Hit & Run and repairs after

[Jocker]

Jurisdiction

Kansas

My child took my car to college, and while it was parked in a parking garage, the car was hit and the person left the scene. There was a witness who immediately notified campus police. After some investigation police found the culprit (kudos to them!), and we finally (after 2 weeks) were able to get contact info for that person's insurance company.
I called their insurance, turned out they already opened a claim. I am located in state A, The accident happened in state B, the insurance is in state C, and there are no preferred collision shops of that insurance in neither A nor B
The insurance requested photos, I sent them. They issued an estimate for $1100. Here are their options:

During the repair process, your shop may find additional hidden damages. If this occurs,
your shop must contact MAPFRE Insurance. We will arrange to assess the additional
damage and write a supplement if necessary.

As previously mentioned, our CAR EZ repair process assures you fast, friendly service,
with a guarantee for as long as you own your vehicle. If you choose not to take part in
CAR EZ the other options available to you are as follows:
1. Choose one of the MAPFRE Insurance Company Preferred Repair Shops (a list of
Preferred repair shops can be found at www.mapfreinsurance.com) and sign a
"Direction To Pay" form authorizing MAPFRE Insurance to pay the shop directly
for the repairs.
2. Cash the check MAPFRE Insurance issues to you and use the proceeds to have
the repairs done at any registered shop of your choice.
3. Keep the check. Be aware, however, that the value of your car will be reduced by
the amount of the check, plus any applicable deductible.
4. Have the vehicle repaired at any auto repair shop and have the check issued to
you or to the repairer by signing a "Direction To Pay" form at your auto body
shop.
If you choose Option 2, you should be aware we cannot be certain the shop you choose
will perform the listed repairs for the amount we have approved. After negotiations, we
may not be required to pay the difference between what your shop charges and what one
of our preferred repair shops would have charged, nor are we required to guarantee the
quality of repairs at non-referral shops.

I asked my child to take the car to a collision center where the car is. They also gave her an estimate, and their amount is close to $4000
To be honest, what I would like to do: I want my child to bring the car back to me and leave it here, then I would do some cheap repairs (the car is old and the damage is more cosmetic, besides the tail light that needs to be fixed.
Here comes the question. Someone mentioned in another thread that "you are under no obligation to get the car fixed, but they should pay for the caused damage"
As we can see, the estimate for the damage is drastically different (the one provided by the insurance based on photos and the one that we got after taking the car to a collision center.. Also taxation is quite different. When I saw estimate of the insurance Co, I immediately noticed very low tax amount (for their state, I guess), In state A and state B taxes would be much higher. Also the insurance quoted labor as 46/hr. I never seen a shop with such cheap labor in my life.
I haven't sent the estimate we got to the insurance since I have no intention to repair with them. How do I approach asking the insurance for more money?

 

[Jocker]

To clarify: I haven't accepted any payments from the insurance just yet

 

[Jocker]

I just noticed that i had probably posted on the wrong sub forum, not sure how to correct it? I'm sorry.

 

[adjusterjack]

It's an insurance question arising out of an accident. All our regulars will see this at the top of the daily list regardless of the forum.

I'm basically the insurance guy here so I'll address the question.

First, you mention 3 states but you don't name all three along with what's what in each state.

What city, state are you in?
What city, state was the accident in?
What city, state is the car in now?
What city, state has the nearest MAPFRE repair shop? They seem to be all over the country.

That information may be helpful but I can give you the basics.

Someone mentioned in another thread that "you are under no obligation to get the car fixed, but they should pay for the caused damage"

That's true, but the insurer has no obligation to pay more than the usual and customary repair rates of its network of repair shops. If you pay more than those rates you pay the difference.

As for the $1100, that was based on photos, not a hands on inspection. It's customary for the car to go into the shop, be carefully examined, and a supplement sent to the insurer based on the repair cost for the actual damage, which could amount to additional hundreds or even thousands. Once the cost is calculated, you'll get that money. If you decide not to use the preferred repair shop, that's all you will get.

