so last night i was following my buddy in his 00 z28, and we were getting on the highway and we had to stop on the on ramp cause he was having some issues. ended up we had to push start his car. so mine was parked on the outside shoulder of the onramp, halfway in the grass with my hazards on. as were pushing his to get it started, i hear the infamous bumblebee buzzing in the area. i happen to turn around and see two cars coming on the onramp, kinda quick. i start waving my arms trying to get them to slow down, and then outta nowhere the second car locks the breaks, slides on some gravel and hits my parked car in the rear doing atleast 45-50 mph. he says the car in front of his slammed on the breaks, but i dont know for sure. rear bumper is pretty much destroyed. driver quarter panel has some dents where is started to compress, left tailight is partially smashed. luckily i have duals dumped at the axle, or it wouldve destroyed the exhaust too. he hit me so hard it pushed me into the divider so the front bumper is cracked a lil too.

now, sorry for the story. but i wanted to give a lil background info. but the question is...how do i go about getting the most money i can from the insurance company. the cop charged him with 3 diff things; following too close, reckless driving, and i dont remember the last. but he is clearly at fault so his insurance will take car of it all. i just figure if its messed up, might as well get the most out of it. ya know? this has never happened to me so im looking for some advise

 

Go to the most expensive repair shops to get a repair quote.

 

get one estimate, and just keep bringing the estimate to different body shops to save yourself time. When you get the most expensive one, send it to the insurance company and try to have them make the check out to you. You can get the car fixed at the cheaper place and get some extra money in the process. If the damage is that serious, be careful not to bring it to some half-competent mechanic that just want to get his greasy hands on your baby.

 

Definitely check for frame damage! My WS6 was rear-ended with less damage than you just received, and it bent up the frame some behind the axle. When I was getting quotes...some shops/adjustors missed it on mine. Sucks to hear about the damage...just be glad you weren't in the car at the time.

 

What insurance company did the guy have that hit you? It sounds like a pretty serious accident so most likely the insurance company will want to see the car and write there own estimate. Most likely you'll be able to pick the body shop you want to fix the car. If you know anybody that can help you out at a body shop that is probably the best thing to do if you want to get some extra money out of the insurance company. It will probably be hard to get the insurance company to right you the check for the repairs unless you don't have a lien on the car. With a lien on the car the insurance company will right a check to you and the body shop or you and the bank you're financing your car through. Most insurance companies have there technics to avoid people from getting extra money out of them and that's why I say if you know someone at a body shop that can help you out with getting a little extra money that's probably the best way. I've been in the same situation before a couple of times and getting extra money out of the insurance company is a hard thing to do.

 

the guy has allstate, and theyre supposed to call me. ill def be checking for frame damage later today, as it is raining now. last time i filed a claim, i had the check in mine and my banks name since i didnt know what body shop i was going to use, as it was only minor paint damage from a hurricane. ill see if i can get them to do that again, since its not a big deal for me to goto the bank and have them endorse it.

another guy i know said i should check the tranny, cause if it was left in gear when he hit me it couldve messed something up. i did leave it in 1st if i recall so ill be having the tranny checked as well.

 

Good luck man.

PM if you have any questions after talking with Allstate(good luck, they're douchebags). I'm a licensed auto damage appraiser so if you need anything don't hesitate to ask.

 

pm on the way... lol

 

Responded

 

Last spring when my car was rear-ended the insurance company wanted to make the check out just to me. I told them no, make it out just to the body shop that I was using. I didn't want to get involved in any money/payment disputes if they arose between the body shop and the insurance company. They had to send out their own adjustor to be able to do it instead of just taking the estimate from the body shop, but they were able to do it. Definitely have a body shop check it out thoroughly, and depending on how compitent you are/aren't mechanically..you might want a mechanic to check it out too.