Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 7/24/2009

Question
I had an incident where I backed into a car parked outside my driveway - there was no damage to my car but damage to the door of the other.   I knocked on door and informed them of the incident and provided my information.

There was no deductible as no damage to my car.
It turns out, the individual "fixed the car himself" for 1200.
I was not informed of this = the insurance just paid him.
My experience has been the insurance company pays to an auto body shop.   By fixing himself - my thought is the value would not have been over the $1000 limit for assigning points to my insurance.

Have you run into this before?  I am appealing the points but was looking for a precedent in this.   I'm sure the other auto owner pocketed a nice amount for himself.  

Answer
Hi Sue,

Regardless of if he repaired the car himself or not, the insurance company owes hin for the reasonable cost to repair the car. So if the insurance company or a body shop wrote a repair estimate, that is what they owe him. If he later repairs the car him self he can keep the difference.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenabaugh