Expert: Ron Cercone - 4/8/2009

Question
i am in the process of dealing with a insurance claim. my parked vehicle was hit. i recieved a quote from the dealer "Ford" for about $1200. anchor general (the other parties insurance) sent out their own apprasial. I recieved a notice today that they estimated the damage at $559. they are telling me i can take it to Ford and allow them to contact anchor general regarding the difference if needed... my question is... what are my options to obtaining a full $1200 payment to me... the damage i can deal with for awhile. with the hard times i could really use the money to get by... thanks for your time


Answer
Hello Pat,

You can take the car to any body shop of your choice. But that does not necessarily mean the insurer will pay any amount the shop asks. It could be worse. Some insurers would say "all you get is $559.00 because we know 3 shops that will repair your car for our adjusters estimate."

All you can do at this point is have your Ford shop call the adjuster to come out and argue the price up. After they reach an "agreed cost of repair", then you can reach an agreement with your shop to either do the work for less, take it elsewhere for a lower price, or do all or part of the repairs yourself, or take the money and not do the repairs. If there is a leinholder on your car, the insurer may name them on the check too. As long as you get the car fixed, the leinholder should sign off on the check, regardless of what you spent.