So my e70 35d gets rear ended

[norcalmike]

Originally Posted by ard

1. Neither your insurnace nor their insurance is on your side. You need to really understand this. Yes, YOUR insurnace is marginally better- but at the end of the day they are all trying to protect themselves - to handle this as quickly and cheaply as possible, and NOT to minimize your cost or rating impacts. You need them for info, but don't ask them "what should I do", Ever.

2. You need a great body shop. The BMW approved shops are mediocre at best. BMW drivers are not highly discriminating- "is it shiny?" And "they have a nice waiting room" seem to drive their opinions. BMW paint on new cars is low quality, the hig name shops that secure the 'BMW Approved" label do this to crank in profits. The very best shops tend to go about their busness and don't worry about jumping through hoops.

So, recommendations, word of mouth, reviews. Where are you? SF Bay or Sacto area?

3. You need to understand the laws and rules in CA around insurnace claims and liability.

4. You say the car behind you hit you FIRST, correct? The they were rear ended, and hit you again? This is an EASY one- your insurnace needs to get access to the data recorder in that middle car and see which happened first.

Will they do that? Probably not. They don't care, about you, about your car, your rates. They just as soon process it via your policy that lets them control costs and then have you pay the deductible- as opposed to spending $5k -15kin a filing, demand letter and data analysis.

The key will be if the last driver says 'the car in front of me hit him first, then I hit that car'. Done, proven.

My daughter was involved in an accident with a rental, under my policy. (I got a call on the morning I arrived in Australia for a month vacation... ). I was able to cause the investigation team to ask the other drivers and witnesses about specific observations/questions. "Our people will perform an investigation" became "they will ask X y z" Just FYI.

5. You need to establish control.

I refuse to allow insurnace companies to access my car until AFTER I have obtained estimates. Why? Just to tell them I understand this process. Here is how insurnace is supposed to work:

With no insurnace:
Someone hits you
You go to a body shop, get an estimate- maybe get it repaired. Cost is 2800.
You contact person that hit you, tell them you are "liable" for my loss of $2800
Person sends a check for 2800, or you sue them and win 2800.

With insurance:
Same as above except person that hit you contacts their insurnace and says "I was liable for this accident, please pay him the 2800"

Now, you will say "that's not how insurnce works". True. They have established all sorts or rules, policies and practices around this core liability coverage- SOME are based on state laws, some are based on the polciy language- and some are just made up to make their business easier.

Here's the key thing- YOU do not have to follow any of their rules if your are proceeding under the strait liability- get your car fixed, the other insurnace pays your liability. What YOUR insurnace wants and what the other insurnace wants, doesn't matter. Easy to say, hard to do. Generally though work with your insurnce BUT tell them 'I'm getting this fixed right, the other party was liable'. They can't tell you "you need to do it our way becuase our policy requires XYZ"

Establish control, don't think they are on your side. Don't need to be an ass, just firm.

That's enough for now....

I'm in the sacramento area. I was going to take my car to niello colllison center since they are the only one who is bmw certified in the area, and also the dealership who sold me the x5 and 2 other bimmers, but if you know of a high quality shop near by. lemme know.

Yeah. Im expecting a call from my adjustor on Tuesday, and im not sure if the other guy's insurance will call me if they decide to blame the uninsured girl. Im just going to tell them that it is his fault, and he was the one who hit me. The woman who immediately took the blame, is only liable for the damages on the car who hit me. I've been thinking about this all weekend.

[norcalmike]

Would it be possible to ask the adjustor to total out my car?
I honestly feel unsafe in the car now, and i truly believe it is unibody damaged. That weird vibration noise/feels from the rear, and my alignment is off are signs of unibody damages, and the random vehicle check alerts.

It was worth about 18-20k with 103k miles pre accident. I don't think i would get much out of it if i were to resell it after it being rear ended. I searched the web on how the insurance do the totaled out process, and i didn't really find a definite answer. All i know that in california they have to do a formula and the formula is if the scrap value plus the repair cost is 80% of the actual cash value of the car, they total it out. I can't find out what the scrap value of my car or the actual cash value.

There is a guy on the bimmerfest.com who was in a rear end accident and the insurance paid out 12 grand. here, and the update with the total cost is here. I think my car got hit little more harder than this guy did but the damages are very similar.

