she's fine but our Accord sustained a decent amount of front end damage. The accident wasn't her fault. We're going to take it in this morning to get some estimates from a couple shops.

My question is this: Is it beneficial for me to get the work paid for by the other party out of pocket or should I just go through my insurance? My wife ended up getting called off work last night as a result of the accident and she lost almost $400 in wages. Would my insurance cover the lost pay? The 17 yr old girl that hit my wife wants to pay out of pocket but I just want to make sure I do what's most beneficial for us. :hs:

 

Glad to hear shes ok!

a 17y/o paying how many thousands out of pocket? Sounds meritable, but flaky, I understand the kid wanting not to go thru insurance, but at the same time, you want the work done in a timely manner and done right, and have your car back quick, whos to say the kid doesn't have enough funds? then you're car just sits there?

She got a police report? It's your call, but I'd go thru insurance.

 

go through the insurance company...the kid's insurance will be paying and you need to file for lost wages as well. Actually it'll be the kid's parents insurance.

 

my wife is talking to our insurance company now. we got two estimates and both were about $2300 for repairs. It looks like blue book value isn't much more. I guess we'll see what happens...

 

Bummer man. Good to hear she's ok.

My '94 has been knocked twice... once on each end.

 

always always always at LEAST report it to the insurance company, it never harms you to open a claim and it covers your rear!

 

I wouldn't trust the 17y/o girl to pay the $$. Its a nice suggestion, but what kind of 17y/o has that much money?

Glad to hear your wifey is ok!

 

save yourself the hassle, go through insurance. the kid will learn her lesson. most teenagers get into accidents. might as well learn young so it wont happen again.

 

UPDATE: It's been a little while since the accident. The car has been deemed a total loss and the other party's insurance company wants to give us $23xx for the car and $18xx if we choose to keep it.

Their offer is less than satisfactory to me. I know that blue book is probably right around there but right now you can't buy another 5th gen accord for that cheap...even one with 200k+ miles on it. So is it possible to challenge their offer and ask for a higher amount and actually expect them to budge? I'm not even sure exactly how much to ask. We've put quite a bit of money into the car and it basically ran perfectly before the accident, at least for a car with 150k miles on the odo.

 

Pull 10 comps and write a demand letter attaching the comp examples in your market. Figure out your desired amount and add 500. Then they;ll counter and you can meet in the middle.