alright here goes this is a follow up to "maxima gets violated"... first off I'm gonna say right off the bat that I am trying to do nothing illegal or fraudulent, so if I am, somebody tell me... and I want experienced advice, not stabs in the dark.

OK, well yesterday I got my car estimated for the vandalism of last thursday. The total adjusted value came to around $1750. Most of this money comes from labor in repainting most the rear end of my car. The claims agent asked me who I would want to fix the, and I named one of the local body shops. So then my insurance company cuts my parents and the body shop that I named a check. The check reads my parents name AND the name of the body shop.

Now from my understanding, it is now up to my discretion what to do with the insurance money. So, I ordered a prepainted spoiler, spoiler install kit and a tail light from Courtesy Nissan today. I also walked outside, and rubbing compounded out my car of where the scratches are. It seems most of the scratches were taken care of, so I really dont see the need at all anymore for the car to be painted. The bill from Courtesy comes to just under $400. Of course, I'd be doing all the installation myself of the tail light (gotta clear it out again...) and of the spoiler. So this leaves a remaining balance of $1350, which I can definately put to good use.

FYI info is that this was a comprehensive claim, the car has no lein and is completely paid off.

So today my mom goes to the bank to try to cash the check, only to find out that ALL parties on the check must endorse in order to cash the check. Great, sure gets me in a sticky situation. I was talking to my friend's dad who used to work body shop, and he says the insurance company should have no problem cutting just the insured owners a check. My boss also was telling me that its now in my hands and discretion what I can do with that insurance money. So the question is here... is it acceptable practice to keep the remainder of the insurance money?

And in my situation, I guess the only recourse is to go back to the insurance company and to say that I change my mind about which body shop I want to go to. I need informative input here.... thanks everybody.

 

An insurance company's obligation is to make you "whole" -- to return the car to the way it was before it was hit. Depending on your policy, they may have rules about who can do the work, and if they can choose the vendor. I doubt they'll go for the plan of not painting the damaged area. If you decide you don't want to paint it, they'll deduct that amount from your claim.

You need to have the body shop repair the car back to the state it was in before it was hit, and the body shop (probably) needs to do this.

It's not acceptable to take the money and do something else with it, that's not what your policy is for. If you want to do something else, your insurance company shouldn't foot the bill, you should. The insurance company is responsible for fixing what the vandals messed up.

best,
/aac

 

For the many times i've been in accidents, my insurance company, State Farm, always wrote the check to my parents, owner of 'my' car. they would calculate all the damages and give the highest market value for any replcements needed. So that left us with a check and the option to do whatever with it.

 

Forgot to mention, my insurance company is state farm too. The reason it is made out to my parents, it is because it is their policy, even though the car is legally my moms and mine. Guess I'll go back tomorow, see if I can get the check renamed.

 

i think that you might have screwed yourself by giving the insurance co the name of a body shop. you should have said that you were checking around and haven't decided on one yet, but wanted the money that way when you did decide there would be no waiting involved. go back and tell them that you have changed your mind about which shop to use and would like a check cut to just your parents so that you can thus "shop around" or spend the money at your leisure. i know a lot of people that have made insurance claims and then spent the money on other things instead of fixing their car. i think that the problem with this lies in if something else were to happen to the car, the ins co would probably throw a fit about fixing it again. (hopefully that makes sense, i've been at work all day)

 

Go back to state farm. I'm assuming you have a deductible on your comp policy? If you do, great, just tell them you're not sure when you can get the money for the deductible together so please just issue you a check. If you don't have a deductible, just tell them that you're not sure about the body shop and you want to look around. They shouldn't have any problem issuing you personally a check. People always choose to do whatever with the insurance money. At geico, the only names we put on a check are the policy holder and lein holder, but since you don't hav a lein holder you should be fine.
now, like someone said, if you try to make a claim later on again about this damage they might give you a hard time. i know at geico when someone reports a claim and they've already had an accident in the exact same spot, we flag it. doesn't mean you'll have probs, just that they may ask for a body shop repair bill or something (i doubt it).

bottom line: you shouldn't have any problem getting just your name on the check. good luck.