[crystalworks]

1. If they repair it... you will definitely want a diminished value claim on top of whatever they pay for repairs. This is because the resale value will plummet.

2. If they total it, good luck getting 18-20k from the insurance company... you can do it, but it will take work. As ARD said, they are trying to pay out as little as possible as quickly as possible. Also as he said, be firm and insistent on them making you whole. The longer you have the rental the more likely they will be inclined to total it because they add that onto the repair cost in their formula.

3. Your unibody may not be damaged. It may be a bent control arm or other suspension component that is causing the bad alignment. If you really want to know right away, tow it to a shop that you would want to do the work on it and have them give you an estimate. They will tell you if something on the frame is bent/twisted. Or you can wait for the insurance companies, but it will take more time.

4. Situations like this are inconvenient (fortunately no one was hurt), time-wasting, and nerve wracking. Good luck, fingers crossed for you.

[ard]

The only place I will use is Walt Stickel Body and Frame. I've had some work done on the M5, and on the 996TT- flawless work. I'm super particular. In fact we set it up so I would inspect during the process to make sure the clouding and color match was perfect- before they did all the final buffing and assembly. Impossible to do elsewhere, at Niello or Cooks or even Gamboas.

You can "ask" all you want- they will only total when the repair cost approaches 80% of what [they think] the value is....

A shop I know used to be a 'certified' center from my insurer- he got tired of being strong armed by them...threatened with loosing the certification; not being able to be an advocate for the end customer. They still work with all insurers, but as an independent vendor.

You need to let the process unfold- once you establish that YOU are the customer with the shop, and let them know how you would LIKE it to unfold, they should try to accomodate. Once they take the car in, they will do a teardown- they get paid for this- and THEN they will submit a secondary report to the insurer for all previously hidden damage. If this is 80%, they stop working and you start dancing. The shop is paid for the few hours they put in, and you settle for the totaled value.

IF YOU GET THERE, some more advice on total values in CA. If you need it.

GL

[Proflyer]

I was rearended by a girl Nov 2015 in our E70. I have lots of clients who are attorneys and called one asking his thoughts. He simply said "don't talk to any insurance company. When they call next, give them my number and tell them to call me." As slimy as it sounds...a good attorney is really key here. They know the law in/out. Also, go see a doc and get an MRI done. I felt 'fine' but my neck was jacked. Took two weeks to really bother me and it got so bad I couldn't hardly turn my head for months. Needless to say, they paid and paid big. He even got his fees covered so it didn't even cost me part of my settlement.

Then I went to the local big bmw shop (who's repair facility fixed our car, 9800 in damage all said and done) and had then give me a trade in offer in writing. Used that for the diminished value claim, insurance paid it.

[norcalmike]

Originally Posted by Proflyer

I was rearended by a girl Nov 2015 in our E70. I have lots of clients who are attorneys and called one asking his thoughts. He simply said "don't talk to any insurance company. When they call next, give them my number and tell them to call me." As slimy as it sounds...a good attorney is really key here. They know the law in/out. Also, go see a doc and get an MRI done. I felt 'fine' but my neck was jacked. Took two weeks to really bother me and it got so bad I couldn't hardly turn my head for months. Needless to say, they paid and paid big. He even got his fees covered so it didn't even cost me part of my settlement.

Then I went to the local big bmw shop (who's repair facility fixed our car, 9800 in damage all said and done) and had then give me a trade in offer in writing. Used that for the diminished value claim, insurance paid it.

Wow.. I'm going to call an attorney. My back been bothering me. But i told the insurance i wasnt hurt but it started bothering like 2 days after the accident and a day after i spoke the insurers. Thanks. All of these are very helpful!

[Proflyer]

Originally Posted by norcalmike

Wow.. I'm going to call an attorney. My back been bothering me. But i told the insurance i wasnt hurt but it started bothering like 2 days after the accident and a day after i spoke the insurers. Thanks. All of these are very helpful!

Did you give them a recorded statement? If not, no sweat, and even if so, are you a doctor and able to diagnose yourself? If not...no sweat. You're not the first person who's been 'fine' after a wreck and then had issues later--which to most normal, non-litigious, people means 'well I wasn't bleeding and could walk so...I was fine.'