Progressive Insurance body shop?

[asianflava]

Sorry for being way off topic but I need some feedback fast.

We have to get the Highlander fixed ASAP so that we can make it to IRG. The guy who rear-ended me has Progressive Insurance. He is definitely responsible for my rear end damage so I have been talking to them. One option that was thrown out was to take it to their "Service Center." This Service Center, is one stop shopping. You drop your damaged car off, pick up a rental car, they fix it, and you pick it up all at the same place.

Sounds great but I have some reservations about this system. It seems to be a conflict of interest. For example: If I was responsible for paying for the damages AND I was the one performing the work, I wouldn't spend any more than it takes to get the job done i.e. sub-standard parts and dubious repair practices. In other words, I'm afraid that they will try to do it as cheaply as possible.

Does anyone have any experiences, comments? Feel free to PM me if you don't want to make your comments public. I have an appt on Monday.

[bledsoe3]

Rocky, I was in the same situation a about 1 1/2 years ago. In Oregon, you can take it anywhere you want for repairs. I would goto the best place you can find. You still get a rental. I made them replace the seat I was in since it lost a notch on the tilt, they had to replace the car seats for my kids and the complete hitch (don't forget the hitch cover and shipping). With the cost of newer cars, they don't total them too often. Make sure you get everything you're concerned about addressed. Don't sign any release until you are sure everything is O.K. to your satisfaction (car and people). Once you sign, there's no going back!

Disclaimer: This is how it was in Oregon.

Good luck.

[Kevin A]

Rocky, I would definitely call your state insurance commissioner's office and find out what your rights are in this situation.
What Bledsoe said about Oregon's rules is pretty much the way it works in California too.

[Leon]

I had a woman hit my 68 Torino last year and Progressive (her insurance) sent a check to cover my deductible and any out of pocket expenses and when the car was done the repair shop billed my insurance which inturn settled with hers for the balance. Since it was a classic car, I took it to the only shop I felt was qualified to do repairs on that car. Other than the time the car was down, the repair went very smooth.

[mincey]

I am sorry you are going through that. We had a similar situation last summer. Someone was not paying attention to the road, and slammed into my husband's brand new 2006 Camry XLE which we had only two weeks and less than 1000 miles. Needless to day we were PO'd! He was stopped in the road, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear to turn into his parent's driveway. And this person was more interested in her kids in the car instead of watching the road and hit him full force. She even commented later "I didn't see you until I hit you!" Unfortunately, she had Progressive. They are a pain to deal with. Yes, they do strongly suggest you take it to one of their authorized shops, by trying to sell hard on the fact that all repairs are guaranteed for life. Still, since our car was new, we would not take it anywhere but the Toyota dealer, and insisted on it, and they finally relented. We got our rental car from Enterprise, which is who our Toyota dealership works with, and Progressive paid that. It took us seven months to finally settle everything. The repairs were done within two weeks and the Toyota dealership was paid, but my husband had ongoing medical bills, plus we were fighting for a diminished value claim. That is what took so long, going back and forth on that. They were continually low balling us. We finally settled on a middle value, feeling that was the best we could do before signing the settlement papers. So as another suggested, don't sign until you are completely satisfied.

I am thankful it wasn't my Highlander that was hit - I feel your pain!

Cheryl

[Miriam C.]

Rocky,
Cheryl has a good point about diminished value. If you ever trade in or sell a car fax will show the accident and you might have problems.

PS. I would take it to my dealer if they have a good reputation.

My $2.00 worth.
Aunti M

[madjack]

...one of my bestest budies is a 30 year body and oaint man...he sez to steer clear of Progressive's one stop shop...they will do exactly as you fear and use the cheapest aftermarket parts at the cheapest repair shop around...here in La. we have the right to have the work done wherever we wanted regardless of what the INSURANCE COMPANY SEZ...when my wife was hit by a Katrina refugee last year...going the wrong way onna one way street, we dealt with our ins. co. and they collected from the other persons...
madjack

[Jiminsav]

Rocky, take it to YOUR choice of repair shop, they hit you, they have to pay..never take it to a shop THEY reccomend because it will return to bite you in the ass..and just be glad it was progressive that hit you, because ALLSTATE will screw you over in a heart beat.