 

Why did you file the claim to get the car fixed and then decide to fix it yourself? At this point, I would think that you might as well get the car professionally done.

 

Why not? I pay insurance premiums up the butt, and the least i can do is get something out of it, especially on this one since I have no deductible and this wont raise the premium any. And i never imagined it to come out to $1750 for the damage.

 

I had a similar issue arise with my ins co Farmers.


They cut me a check for stereo theft. Said it's up to me to get the stereo replaced. Until I did replace it, there was an addendum on my policy indicating my car had "unrepaired damage". So, they would not pay for any further claims on my stereo unless I proved that I did replace them with the money they gave me.

I opted to go aftermarket and add coverage for my aftermarket stereo to my policy.

 

Maybe the reason insurance premiums are so high is that people play games like this.

/aac

 

Game? And just what game might that be? I drove the car into the claims office, they looked and estimated the car to be $1758. Did the attack really happen, yes indeed. Was it reported to the police, yes indeed. Was it my fault, in no way... Did I steal my own spoiler, claim it, then put it back on? Absolutely not. State farm just happens to be very thorough when it comes to claiming damage.

The check was cut to me/my parents and now the ball is in my court. We have the discretion to do whatever we want with the money. I can use that money, put it towards getting a chrome illusion paint job and paying the difference, or on the other end, keep driving around with no spoiler and wires hanging out the rear. Hell I could turn around, sell the car as is with holes in the trunk lid and use the money to buy bubble gum for all they care.

 

I really don't like the idea that I've paid insurance for 9 years and have gotten nothing back. But that's the way it is. The poster said he "might as well" get something out of it. You get peace of mind by having insurance, that's it. It's obviously not a good financial transaction, it's in the insurer's favor. Unlike health insurance where a knee surgery could cost you multi-thousands while the insurance is only $90/year through your employer.

The whole scenario reminds me of a time when my buddy and I got slapped with 2 $55 tickets in NYC. His mother immediately dreamt up 5 reasons why we weren't guilty, and she wasn't even there. People do the same with insurance, they rationalize why they are the victims and hence make false claims. If I were to do so I wouldn't be advertising it over the web.

 

Well when I say "might as well" get something out of it, that means that I will put that money towards something else, not a paint job since i dont really care about the minute scratches on the rear. I didnt say i'm gonna go out and claim that there are 401+ things also wrong with the car, which I did not. I told them the facts, and what they estimated was completely on their own accord. I have done nothing wrong so there is nothing to hide by sharing my experiences on the net.

 

But I guess my point is -- it is not the insurance company's obligation to pay for the OTHER work. They are obligated to repair the damage done to the car. That's why you buy property insurance of any kind. It would be like if there was a hurricane, and my roof breaks and leaks like crazy. The insurance company comes and says "ok looks like about $25,000 to fix the roof." and they cut me a check. Is it morally right for me to take the money and buy a car for my wife, and leave the roof the way it is, figuring I'll deal with the roof leak?

I say that's immoral and illegal, and should be. The fact that you started this thread by saying "I'm not trying to do anything illegal/immoral" tells me you know you're in a grey area. A safe motto to go by is, if you think it might be wrong it probably is.

I'm not trying to sound like a big insurance company sympathizer, but insurance companies get ripped off every day by people who are less than scrupulous. And THAT'S why rates are higher than they need to be. The same is true of medical insurance --- people don't seem to give a crap how much procedures cost, or unnecessary tests, or whether they get generic prescriptions or not (in fact many choose brand names over generic because they're just plain irrational) --- just as long as their insurance is paying. Well, health insurance premiums are sky-high because of this attitude.

Sorry, my vent....

/aac

 

Right, but since they were obligated to repair the damage, that is indeed what they did, provide the money necessary for repairing the car to normal.

