* Got backed into ... and the guy's insurance is... *

[mgburg]

Friday afternoon, my '76 450SLC got backed into by a guy who has PROGRESSIVE as his insurance.

Am I in for a long load of BS with this company?

I couldn't get Collision from my company because the car is over 10 y.o.. They don't issue that. However, I do have under-insured as well as non-insured coverage.

Am I going to get pooched on this or not?

BTW, the damage was to the driver's side, just behind the edge of the door and in front of the rear wheel well. The door works well, no windage sounds at highway speeds and the DSR window still operates. I'll see if I can post some pics. The ones I shot with my "pocket" camera are too detailed and I can't resize 'em to safe my life.

[Holmesuser01]

A car of mine was tapped by a person with Progressive Insurance last year. They did their best to prove that my parked car was in the wrong place, which it was not. They ended up wanting me to take my car to their body shop. I refused. It took over 6 months to get straightened out.

The person that hit me didnt get anything fixed. I see the car all the time, now.

[JimFreeh]

Never having tried this....

...The responsible person is the driver. The insurance company is acting on his behalf. If the offer is unsat, doesn't the driver have ultimate responsibility to make you whole?

Take the driver to small claims court. Doesn't cost a fortune to file, and it just might build a fire under him. If he's squawkin' on his end, it can only help you.....

Seems like it could be a lot of leverage for almost nothing....

Jim

[mgburg]

I took it to "their" shop and spent about a 1/2 hour there. The agent shot about 50 pics, then went through a "book" and on-line computer and came up with about $3K worth of repair work needed. He didn't have a "vehicle cost" yet, but said that he'd have it by the COB today or 1st thing Thursday morning.

Tuff ***** for him.

They'll pay for the repair, regardless anything said/inferred past the estimate from my bodyshop. Those folks I'll be seeing later today or Thursday.

The only problem? Sunday, we took a good hail-storm pounding in the area and ALL body shops are lined up with some BE-YOU-TEE-FULL dents and wacks. Some of the hail was over 3" in diameter and some cars looked like they were attacked by a band of midgets with ball-peen hammers.

Sooooo...getting in is a bit difficult unless you've made an appointment.

I may have to go to photobucket to get my shots posted...we'll see and I'll let you know...

$3K....sheesh!

[RadioTek]

I can understand about the hailstorms. My son thought that people were exaggerating when they talked of 'golf ball' or 'baseball' sized hail.

Until we got a storm through here last October/November that let him see that sort of stuff firsthand. We just got SWMBO's car in and repaired in late March.

[Strife]

Keep in mind that a large-scale hailstorm is like Christmas times 10 for body shops. They may shove cars in and out very quickly for the next few months. It might be worth waiting or finding a body shop in another city or in an unaffected area.