Pictures of car before/after repairs:
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I was in an accident a few weeks ago and rear-ended another car while going 5-10mph.
The damage to my car was mostly cosmetic with no major internal damage, no frame damage, no air bags deployed, no check engine lights, and the car still drove normally.
According to Allstate's repair cost estimate (done by a local repair shop), my car supposedly had $6,964.88 in damage. The workers at the repair shop were acting very sketchy, and didn't want to give me my car back, and made it seem like they wanted to keep my car or something.
When I looked over the repair estimate, I found about $4000.00+ in bogus charges. (And later I found out they stole the top chrome bar to my grille, which goes for $100.00+ on Ebay, but that's a separate story).
Allstate appraised the car pre-accident to be worth $4,448.29 and told me the car was totaled because the damages exceeded the repair cost estimate. I told them I believed the repair estimate was fraudulent, and that the appraisal value was incorrect because my car had a new engine put in a few months before the accident, with only 60,000 miles, and my car drove smooth as butter! They refused to include this in the appraisal of the car.
They told me the only way I could keep the car would be to get a repair estimate lower than the value of the car.
I knew the damages to my car were very minimal, so I ordered all the parts and had my brother do the cosmetic repairs, and I had a mechanic replace the radiator, condenser and fan, even though they seemed to be working properly (I just wanted to replace them because they were noted in the estimate from Allstate.)
These are some of the overpriced parts from the repair estimate (not including labor)...
Item ......................... Quote Price ...... Actual Price ..... Note
Hood ....................... $1,231.00* ....... $436.06 ............. Used, Grade A- condition
Headlights .............. $639.36 ............ $236.44 ............. Brand New
Bumper ................... $810.00 ............ $122.49 ............. Only needed Full Grille Assembly
Fan ........................... $274.15 ............ $75.00 ............... Used, ~100k miles
Radiator Support ... $216.00 ............ $84.94 ................ Brand New
*Hood quote price includes paint.
So, even better than a repair "estimate", I had FULL DOCUMENTATION of a REPAIRED CAR for $2800 (which was ~$1300 parts and ~$1500 in labor). This was 38% less than the value of the car.
I called Allstate and told them the car was repaired, and told them I could provide full documentation, and also that I could have the car fully inspected to verify it is safe to drive. The Allstate agent told me as long as there is documentation of repairs, and a safety inspection is preformed, then insurance payout could be made.
Then I received an email from the Allstate agent telling me they made a mistake, and I only had two options:
- Give us the car and receive $3,800
- Or withdraw your claim
They told me because the car was a total loss, they are not legally able to let me keep it because it is less than 9 years old and violates IL law. What??? How is the car a total loss when it was able to be fully repaired WITH LABOR for $1,700 below the value of the car?!!!
So now they are being complete scums and trying to put me in a situation where I have to either give them my fully repaired car or withdraw the claim and get ZERO money.
What can I do???
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Pictures of car before/after repairs:
Submitted August 17, 2018 at 11:49AM by tametheflame1 https://ift.tt/2MjZNIZ
