Kalee's driving through lubbock here a few weeks ago and some boob changed lanes on top of her.  We got an estimate at the local chevy joint and turned that in to insurance people.  We were hoping the insurance agency would write a check out to Kalee or her folks so that the money could be put toward paying for her tuition, but the insurance agency is wanting to write the check to the chevy joint.

Can we legally force the agency to write the check out to us personally?

If not, then can we have the estimate altered?  The chevy joint we got the estimate at did not calculate the cost of propperly repainting the entire car.

You can get it made out to you if you say your going to do the repairs yourself.  Thats exactly what I've done the two times people have hit me.  Explain to the insurance agent that you do all the work yourself and offer to give them an estimate for your time and labor (which should be basically a duplicate of dealership's estimates).  Get 3 estimates from dealerships and 3 from the most expensive paint shops you can find (call up you local Jaguar or Mercedes dealerships and ask them who they use to paint cars).  Tell the insurance you will be painting it yourself also, then they should write you out the check, unless you have a loan for the car.  If the bank has a lien on the car then the insurance will make the check out to the bank and you jointly.  The thing about this, is that you actually have to fix the car or show proof to the bank that you are fixing the car, I had to give parts invoices and pictures of progress.  The bank will most likely not sign over the check to you if you don't actually intend on fixing the car because they would be upside down in it along with you.  But if you don't have a lien on the car then the insurance company should have no problems in writing the check out to you.
Hope this helps.

Where's fettcols when you need him?  PM'ing him would be your best bet, given he hasn't been on since November.  Good luck.

Is it the other guy's insurance company or your own insurance?

Just happened to pop in today....

You CAN get the insurance company to write the check to YOU, but until you SHOW them that the repairs are done, the car's value is decrease by the amount of the check.

I hope she's ok from the asswipe's dumb move.

heck, I got the insurance company to write me a check jsut by asking them. I didn't have the repairs done, but I don't think it's gonna decrease the value of my truck at all

Yeah, when some girl hit my car on campus I just took the check in my name and was sposed to give it to the body shop. Think about it this way, the insurance company owes you for the damage to the car. You don't HAVE to fix your car if you don't want to. Its their job to compensate you for the loss of value to your vehicle. Tell them you want the cash they owe you for the depreciation in value to your property. How you spend it is your business NOT theirs.

-ash

Quote from: Blingmasta on December 30, 2006, 06:59:01 PM
heck, I got the insurance company to write me a check jsut by asking them. I didn't have the repairs done, but I don't think it's gonna decrease the value of my truck at all

It does decrease the value UNTIL you show the insurance company that the repairs are made...  Otherwise, if you get into another accident and THAT totals the car, the insurance company will basically take the value of the car (in good condition), and subtract the amount they gave you in the previous check.

get a qoute at the highest charging body shop. get the check made out. use a less expensive body shop and have the repairs done or do them yourself. or drive cheep cars that have no value anyways, in some cases people get more money for what they paid for the car when someone hits them lol.  I think it vary's from state to state but in VA you have the right to choose what you want to do with the money. why dont you call your insurence company up and ask them? im sure they would be more than happy to tell you. its not them that is paying you right its the other guys?

^sorry guy but you completely missed the question.

Plus we're trying to get a fair-cost of repair estimate...not rip the isnurance company off.

All you have to do is tell them you want to do the repairs yourself, even if you don't plan on doing them.  I usually get estimates from dealerships, which is roughly what the insurance will estimate the check to give you, and not ripping off the insurance.  You can spend the money how you want, if you cash it or fix your car, its up to you.  You just can't tell them you want to go somewhere specific to get it fixed or else they will make the check out jointly to you and the specific repair shop, thats why you tell them your doing it yourself.

The main thing to remember is that the insurance agent will probably be cool with you as long as your cool with them, its not really their money so they don't really care what you do with it or how the check is made out.

Quote from: makenzie71 on December 31, 2006, 12:06:39 AM
^sorry guy but you completely missed the question.

Plus we're trying to get a fair-cost of repair estimate...not rip the isnurance company off.

if it is their policy to pay the repair shop it might be out of your hands. everyone here is guessing and/or talking from their own experience which may apply or not based on specifics (ins co, sate, etc)...

