Last week I came out of the store to find a Mustang resting on my car. Fortunately the driver noticed it when I did so I was able to get his insurance, and they've finally gotten back to me about scheduling to get it repaired. I'm hoping to get an idea of what to expect so they don't try to pay as little as possible since I'm not a customer of theirs.



Here's the pictures I took of it. I noticed the spiderwebbing spread up by the headlight as well.

 

Can you take pics not so close

 

A couple from farther away:

 

AdamBritt, I'm sorry to hear this.
I'd get some estimates from shops I trust and take it there. You may be entitled to have the car repaired at your choice of shops. Also, you may be entitled to "Loss of Use" for the time they have it. Plus you may be entitled to "Diminished Value" to compensate you for CarFax etc. It depends on the state you live and... I hope others will chime in here. Good news, you are not injured and the car frame appears to be straight etc. Let us know how it goes.

 

I was debating on trying to get an appointment at an Infiniti dealership before Thursday to try to have something to haggle with, figuring their estimate would be on the higher side. Closest one is 50 miles away from me though and don't think I could fit an appointment in with them before then due to my work schedule.



I looked into diminished value before when another one of our cars was hit but it seems like it would need taken to an appraiser and I'm not sure where to start with that. Might look into it more for my car since it was really nice and I was trying hard to keep it that way.


They set me up with a rental from Enterprise already so fortunately no loss of use for me.

 

AdamBritt, I'm thinking the folks writing the check might low ball you and short cut it. Any quality shop can give you an estimate to work with, maybe you'll want them to do the work too? Maybe they'll give you a tip, like remove / replace bumper and paint to the seams etc? About the rental car. If it's not a G37 or better, in my opinion, they'll owe you the difference. I'm not a lawyer, but, I've been the target of a few bad drivers. Once I included diminished value on a claim without an appraisal or expert testimony. I don't think the at fault party thought I was out of line and they probably didn't want to pay for another opinion. Hang in there.

 

Thanks for the encouragement, and I agree with you about the rental. I just got on the Enterprise website to see if I could see what my choices are but it's very general. I was hoping to try something similar to our cars if for nothing other than the novelty of driving something new. When I schedule the repairs to be done I'll try to call Enterprise ahead of time to see what they can get for me.

 

Hertz rents Q60's in most states. All of them are the 3.0TT silver (300hp) and some are AWD.

 

Push for OEM bumper replacement bc cost to strip bumper and repair is almost same as painting a new one. The shop will want to blend into fenders and hood to paint match. Good time to have 3m clear bra installed.

 

It's IPL so I don't think I could get them to pay out $1600 for one then labor and paint on top. I may try though. I was also planning on asking the shop I take it to if they could touch up the rock chips and clear bra it while it's there.

 

Insurance will pay to replace what's on the car at the time of the wreck. Ipl and sport bumper cost isnt that much different

 

Quick little update for anyone still following along at home.

I initially got my car back from the body shop around the end of July but when I checked it out you could clearly see where it was cracked. I went back and talked to one of the owners of the shop and he told me that they were having some problems with the tech that worked on my car but he would get it back in to fix it properly. They were booked until mid-August but I got put on the calendar.

After getting it back the second time it looked perfect as far as I could tell. My only complaint is the bumper is very slightly off from the fenders but not enough where anyone could tell without nitpicking like I am a little. Somewhat amusing sidenote: when I picked my car up the second time their sign had a message that they were hiring.

Finally I called Geico back to file a diminished value claim. It took a while for that department to get back to me and the guy said they weren't going to pay out. It basically came down to him saying since nothing was on the CarFax they don't see that there is any diminished value. You can report stuff yourself to CarFax so I went through that and tried again but that guy left me another message basically saying to pound sound. Pretty frustrated with them and not sure what else to do at this point. I'm mad that my car was well taken care of to having this blemish (even as good as it has been repaired) and them telling me that doesn't matter.

I guess I'll leave it alone for now unless anyone has some advice for this. Appreciate all the responses and all so far from everyone.

 

what is a diminished value claim?. so they didnt replace the bumper? they fixed the crack?

 

AdamBritt: ? Is Geico suggesting that you lie to a potential buyer when they ask if the car has been repainted / repaired? Is he suggesting that a potential buyer will not want a discount?

I *assume* that you were not at fault, the insurer is representing the at fault party, and you are in a state that recognizes diminished value. If so, I think I'd go to email and written communications with them, so you will have something to share with others later. ;-) Also, depending on the laws in your state, if possible, do go for full "Loss of Use" for your G37, not for "rental car costs". (Unless you are renting a G37 for every day your G37 was unavailable to you and the at fault party is already paying at that rate.) If this were my car, in my state, I'd might just serve the registered owner if I wasn't treated well by their insurance company.
Sorry for the rant. :-) I'm not a lawyer! I may be hallucinating, your mileage may vary. ;-)

 

@saywat? diminished value is basically they pay the difference between what your car should be valued at before the accident and what it would be valued at after. That's what makes me really mad is because I have a 2011 IPL with 38k miles on it. It was pristine and now it will never not have damage repaired on it since they didn't replace the bumper. The shop I took it to does good work and guarantees their work for the life of the car but it's still not the same.

@Boomer-bob I would love to do all that but I'm pretty sure I would need to get a lawyer involved to get anywhere with Geico. I tried at the very least to get a somewhat equivalent rental but all I got was a Sentra and Enterprise wasn't helpful with that either.