Expert: Ernie - 4/19/2007

Question
Hi, I am trying to get an estimate of damage to my vehicle from my insurance co.  They are telling me that they can't do a real estimate unless they put my vehicle on a frame pull and cut into the wheel well to see other damage.  Does this sound right?  I thought pulling a frame was part of the repair process.  I am in a bind as the ins. co is refusing to provide an estimate unless I let them do this work.

Any advice?

Thanks

Answer
An estimate is just that.It is not a total of the damages completely.Almost always there is additional damage that is not seen from the onset.I am guessing that they want to see how mush secondary damage will pull out.This is kind of strange that an ins. co. would require this though.Usually you would take the car to a shop and they or the ins. co. would write an est.,from there repairs would start and if more damage was found then a "supplement" would be requested from the ins.co.They will then send an adjuster to re-evaluate the damage and provide the additional $ for the repairs.You as the customer should not even be involved with this aspect of the repair that is part of what the shop gets paid for.