what's up guys. man, i got the worst news! i was on my way home from work, making a right turn on to a major intersection,...when BAM!!! i crashed into this woman's maxima! first off, no one was hurt. what had happened was that there are 2 lanes two make a right turn on that intersection; she was in the inner right, and i was in the outer lane. so when the light turned green, she decided to try to go straight instead of turning right, next thing you know, my "built tough" nailed her maxima to the point her door was completely caved in and she couldn't get out!!
so as i got out, i asked if she was okay, she said yes; didn't even bother to ask if i was okay! so i take a look at my damages, and i was surprised that the damage was very minimal being that i pushed her maxima about ten feet. only a few scratches on my corner bumper, and a little bend. nothing to get really ticked about. then she said, "you know it was your fault right?" at this point i was furious! i basically wanted to get back in my truck, re-enact the accident, only this time push her maxima onto on coming traffic!! but back to reality, i told her no, look at the 2 lanes, they both have right turn markers, and you went straight! she then replies "but i've seen other people go straight in my lane before?!!" at this point, i was like this woman don't know anything! i told her to tell her sob story to the cop. she then easily shut her trap, and pouted while she got on her cell phone.
after she got off her phone, she came to me and said "my boyfriend's coming here and he is upset and thinks you're trying to put the blame on me because i'm a girl." i told her that her boyfriend better bring his "act right" cause i will slap the heck outta him if he tries to mouth off. low and behold, the boyfriend is the same size as the girl, and i'm 6'3 with 245 lbs of iron; so he talked to me with the upmost respect. he ended agreeing with me easily, and told his girlfriend that she was wrong. she still wasn't having it!
finally, the cops come, and tell her she is at fault. now she's bitching to them trying to find a way out. this took about 30 extra minutes, so i decided to go to KFC for some chicken cause i was hungry; i sat in the back of my bed while i watched the cop and woman duke it out. of course the cop won, and told her that it will be in the report as her fault, and on top off that, the cop was so ticked that he gave her a citation for the a traffic violation. at the end of it all, the cop mocked the woman and told her after looking at my damage and looking at hers, "you see lady, this is why you buy a ford truck!!" HAHAHA !!
so finally here's my question (sorry for such a long story), do any of you know of a place in southern california to get a high estimate on repairs, so i can get some extra performance parts at this woman's expense from her insurance? i know it sounds wrong, but this woman asked for it. it's because of her, i missed my little sisters surprise birthday party. my little sister even told me just to return my present for her so i can repair my truck! that made me even more ticked off at this lady! hopefully someone knows a way to go about this so i can possibly get a lift or tires at this woman's expense! let me know guys! later on fellas! and drive safe!


Edited for language.........if it trips the langauge filter please hit the edit button and try again. Derogatory terms for people also aren't allowed.

 

I don't think you're going to be able to do that. Your rights as the "injured" party are to be made whole (put back as you were pre-accident), and you get to choose what shop does that for you. So, if you're intent on soaking her insurance company, you can get a really expensive repair job (within reason). BUT: you can't take the estimate from the expensive place and ask for the cash instead. Actually, you can ask, but the insurer isn't obligated to give that to you. To get what you want, you'd have to find a body shop that was willing to pad the figures and kick some back to you. That's fraud, and I'd be leery of doing business with any shop that indicated a willingness to do that with you.

 

thanks mzimmers for your reply, and NO i'm not trying to commit fraud! i'm trying to figure out if it is possible to go get an estimate, and instead of fixing the damage, deal with it, and use the money for something else. yes there is damage, and very noticable, but i think if i were to use the repair cash for something else, i could over see it. bottom line is that she is at fault, and whether i use the money on the repair or use it toward something else should be my perrogative.

 

I hear what you're saying, and I didn't mean to imply that you were going to commit fraud. But unless something's changed in the state's insurance laws, the party at fault is only responsible for making you whole, not for allowing you to use the loss as an opportunity to convert one form of asset (an undamaged truck) into another (a lift job or something).

