Hey I've come to a fork in the road, and I think I may have made up my mind but would like to hear some other ppl's opinions.

Recently a drunk driver hit my car while it was parked outside my house. Long story short I got a check in the mail from their insurance company for $640. I went to Toyota Collision Repair (Tallahassee, FL) and they quoted me $848.00 to fix it. So to make up the difference Toyota will have to call the insurance company (not mine) to cover the difference yada yada. The damage was to my rear bumper and my left tail light. Thankfully, no damage was done to my rear lip. We popped the bumper out and it looks ok.

My question is should I

1. Take the car to toyota to get the new bumper and tail light and go through that whole process

or

2. Take the check and fix it myself. I was thinking Anzo tails if I dont replace just the one tail light, and finding a new bumper on eBay or wherever I can. The bumper may take some time, but the tails I could order right away. (leaning towards this decision)

My roommate was saying it is insurance fraud but I think he's a little . I want to say it's kind of the same thing since the check was sent to me and is sitting up in my room. I don't know who it was made out to, but I have to assume it would be me since their insurance company does not know where i was going to take the car.

So what do you think, option 1? Option 2? Insurance fraud? Let me know what you think of the situation

Thanks,

Kevin

 

How did you get a check in the mail and then a quote? Did anyone check it out before you got the check?

 

yeah you should have got the estimate way before you got any type of check...

what insurance do you go thru?

 

yea the person's insurance company came out and got an estimate. I never went until recently to get an estimate because of school and what not.

 

i don't think it's fraud, people do stuff like that all the time, like if my hood got wrecked it would be replaced with carbon fiber not another stock one.

 

it is not insurance fraud. that guy damaged your property and you have to be compensated for all damages that you have suffered. you don't even have to spend it on fixing your car. first make sure that you get paid for all the damages, take the car and it looked at to make sure that there isn't any unseen damange beneath the surface that will require additional money to fix. if i were you, i would get a new bumper from the replacement oem parts from www.trdsparks.com since they have great prices. take it to get painted to match your car. have your lip put back on. and the order your anzo tail lights. i mean, if you plan on getting those taillights anyway, might as well do it now while your replacing one anyway.

 

To help with ur deciSion. You can spend it on anything you want, but you might of shorted yourself by them coming out to inspect your car and saying ok the damage is this. You should of taken it to a shop and said the damage is this, you owe me this much. He can technically argue that you have been compinsated for the full cost of repairs according to the claims and he is liably free from any additional costs. Welcome to the wonderfull world of insurnace. If someone hits youre car while its parked legally. You need to get their information and take it for inspection yourself. Cuz if the person that hit you does it, they will find the cheapest ____ job they can to get out of as much as possible

 

x2

 

The insurance company can claim that he has been compensated in full once the check is cashed, not by just receiving the check. He has not locked himself into anything by just allowing their adjustor to issue a check.

I'd say get the quote from the dealership and contact the other person's insurance company yourself to get the balance for the repairs. Then do whatever you decide.

 

Uhhh... when an insurance company issues you a check to fix damage done to your vehicle, the check is to replace what was ruined on your car, not to buy stuff you've never had for your car.

Just because people wreck their car and buy a body kit or whatever, doesn't mean it's legal. If you ask your insurance company if you can use that money to buy "upgraded" tail lights (i.e. not OEM or what you ordered on your car origionally), a lip kit, whatever... odds are they are going to say no. They are only liable in the eyes of the law to replace what was damaged on your car, and will only pay that. If you say... got a body kit for your car, and informed the insurance company "Hey, I got this body kit, here's the receipt for the kit and the work done to it, will you insure this?"... odds are they will... only you'll have to pay extra because it is not OEM equipment and generally more money out of their pocket if it is damaged.

Not using an insurance check for it's intended purpose (to replace your OEM equipment and return your vehicle to pre-accident condition), it IS (at least here) insurance fraud technically.

 

few things wrong with that. when the insurance pays for the damage to repair his car. if the other party is at fault, they have to pay to repair his car to the way it was before the collision. if the car is stock, they have to repair it back to stock. if the car has some expensive wide body kit with a custom paint job, they have to pay to repair the car including the wide body kit, and paint job. they can't just pay to have part of his car returned to stock, and tell him that he has been properly compensated. now if he was at fault, his own insurance company would only pay to restore the damaged areas of the car back to stock. he could however, take that money that was paid to him to repair his car to stock, and put it down towards repairing his car back to it's modified appearance. he is also able to take out additional coverage to cover repairing his custom body work. like if he has a custom subwoofer and head unit, he can insure that too.

NOW IN THIS CASE HERE IS THE STORY: he was hit, he is not at fault, his car is stock in the areas it was damaged. the insurance company that is going to compensate him is going to write a check to repair the body damage, and buy a new taillight. lets say they pay 140 dollars for a new stock taillight, well, he can take that money and spend it on anything. he can't spend it and go back to the insurance company and ask for more, but he can spend it anyway he sees fit. in this case, he is spending in towards a new set of taillights, like he puts that 140 towards a 280 pair of tyc taillights for his tc. that is 100% legal. the insurance company doesn't have to pay him for a a completely new set of tyc taillights, but they have to pay him the cost of replacing the one taillight their client was responsible for. this is all legal.

 

i dont think its fraud. you could do whatever you want with the check just make sure you spend it to get the damage fixed. go with option 2.