Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 5/20/2009

Question
Hello, Sunday a church bus hit our car that was parked on our street we we're not in it. They told us to get a estimate and we did it was for 1,800. It knocked off our front bumper and cracked the inside knocked the headlight loose and half way knocked off the drivers side mirror and scratched it and it scratched through the rim, and the front panel is all dented and scratched. Now their insurance is saying that due to the year and type of the car they don't like that quote. What should we do the car is still really nice it is a 2001 Ford Focus ZX3.

Answer
Hi Lucy,

Don't let the insurance company bully you. It is not up to them to "not like the quote". It costs what ever it costs to repair your car. You select the body shop that you want to repair the car. They should contact the insurance company for you to negotiate the payment. If the cost to repair your car is more than 70% of the value of the car, then the insurance company will likely declare it to be a total loss. If that happens the insurance company will pay you the value of the car and they will take it and sell the scrape.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh