a fraudulant/excessive claim and protect from them also. I remember I had access to a whole lot of resources: private investigators, accident reconstructors, police reports/records, records on accident injury victims, not to mention defense lawyers if you get sued, and years and years of experienced staff for advice.

Yes you can go through the other person's insurance, but you dont want to be left with your pants down and swinging in the wind when they deny a portion or even your entire claim? It has happened. And when it does, your insurance company has to play catch up and will usually be at the mercy of what information the other insurance co has collected, especially when both cars have been completely repaired. Atleast give them the courtesy of doing their own investigation so if things turn for the worst, they have collected enough info to protect and represent you. Thats what insurance is for right? Just in case...

[bmw4you]

Okay, thanks. What about the "diminished value"? Do I need to do anything or just let the insurance company do their work?

[darkboyz68]

Okay, thanks. What about the "diminished value"? Do I need to do anything or just let the insurance company do their work?

I dont think you can do anything about diminished value, but you can collect in some other ways such as 'Pain and Suffering', so depending on the damage to both cars and how injured u are, u can cash out for a good chunk, like say soft tissue injury which is no broken bones, the adj has an authority of 2500 and this is outside of your medical expenses. anything above that requires more scruitiny which you dont want or u might as well get a lawyer cuz insurance adj snap to attention when u get a lawyer.