You are correct, you have the right to use the shop of your choice but if your shop is overpriced, as many are, you will only get what the insurer has calculated to pay.

If you refuse the preferred repair shop's inspection the insurer is only obligated to pay you for the damage seen in the photos because you aren't giving them any other option.

I haven't sent the estimate we got to the insurance since I have no intention to repair with them. How do I approach asking the insurance for more money?

How you approach the insurer is you send your estimate and ask for the money. Then wait for their response which will probably be pretty much what I told you here.

If you aren't satisfied with the response you are free to have the car brought home and use your Collision coverage, if you have Collision coverage. I suggest that's preferable because you'll have control of the situation, you'll deal face to face with a local repair shop and your insurance company's claims people will have experience with local repair shops.

 

[Jocker]

Adjusterjack, thank you!
Im in Wichita Ks
The accident happened in Nashville, TN . The car is still there. The estimate we have got was from one of Nashville collision shops.
The culprit seems to be from MA
How far is the nearest MAPFRE shop? Far. There is none in TN, none is KS. The nearest to TN seems to be in Cincinatti OH, the nearest to KS - in Denver CO
My kiddo needs to drive the car back home pretty soon. Here is the damage
I have no collision coverage on this car

 

[adjusterjack]

Yeah, no question. More than $1100. Hard to guess how much more just from the photo.

What is the year and mileage of the car?

 

[Jocker]

2010 , 183k miles

 

[Zigner]

The car almost certainly isn't worth $4,000 - you're only going to get up to the value of the vehicle. If they pay the value of the vehicle, they're going to want the vehicle. Alternatively, you can accept a lower amount and keep the vehicle.

 

[Jocker]

The car almost certainly isn't worth $4,000 - you're only going to get up to the value of the vehicle. If they pay the value of the vehicle, they're going to want the vehicle. Alternatively, you can accept a lower amount and keep the vehicle.

thank you Zigner
And how exactly are they going to "want the vehicle"?

 

[Zigner]

I don't know the process. @adjusterjack will have better insight. As a guess, if they take possession of the vehicle, they will sell it for scrap, or, possibly at auction.

 

[Jocker]

I don't know the process. @adjusterjack will have better insight. As a guess, if they take possession of the vehicle, they will sell it for scrap, or, possibly at auction.

I understand. The problem is that insurance is nowhere near the vehicle

 

[zddoodah]

Depending on trim level, condition, options, etc., that car is probably worth somewhere between $2,750-4,500.

In an accident that results in property damage, the owner of the damaged property is entitled to the lesser of (1) the cost to repair or (2) the fair market value of the car immediately prior to the accident. If the cost to repair exceeds the FMV, then the car is "totaled," and the at-fault party's insurer essentially buys the car from you. The insurer will likely then scrap the car and receive salvage value for it. Occasionally, you can get payment and keep the car, but the insurer will deduct the salvage value from what it pays you.

All you can do at this point is send your estimate to the at-fault driver's insurer and try to negotiate for a higher payment. My guess is that this damage is purely cosmetic and doesn't impact the driveability of the car. Are you actually going to make repairs? If not, this is basically a negotiation for free money.

 

[adjusterjack]

Occasionally, you can get payment and keep the car, but the insurer will deduct the salvage value from what it pays you.

In addition to that, if you keep the car for the lower payout, the insurer (not you) may obtain a salvage title. A salvage title means you cannot operate the vehicle on the road until it's repaired, inspected by the state, and a rebuilt title is issued.

I write "may" because some states don't require a salvage title over a certain age. I haven't seen anything that suggests that your state doesn't. You can check on that if you like.

Owner retained rarely ends well. In your case, if you don't repair it, you can't legally drive it.

Now you are back to submitting your estimate and seeing if you can talk your way into some more money.

If you want more opinions, here's a link to Reddit's insurance forum where there are numerous insurance people who can contribute to your question.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Insurance/

Use the same user name you used here and be sure to explain the states and the car description. You'll be able to post the photo there.