Progressive insurance issue
 

All, I think I need a little advice. HEre is the situation, I was in an accident and it was the other guy's fault. It did about 3k in damages and my car has been in the shop since Nov 1.

Here is the history, about a year ago I was in a different accident which was my fault. Progressive, who is my insurance sompany and has their body shop here in Atlanta, would not touch my car because of the custom paint so they sent me to a local shop to do the work. So when I got into this accident Progressive, also the other guys insurance, offered to use their shop but I explained the custom paint and went back to the same shop they recommended from the 1st accident.

Now that the shop has had my car for a month, which does not bother me because this shop is top notch and I know when I get it back it will be better than new, the insurance company will not pay for my rental any more. They stated "We offered the use of our shop and you chose this one and now it is taking much longer than expected. So, as of today we will no longer pay for your rental." They know I have custom stripes on my car and this crap takes time to get it done right.

What do I do? The car still has about a week in the shop and I do not want to pay for this **** rental, it is not my fault the other guy hit me, wtf?

Contact his insurance company if it was the other driver's fault it should be subrogated anyway by your insurance company which means nothing is coming out of your insurance companies pockets.

I had the same thing happen at Amp Performance. The owner backed into me and it took a month to get it right at the shop who did the original work and then had to wait for new stripes on the entire front even though it was minor damage just a crack in the hood and some chipped paint.

Just as long as it's going through his policy, the 30 day limit on your policy does not apply. What is most likely happening is that the adjuster is saying that the repairs are taking too long and it's the shop's fault. The bodyshop should then be footing the bill for the rental if it's their delay.
If there was a delay due to backordered parts, etc - then they can prove that with invoices and Progressive should exted the rental through the other guys policy. However, if your car's been sitting in a back corner because their painter got sick, etc - then his policy won't pay for that.
I would ask the adjuster what formula they use to determine the amount of rental time (ie. how many labor hours on the estimate = one day in the shop / rental), add in the weekends, parts order/shipping times etc, and then see where the delay is at before pointing fingers and assigning blame. I would also explain to the shop that Progressive is cutting you off because the repairs are taking too long, and ask the shop if they can pick up the bill for the excess rental.

I just went through this process with Farmer's through the other driver's insurance since he was at fault. The shop would not touch the car because of the Shelby Factory Body kit which was aftermarket. They recommended that I take it back to the original shop which is what I wanted to do in the first place. I received just 5 days rental reimbursement even though the car was in the shop for 3 weeks. I did not make an issue about it as I have a second vehicle. I then had to wait another week for the Graphics shop to redo the stripes due to the fact that she was inudated with work also. These adjusters have incentive to save their companies money they almost always refer to the estimate of time and labor from their software without consideration to the reality of how long it's really going to take. Frustrating when someone else is at fault in the accident and you have to pay with your time and money. Well at least they had insurance I got hit by a kid that was text messaging in his Tahoe and broadsided me in the parking lot in my truck and he didn't, (what a mess) I never did recover my deductible after I had his license suspended and Geico chased him down. Just venting - Good luck.

Progressive insurance is the most aggravating of all insurance companies to work with. Being in the Ford parts business and working in a dealership with a body shop, I know first hand. I have had State Farm exclusively for twenty two years with no hassels of any kind. When a State Farm claim comes through our shop, it is as straightforward as they come. They make more of an attempt to take care of their customers than any insurance company I know of, and at the same time, work with shops in a reasonable, rational manner. Just my .02 worth.

I agree with Mark and my State Farm agent has never said no to a claim, supplement, or adjustment. They know we can go elsewhere and they want our business so they know the last straw. I commend my agent, hands down!

I work for another unnamed major insurance company... and even I'll say that State Farm's claims practices are the best in the business.

I am glad you are happy with State Farm, I was talking about Farmers and they're anal about paying anything extra.

Since we are commending our Insurance companies, I have Geico and for the $12,000 in parts (Shelby CS8 conversion, FRPP suspension kit, and Whipple Supercharger) they covered it for an additional $91.00 on my premium in the form of an endorsement on my policy that lists all the additions. Is that something State Farm did for all of your cars or are they only insuring the actual bluebook value? Something worth having if you don't already. :nice:

IIRC, in GA you can take your vehicle anywhere you want to be repaired, by law. Call John Oxendine's office. They were very helpful with information when I called a few years ago. However, they are totally worthless if you have gripe. If you choose to move it after it's taken to the first shop, you might have to pay for that tow and any storage fee BS the first one charges.

I'm not following 100%. Are you claiming this on your insurance, or doing everything through theirs?

Two choices:

1 - If it's on the other person's insurance, fight them (without a lawyer) and make them give you rental until your car is fixed. This wasn't your fault. Be pleasant, but be firm. I had the most horrendous experience with Peach State auto when my Wrangler was wrecked. Keep climbing the chain, explaining what happened, until you get a satisfactory answer. If they agreed to the damages, then they've signed off on them and the repair shop has them. Use this a leverage saying you've agreed to have it fixed there, you signed off on it.

2 - If you're claiming on your own insurance, be prepared for a rate increase. The guy hit my wrangler, and my rates went up with All-State (who sucks, and I was almost out $12,000 because of them). I shopped around, and every called it an "incident" and I was a higher risk.

If you are claiming on your insurance, Progressive will subrogate the claim. You will owe them your deductable, and they will treat it as an accident you caused. Then they will sue the other guys insurance company for you, and when they win, you'll get your deduct back and the claim will turn into not-at-fault. Sometimes with these your policy limits will apply. So if you only had 30 days rental, you're SOL. However, you can keep your receipts for the rental and turn them into Progressive hoping when they subrogate they can get that back too.

If you do run out of rental coverage, if you call most rental places, tell them you were in a wreck, and they only offer $XX a day. I was in a POS Dodge Neon for $18 a day b/c that's all Peach State would pay. It sucked, but it got me around.

Good luck.

I got hit about 8 months ago, and took my car to a shop of my choice for paint. The at fault drivers insurance tried to cancel my rental and I politely, but firmly demanded to speak to a supervisor. They took care of the $2700.00 rental bill.