It is always best to allow your insurance company to do what you pay your premium for — restore your car to pre-incident condition. Pay your deductible, and have Custom Auto Repair repair your car.
My car was damaged in the hail storm. What do I do now?
Hail damage is one of the few times you can use your insurance and it’s not held against you. Hail is an act of nature and no one is at fault. So, use it wisely!
Call Custom Auto Repair at 314-853-8539 then contact your insurance company and initiate a claim. Custom Auto Repair will come to your location and give you a written estimate. Your insurance company will either send an adjuster to you as well or inform you as yo where to take your vehicle in order to have the damage assessed by an insurance adjuster.
I am meeting with my adjuster, now what?
Allow the adjuster to inspect the vehicle and write an estimate to repair the damages. This estimate may or may not be accurate, as it is just an estimate. Some insurance companies will write low estimates because some people will just take the money and not actually have the vehicle repaired. One well known national insurance company requires their adjusters to write low estitmates on 90% of their claims on purpose. When you have your car repaired, any difference between the amount of the estimate and the final invoice will be resolved between the repairing vendor and the insurance company by means of a supplement.
Some insurance adjusters will encourage you to have your car repaired by one of their “preferred vendors”. These are typically back-pocket deals between a vendor based upon that vendor agreeing to do the repair for the cheapest amount. Remember, it is your choice to have your car repaired by the person or business of your choice. It is illegal for an insurance company or their representative to require you to have your car repaired by any specific vendor. It is not uncommon for the preferred vendors to have representatives present at insurance company claim centers. Do not be pressured into using one of these vendors if you are not comfortable with them. If you do decide to go with their preferred vendor, make sure they are NOT going to drill wholes in your vehicle.
I’ve got my check, now what?
Give us a call at 314-853-8539 and we will schedule a time to repair your vehicle! Most hail damage can be completed in a day or less.
What if I just keep the money and don’t repair my car?
Most insurance companies will issue you a check once they have estimated the damage to your car. It is not uncommon for the amount of the estimate/check to be substantially less than the actual cost of repairs when repaired by a reputable vendor not on the insurance companies’ preferred list. It has been speculated that this is a tactic of insurance companies to minimize the cost of the claim. If you do not repair your car and you cash the check, you are, in effect, settling the claim for the amount of the estimate, when the actual amount could, and probably should be, substantially higher.
While it is tempting to just cash the check and not have your car repaired, there are consequences to consider before doing so. One consequence could be that in the event of a future damage claim the insurance company may reduce the amount paid on that claim by the amount previously paid for hail damage not repaired. Also, if the claim amount is not applied to any liens against the vehicle, then the vehicle value would not be sufficient to satisfy the lien in the event the vehicle is sold, traded or turned in at the end of a lease.
