Lawyer need for Ins. Claim.

[StormBringer]

Just throwing this out there to see if anybody has a recommendation on what to do.

I had one of my cars vandalized a while ago, needs a complete repaint among other things. I would like a shop outside of my insurance network to do the work because they are really the best that I have seen in a long time and I trust them. They gave me a quote at ~11K to do the total repair and a total time of about 4 weeks.

My insurance company sent an adjuster out to see the car and has said that it will cost at most 2.5K to do the total repair, the shop that they took the car to say it would be close to 9K when they add in all the adjustments. I am ok paying the extra 2K to have the shop I like do the work, but the insurance company will only payout in cash 2.5K to my shop and will not take adjustments from them to the cost of the repair.

So what legal recourse to I have, I always thought that I could choose the shop that would do the repair on a claim. Also I had a absolutely perfect car when I started, and I will have an exotic that has been completely repainted and torn down to do so after. I will have to discloses this to anyone I sell the car to and if it is inspected its going to clearly show that the entire car has been repainted.

Is there any way to accurately come up with a loss of value. At this point I just want to be back where I started from, a no vandalized car and no real loss of value out of my pocket. After three weeks of dealing with them and dragging my car across San Diego for estimates I just want a lawyer or a company to take care of this.is there such a thing out there.

 

[mateo91181]

It is a CA state law that you can take your car to any shop you would like. I had customers of mine that ran into the same problem as you are having. The insurance companies estimates are ALWAYS lower than the shops because in alot of cases people will "cash out" on their claim. The insurance company hopes that you will take the money for the repairs and go away. You would be surprised how many people actually do this. Your insurance adjuster should work with the shop directly. Insurance companies have DRP and non-drp shops which means they have contracts with some shops and not with others. If an insurance company does not have a contract with a shop that does not mean that you have to take there estimate and pay the rest out of pocket. If you would like you can PM with any other questions. I worked as an estimator in a body shop and now work for an insurance company. I hate it when an insurance company tries to dick people around. I used to see it alot. If you dont mind me asking what shop did you want to fix your vehicle?

Heres a little info from an attorneys office which I believe has an office in Escondido. It specifically states that it is the law that an insurance carrier work with your shop of choice.

http://www.murrlaw.com/quality_collision_repair_pf.html#11