Last month driving home from Silver Spring on a Friday night I was side-swiped by some guy in a minivan. The hit wasn’t major, he gave me a glancing blow as he cut me off in traffic. But it looked horrible, with damage and scratches down the back two thirds of the driver side. I was really pissed off, but stayed cool and exchanged insurance information.
Besides the damage, the other reason I was bummed was the deductible I carried on the 530. I figured even though it was not my fault I would be out that money before my insurance company State Farm covered anything. Plus the time wasted having them inspect, etc. A couple of friends suggested that I report the incident happened while the car was parked, so it could be covered by comprehensive. No way I was going down that road, and I wasn’t interested in the guy giving me money directly either, which his insurance broker offered the following Monday morning.
Then State Farm told me I could go through Allstate if I chose to, the insurance company of the other driver. They would cover the whole amount if they accepted liability. I figured, what are the chances he’d admit fault to his insurance company? I don’t know exactly what happened, but I gave my statement and a couple of days later Allstate told me they would cover, including rental car!
Initially they they wanted me to go to one of their inspection centers, none of which were close by. I wanted to go to Professional Auto Body in Alexandria, recommended by my mechanic. Their price apparently was reasonable enough for Allstate to accept when I faxed the estimate over.
They did a great job, and finished a day ahead of schedule. Definitely give them a call if you’re local and ever need body work done.
Check it out below. A happy ending dealing with car insurance — it can happen!
Before:
After:
It’s always great to hear a Positive Story about Car Insurance….
Those scrapes are usually the worst bc then the door doesn’t close correctly… looks like they did a great job!
That’s good that they decided to cover the claim. I had Allstate try to say I was 20% negligent for one of their insured drivers pulling out in front of me. After much debate I finally got 100% paid for the damage caused. Sounds like you had better luck than me. Either way it looks like we both got taken care of. Good Deal!
Thanks for your email, but only one of my posts relates to car insurance. Good luck with your blog.