I could be wrong, but I think you're gonna have a tough time pulling this one off. What *might* be possible would be to negotiate with the other party for them to pay out of pocket instead of filing a claim with their insurer. Many years ago, I did this when I had two accidents within a year in which I was at fault. The cash repair was about $1500, and my insurance rates would have gone up by that much over a year or so. The only thing is that the other party has to be receptive to such an idea, and stand to gain from it.

 

I have to go with mzimmers on this one. If the insurance company cut's you a check then rock. Just keep in mind your state laws. Here in Florida if you have a lien holder then you have to use the funds towards repairing the vehicle. If you don't, you can be punished criminally and sued by your lienholder if they happen to take a loss on the vehicle such as during a repo. Now if they don't ever find out...that's another story.

 

thanks guys for the info....actually there is no lien on my truck. i paid cash for the sucker; which is why i wanna use the check for other things, and fix the damages later at my expense. one thing i do know is that i don't like the idea of the insurance cutting the check to the bodyshop even before repairs were done; whether or not i decide to fix the damages right away. my friend had his truck repaired at a ford bodyshop a couple years ago, and the insurance cut the check to them before his truck was worked on,...as soon as his truck was repaired (supposed to get hood replaced), he noticed that the hood was just hammered out (he had a k&n sticker under his old hood that was still there!) plus the damn thing was in the shop for 2 months! now i'm no expert at body repair, but i know it takes at most a week to get a brand new hood in, and a couple of hours to align and install it. if the bodyshop didn't get the check from the insurance at the start, the bodyshop would have done things right so they can get payed. the bodyshop probably got to pocket an extra 700-800 dollars from the insurance claim since they didn't purchase a new hood!

 

I was trying to bend the insurance rules a bit when my old Contour got hit in some hail damage. Knowing full well that I would pocket the money from the hail damage to buy my new Scew, I wanted to avoide the "Paintless Dent Repair" and go for the traditional approach which would be a lot more money. In the end, the insurance cut me a check for the PDR approach and said if you get it fixed traditional have the body shop call with the difference and once WORK HAS STARTED we will issues another check. Nuts to them I say. In any event I sold the car with hail damage to a guy who needed a daily driver and didn't care about the dings. He didn't even haggle on price so I got more for the car (including the insurance check) than I would have trading or selling to anyone else. I suppose it all works out in the end.

T

 

The next KFC commercial to air...think about it, here is goes:

Close up of a guy eatin chicken in the back of his pickup.
Pan out to a cop and lady bitchin back and forth
Sweep back to the guy eatin chicken with a greasy grin on his face...


classic!


shane

 

LOL Shane! I am looking the Colonel up at this moment!

 

This is so cool, kind of like watching COPS only in ASCII form.

 

I feel like it's an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard! Do you really talk like that?

 

Thats was a funny story.

Anyway, regarding your question.

Go get estimates from multiple places (like 7 or 8). You will, of course, have some really high estimates, and some lower ones. You would be AMAZED by how much they vary.

Go to some "ritzy" car repair shops in some expensive areas, like Orange County, Irvine. Don't know where you hang out in So.Cal, but there are "expensive" areas and "cheap" areas, just like any other place.

All you have to do is do enough leg work, and then present her insurance company with the highest 3 quotes. All you have to do is look the guy doing the quote in the eye, tell him HER insurance is paying for it, give him a little wink, and they TOTALLY jack up the price. There isn't anything dishonest about it, its just the way the world works.

If you've ever been to a body shop, you will notice that they ALWAYS ask you, is this an insurance quote or are you paying for this out of pocket? Why do YOU think that is?

 

Funny story. I would'nt advertise anything that could be interpreted as insurance fraud and put my name on it though. Insurance people have to drive something too, might be ford enthusiasts.

 

I vote for f150izzo on this one. I've heard this story a million times. No matter how clearly wrong the person is in an accident they never want to accept responsibility. This girl is doubly dumb. First in being wrong and then thinking her scrawny boyfriend would scare izzo. Go izzo Go!!!

 

izzo,

You're one of the reasons why my insurance premiums are so high. Take it to a reputable repair shop, have it fixed, and stop using the rest of our money for your personal benefit.