Auto Accidents and Estimates for Repairs

After you've been in a car accident and reported it to your insurance company, one of the first things that happens is getting an estimate for repairs to your car. An estimate is the amount of money that an insurance adjuster believes will restore the car to its pre-accident condition. There are a few important steps to this process.

1. Adjuster or Inspector. Most often your insurance company will have a qualified adjuster or inspector look at your vehicle and draw up an estimate of what it will cost to repair it. It is possible that if the damage is minor they will instead ask you to get estimates from several mechanics or body shops for the cost of repairs.
2. Mechanic or Body Shop. Choose a mechanic or body shop you trust. You can get a suggestion from your insurance company but you are also free to choose your own. If your insurance company asks you to provide estimates from multiple repair providers they can then choose which of those you'll go to. If it's important to you that you see your regular mechanic, make that clear. Remember, your insurance company can't force you to work with a particular mechanic they might have a partnership with. Listen to any suggestions, though. They have as much at stake in getting your car fixed correctly the first time around as you do.
3. Additional Damage. If additional damage is discovered during the course of repairs, the mechanic or body shop will contact the insurer. The insurer may then send out an adjuster to re-inspect the vehicle and reassess the cost of repair given the additional damage. This is a fairly common situation as many times certain types of damage are not always apparent until after repairs have started.
4. Cost of the Repairs. If your mechanic or body shop and your insurer disagree about the cost of repairs the insurer may settle the disagreement directly with the mechanic or body shop, for example, either agreeing on an acceptable charge for the repairs, or authorizing additional charges for the repairs.
5. Appraisal Provision. If you and your insurer cannot agree on the amount of your loss, find out if your insurance policy has an appraisal provision. An appraisal provision will describe how disagreements on the value of a loss are resolved. Typically, an appraisal provision will direct you and your insurer to each hire appraisers. Your respective appraisers will then select a "neutral umpire," who will also be an appraiser. The appraisers will review your claim information, and if they can't agree on the value of your loss, the claim information will be submitted to the umpire; the amount that two of the three of them agree on will be the value of your claim. The decision on the value of your claim will be binding.

Estimates for repairs can vary based on a number of factors. These include labor rates, prices for parts, quality of parts and the estimated time needed to make repairs. The insurance company has a responsibility to make you whole, that is, to return your car to the state that it was in prior to the accident. The insurance company cannot refuse to pay more than the initial estimate for repairs if it is discovered during the course of repair work that additional repairs are needed in order to properly fix your car. However, don't expect them to pay for a problem that was present before the accident. Restoring your car to pre-accident shape doesn't mean they have to make it perfect, only as good as it was right before the accident.

Related Resources on Lawyers.com^sm