[asianflava]

Thanks for the input everybody. I have an appt Mon afternoon but I will take it to a couple shops for an estimate before I go. My first question will be, "Will it be ready by July 21st." I checked the Texas insurance bill of rights and it says that I can take it anywhere to get fixed.

I didn't know about the diminished value claim. I kinda ran into that problem a few months ago when I took my mother-in-law's car to Carmax to see what they'd give me for it. It is a 2004 Honda Civic with 12,000 miles. They said that'd only give me $10,000 because it had previous damage. Yes, it was rear-ended but nothing near what the Highlander has. The trunk wasn't even affected and the tail lights weren't broken, just damage on the bumper cover and maybe bumper mounts. Good thing we have it, my wife has been driving it instead.

If the other shop will do it in the time alloted, I will probably go with them. I wonder if they will fight it with the "Reasonable cost" thing.

[Ira]

Rocky, you go to the guy of YOUR choice that you think will do the best job. If their insurance company doesn't want to pay that amount, that's when YOUR insurance company fights with them.

The only time you can get "screwed" is when both parties have the same insurance company. That's when your insurance company wants to get it done for the cheapest price possible--because they can't fight with themselves.

[TRAIL-OF-TEARS]

Asian,
By law you can take your car anywhere you want. The ins company can not even suggest a place to take your car. The fact they told you a place to take it is wrong. The Ins company will try to tell you that after it is fixed it won't loose value that is crap getting them to pay demenished value is/can be a real pain. They will not just pay you for that you must tell them you want them to pay for it. Be as picky as you can, about the repairs, you are paying for a car that was not wrecked so demand that it is perfect. Just be glad the person that hit you has insurance. I was rearended (I was at a dead stop and he hit me doing 70mph) 3.5 years ago the joker had an insurance card but he did not have insurance.

[mincey]

There are a couple of good ways to get a number to expect for "diminished value". Since when my DH was hit after only two weeks. we went back to the dealer and had the salesman give us trade in values of our car - one estimate if it was undamaged and one estimate considering the damage when fixed. As a side note, the salesman is someone my DH has dealt with for nearly 20 years, and he knows that when we need a car my DH always comes back (my hubby is Toyota loyal). As a matter of fact, he is always prepared to give my DH the lowest possible price on a car because he knows how my DH dickers! So this sales guy knows he doesn't have to inflate value estimates for this case to keep us as a customer. So we trust the values he gave us regarding the Camry's values.

We also used Kelly blue book - www.kbb.com - and ran some numbers on their site with both undamaged and damaged scenarios. Taking both our dealer's estimates as well as KBB, we determined we lost $2500 in the value of the car due to the damage. So we had it documented. Even with that, we had to dicker for 7 months with Progressive just to get them to pay $1750. But we felt that was all we could get out of them and settled, and they had the gall to say we should feel lucky because they rarely pay diminished value. The thing that really stuck in our craw was the fact when the car was hit, it still had the dealer tags on!!

The dealer did a great job repairing our Camry, and I was pretty happy with it. My DH on the other hand, knew the dealer did the best job possible, but since he had done body work years ago he was able to see all the places were the paint was blended etc. - I guess all the things an experienced body shop person could see. To the layman's eye like mine it looked great.

So don't just settle if you feel you aren't being treated fairly. You didn't asked to be hit in the ass end! You deserve to have it restored as much as possible to pre-accident condition. If you have a good Toyota dealer that does good body work, that is the first place to check. At least there you know they use real Toyota parts! Don't take it where they are pushing you to - probably done with sub-standard parts. You want the best.

Best of luck, and keep us posted on how it turns out.

Cheryl

[jdsackett]

do NOT take it to a progressive shop. ask around and talk to people about who they used and go to a reputable shop. you can take your car anyplace you want to. a good shop will have your best interest at heart and they will get into the knife fight with the adjuster. ive been in the body biz for over 30 years, and if progressive was the only company in the world, id take a bus, good luck. regards, j.d.