But this is more along the lines of if you got hurricane insurance, and your house was stripped of its siding. Cause in this case it would be if the car was damaged to the point of it not being operational at all. Granted, the house will still function, but it will look very ugly. The insurance company cuts you a check for the cost of the material AS WELL AS the labor. Now what if you decide that you want to repair it yourself? Well there you go, you save the labor costs. Heck you could leave it alone and it will be butt ugly and you could use the money to plant a tree in the front yard. If the insurance adjuster gives you the money on a legit claim like that, and you get the labor done less expensive because you have connections or do the labor yourself or what not, then there is no moral violation.

I can see where you are coming from, but keep in mind of where I was coming from. I asked only because the check was made out to my parents AND a body shop. I thought this might have been to try to stop someone form taking the remainder of money but after asking around, its a very accepted practice. It isnt immoral to have the insurance adjuster take a look at a legit claim, and write up an estimate. Then what you do with the money is totally up to you. The double naming of the check is done out of convenience sake. The insurance company had no problem whatsoever reissuing me a check totally in my parents' name.

Lets not forget how much money we're all paying for zero deductible comprehensive full coverage. The insurance companies will loose out way more money on if you rear end somebody, and they claim neck pain, etc and sue the ever living F outta you. Not out of a legit claim that they adjusted themselves... and besides they are the ones who have the discretion of dropping me at any time, so the ball is well more in their court then it is mine.


I see what you are saying. But lets not forget here, in this situation (and this situation only), I told them what happened, I drove the car into the adjusting bay, they looked at the car. They came up with an estimation of the damage and cut a check. I did not go around saying that I was emotionally distraught, so I need more money or some BS like that... I can live with a few extra scratches on my car.

 

eric...if the ins co. cut you another check and took the body shops name off of it, then the money is yours to do with as you please. if you do the job yourself, then the remainder is money in your pocket. if someone vandalizes your car again, all you have to do is prove that the car was fixed the first time with either receipts of materials and or pictures. it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to take the pics to the ins co to prove that it was fixed. oyu are doing nothing immoral by doing the work yourself. think of it this way....the ins co. cut you a check for parts and labor. if you do the work, then they are paying you the labor fees. you have to take the time to fix it don't you? the only way that it is illegal is if the whole claim is false, which if you took the car into the adjuster's office, it obviously isn't. do the work yourself, save some money, and treat you max to a present with the remainder for pain and suffering.

 

Here's an idea, get the parts, charge $65/hr to fix the repairs yourself, and use the rest of the money to pay off your insurance premium for the rest of the year. The insurance company gets its money back, your car gets fixed and you now have no moral dilemma.

 

Medicine is unusual. A friend told me about his experience--a doctor billed his insurance $230 for 7 minutes. When he tried to get a follow-up visit, the doctor said not necessary and prescribed a drug that had a $25 co-payment. My friend was puzzled as to why so much and he found out that this drug costs over $300 per month and over $4 per 300 mg pill. It's not Dole's little blue friend either which I could understand why it would have such a high price. But the poster would say I didn't do anything wrong in taking the wrong procedures and prescriptions which didn't help since they're the ones that wrote it.

You're right, if everyone were diligent the costs would go down. But whenever you have a system there will be those who walk the gray line and do things morally questionable but legally ok. Another friends parents complained about our legal system and the 7 mil McDonald's coffee case until one day they benefitted by 1.7 million tax-free. Now they no longer sing the blues.

 

Show them a picture to prove that it was fixed? How about they need to do an inspection on the vehicle to see that it was restored and to what extent? Do you folks really think insurance is not a profitable business endeavor?

 

I see nothing wrong with this, as a few have said. I mean the insurance company was going to give you this money either way. Your not STEALING money from them in anyway. If you went to some place that was going to over charge you, insurance would be paying. Instead you choose to do it yourself. Good for you, you desrive the money. Just do it man, theres nothing wrong with it.

 

my point was, show proof that the car is fixed. that way they won't deny claims in the future.