Car was hit when parked. How to get fair settlement?

[SedanSandwich]

Hey r3v. Recently my E30 was hit when someone was trying to park. He left his info and set up a claim with his insurance company (USAA). Adjuster came out today and hasn't gotten back to me. I went and got some estimates of what it would cost to get it fixed and its around 1300 to 1500. How can I make sure they don't total the car/ I get enough to get the car back to pre- accident condition?

Pictures of car before incident







Pictures of damage. Bumper is toast, valance has a lot of movement, headlight grill is broken, fender dented. :(

[Herr Faust Schinken]

That sucks I hate to see a fellow lachssilber car damaged

[e30austin]

That's seriously all it did? Get $500 cash, get a new grill and have a bumper painted. Pocket the rest. I wouldn't even waste your time going through insurance for that if you have the option of settling outside of insurance.

Sucks that it happened. Sorry man!

GL

[rturbo 930]

You should be able to fix that for much, much less than $1300.

[SedanSandwich]

Guy wants to go through insurance.

[Kershaw]

then go through insurance. have them write the check to you.

[SedanSandwich]

Also the bumper is all sideways and has gaps on the other end. I think it needs to be replaced and will need new bumper retainers.

[SedanSandwich]

then go through insurance. have them write the check to you.

This is what I am going to do. I'm just worried they will say it is totaled even though similar cars in the PNW are close to 4k.

[e30austin]

I don't think they'll total it over that.

When I got backed into over summer, they valued my car at $3k bone stock and tried to total it over $3500 in damages. At that point, I called my lawyer and he handled it. Got me what I wanted and kept my clean title.

[e30lov]

That sucks man.. but be thankful the guy left a note with his contact information.. Faith in humanity restored

[jeffnhiscars]

They usually dont total a car unless the damage is at least 75-80% of "value" so that should not be an issue here. As for the estimate I'd also say it's high given that I can get this fixed for $1000.

[redsubdivisions]

That sucks man.. but be thankful the guy left a note with his contact information.. Faith in humanity restored

+1. Most USAA members are former servicemen/servicewomen. We have some integrity. lol

[RGCintha29073]

+1. Most USAA members are former servicemen/servicewomen. We have some integrity. lol

:up:

I was hit while stopped at a red light, guy gave me all his info and said he wanted to just pay me to take care of it. Went to like 3 places and got an estimate. It really only cracked the rear black plastic bumper trim but i got an estimate for almost 1000. Body shop guy said they always add a few hundred to an estimate to cover hidden costs.

[JinormusJ]

You and me both brother



My only issue is the guy didn't leave squat

[decay]

+1. Most USAA members are former servicemen/servicewomen. We have some integrity. lol

this. and if you have the option to use USAA and you aren't, yer wrong. they're an awesome bank.

OP, i had something similar happen:



i can't remember how much i settled for, exactly, but it was somewhere between $2500-3k and i had about half of that in my pocket after fixing. you should be able to do this without worrying about salvage title-

print out every single page from RealOEM that has a part you need to replace, highlight the ones you need. get a quote from a good paintshop on painting the bits that need it (make sure they know someone else's insurance is handling this).

hand that stack of pages to the adjuster and say "it's gonna cost this much to fix. gimme."