another parking lot accident question

[91Accord]

Back in March I was involved in a parking lot collision. Another car and I were in opposite rows and backed into each other at the same time. Police statement was taken.

Fast forward four months and I get a call from my insurance company stating that the other party has filed a claim. My insurance company takes my statement and calls me back the next day saying that they have assessed the claim, and it's a 50/50 fault situation. All is fine. Then the kicker. The damages on the other party's vehicle amount to almost $4000. The other party's insurance company told me that the initial assesment was approximately $1000, but after the body shop evaluated the damage, it came out to $4000.

I ask for a copy of the assessment and take a look through it. It includes several line items for a lower control arm, as well as frame damage/straightening required. I've checked around, and most people believe that such damage could not be caused just by two vehicles backing up into each other. What does Beyond think?

I'm not contesting my involvement in this collision, I'm contesting the several additional charges that cannot directly be traced to this collision, as well as the estimate increase from $1000 to $4000.

Opinions?

[ShermanEF9]

I could see frame straightening if you were going mach 4 at an angle...
how fast were you going?

[91Accord]

Quite honestly, regular backing up speeds, whatever that is. The pedal wasn't to the floor. Any frame or control arm damage could have been done prior to this collision. Their insurance company is stating that I was going faster than I was saying...

[schocker]

yah, at parking lot speeds, backing into each other, that seems quite high, perhaps just pump up your estimate for your car now:dunno:

[Doozer]

The only way to fight this is with numbers.

Did you get a damage estimate for your vehicle? If so, can you compare the damage between the two vehicles and show that there's no way they could've been involved in the same accident to cause such a disproportionate amount of damage to only 1 car?

See if you can get some manufacturer crash test results for the other driver's car to show what would need to happen to cause the kind of damage they're claiming. For example, what kind of force is needed to bend a control arm, and what's the angle that the force would need to be applied?

It's a pain that you have to do this work, but I guess it all depends on cost/reward. If it's going to change your rates for years, it might be worth doing some work. If not .... meh....

[tm88]

wow man,
u back into a bmw or something??


**I really do like bmw,s but they are fun to chirp

[91Accord]

Thanks for the info. I haven't gotten an estimate on my vehicle because the damage is quite minimal, a small paint chip and a scratch. The other car was a subaru.

[Doozer]

Originally posted by 91Accord
Thanks for the info. I haven't gotten an estimate on my vehicle because the damage is quite minimal, a small paint chip and a scratch. The other car was a subaru. Well I would think that if your estimate comes to $200 and theirs comes to $4000, SOMEBODY would start to get suspicious. Get yours estimated and go from there.

[DayGlow]

Originally posted by Doozer
The only way to fight this is with numbers.

Did you get a damage estimate for your vehicle? If so, can you compare the damage between the two vehicles and show that there's no way they could've been involved in the same accident to cause such a disproportionate amount of damage to only 1 car?

See if you can get some manufacturer crash test results for the other driver's car to show what would need to happen to cause the kind of damage they're claiming. For example, what kind of force is needed to bend a control arm, and what's the angle that the force would need to be applied?

It's a pain that you have to do this work, but I guess it all depends on cost/reward. If it's going to change your rates for years, it might be worth doing some work. If not .... meh....

get on your insurance company's ass to have them do this. You pay them every month for this service if ever needed, don't let them weasle their way out of it.

[91Accord]

My insurance company will only act if I treat this as a claim, which means my premiums will increase as a result. It's lose/lose.

[Masked Bandit]

Assuming this ends up going through insurance, don't worry about the total cost of the repairs. It makes no difference on your future rating. A claim is a claim is a claim regardless of the total payout. $1500 or $150,000, same result. Let the insurance company worry about it. In the end, if they honestly thought something was fishy, don't you think they would purse it? Do you think the LIKE to just hand out extra money? No way.

[mboldt]

Ask them to get the car checked out at a shop of your choice, $4000.00 damage is a LOT for going at a low speed without the back end being really screwed up... Do you have any pictures of the damage? You would have to do a lot of visible damage before managing to bend the frame I would think...