I talked to an adjuster that handles claims in some of my companies southern states... He said he usually pushes the check to the bodyshop if he thinks there is a chance there's more damage than the estimate. If you take the check that's it... If the bodyshop takes the check and there's more damage than the estimate they document it and send the insurance company a supplimental bill, something the backyard wrench wouldn't be able to do..

Quote from: fettcols on January 03, 2007, 01:31:47 PM
I talked to an adjuster that handles claims in some of my companies southern states... He said he usually pushes the check to the bodyshop if he thinks there is a chance there's more damage than the estimate. If you take the check that's it... If the bodyshop takes the check and there's more damage than the estimate they document it and send the insurance company a supplimental bill, something the backyard wrench wouldn't be able to do..

+1

I forgot about this fact.   The exact same thing happened to me when this asshat kid ran a red light and hit my right-rear quarter-panel.  The initial estimate was around $2200, but when the bodyshop got done, the total was around 3000.  If the insurance company realized that it would have been that much, they would have declared it a total loss.

Lucky me.

Quote from: annguyen1981 on December 30, 2006, 08:03:24 PM

Quote from: Blingmasta on December 30, 2006, 06:59:01 PM
heck, I got the insurance company to write me a check jsut by asking them. I didn't have the repairs done, but I don't think it's gonna decrease the value of my truck at all

It does decrease the value UNTIL you show the insurance company that the repairs are made...  Otherwise, if you get into another accident and THAT totals the car, the insurance company will basically take the value of the car (in good condition), and subtract the amount they gave you in the previous check.

I see what you're sayin. But, if it wasn't my insurance company that gave me the money, is there still some sort of all-knowing record on my truck that says I had an insurance payout of $1054 to fix a bumper that never got fixed? I mean they never even freakin looked at my truck. AT ALL. And the damage is barely visible from more than 10 feet and I have to tell you where to look.

Quote from: Blingmasta on January 03, 2007, 04:28:30 PM

Quote from: annguyen1981 on December 30, 2006, 08:03:24 PM

Quote from: Blingmasta on December 30, 2006, 06:59:01 PM
heck, I got the insurance company to write me a check jsut by asking them. I didn't have the repairs done, but I don't think it's gonna decrease the value of my truck at all

It does decrease the value UNTIL you show the insurance company that the repairs are made...  Otherwise, if you get into another accident and THAT totals the car, the insurance company will basically take the value of the car (in good condition), and subtract the amount they gave you in the previous check.

I see what you're sayin. But, if it wasn't my insurance company that gave me the money, is there still some sort of all-knowing record on my truck that says I had an insurance payout of $1054 to fix a bumper that never got fixed? I mean they never even freakin looked at my truck. AT ALL. And the damage is barely visible from more than 10 feet and I have to tell you where to look.

What happens is that YOUR insurance company will either pay YOU or the REPAIR SHOP.  Then, YOUR insurance company will go after the other person's insurance company for reimbursement.

Now...  in my case with the GS being rear-ended a couple months back, I didn't have collision on my policy, so MY insurance won't pay me.  If the asshat had insurance, then I would go after them.  But since he didn't, I go after HIM, HIS GIRLFRIEND, PARENTS, AND HIS LITTLE DOG TOO...

*shrieks*

*muwahaha*

Quote from: Blingmasta on January 03, 2007, 04:28:30 PM

Quote from: annguyen1981 on December 30, 2006, 08:03:24 PM

Quote from: Blingmasta on December 30, 2006, 06:59:01 PM
heck, I got the insurance company to write me a check jsut by asking them. I didn't have the repairs done, but I don't think it's gonna decrease the value of my truck at all

It does decrease the value UNTIL you show the insurance company that the repairs are made...  Otherwise, if you get into another accident and THAT totals the car, the insurance company will basically take the value of the car (in good condition), and subtract the amount they gave you in the previous check.

I see what you're sayin. But, if it wasn't my insurance company that gave me the money, is there still some sort of all-knowing record on my truck that says I had an insurance payout of $1054 to fix a bumper that never got fixed? I mean they never even freakin looked at my truck. AT ALL. And the damage is barely visible from more than 10 feet and I have to tell you where to look.

Yes there is a record. It's a company out Georgia called Choice Point... Companies report claims data to them and they have a massive record of MVR's and I think carfax's data is pulled from them too.. They provide insurance companies with what's called a CLUE report...