I have a question for any insurance adjusters out there.

A month ago while driving the CLK 550 in my signature I had a charter member of the Anti-Destination League in a Smart car attempt to occupy the lane I was in at the time said moron was alongside me. He bounced off me and then collided with a Tacoma. This all happened on the Coronado Bridge which made things a bit more interesting.

The current damage to my car is over $9K. I was just informed that there is RF suspension damage and among other parts, they will be replacing the shock absorber, just the RF one. The car has 60K miles on it and the shocks are original & admittedly did not seem to be worn out at the time of the collision.

Am I out of line asking that BOTH front shock absorbers be replaced as a potential safety issue?

 

unfortunately insurance wont pay for that. It never hurts to ask but they will decline it.

 

Such BS..I will now be out of pocket to replace something on the car through no fault of my own if this is not resolved in some way. Granted the shocks are likely due for replacement based on mileage alone, but at the time of the incident they were not exhibiting any obvious signs of deteriorated performance.

 

I assume you mean strut. How many miles do you have? I have no intention of replacing my struts any time soon at 62,000mi. I doubt you will really notice any difference with one new one, but it certainly is not a safety issue. It would be a subtle difference if any. If you want to replace the other, look at it as one freebie. But I'd wait to see if there is any difference.

 

You said “they”. By “they” I hope you mean your insurer. If you don’t know what I mean, when you've been in an accident, there is “your insurer”, and there is “their insurer”. Regardless of fault, I always recommend that people have “their insurer” repair “their car”. Why? If it’s the other party’s fault, your insurer will not skimp to save the other party’s insurer money. Your insurer is being reimbursed. If the repair is a couple of hundred more, they don’t care. If the other party’s insurer is fixing the car, the cheapest repair is what will be done. I seriously doubt any insurer, your insurer included, is going to pay to replace both front struts. But, the likelihood of your car getting the absolute least expensive strut available is a lot higher with the other party’s insurer. If you have a normal insurance policy, it has verbiage that says LKQ. That stands for Like Kind Quality. Google that term. You'll find it doesn't mean "buy an OEM strut from Mercedes-Benz".

 

I have the opposite opinion of MarcusF. When an accident is someone else's fault, I deal with their insurance company. If I deal with mine, I pay my deductible, and I have no leverage to get anything out of them except to threaten to change companies and they do not care if they lose my 0.0000001% contribution to their bottom line. When dealing with an at-fault's insurance company, I have the leverage of threatening to hire a lawyer and sue for damages - both the car and my personal injuries. And a personal injury doesn't have to be anything more than mental anguish and some slight back pain.

 

Here’s a couple of reasons why I use my insurer – (1) The deductible isn’t an issue for me. If I’m not at fault, I pay no deductible. It’s possible that I could be asked to front the deductible while they hash out who's at fault, but that’s never happened. (2) I don’t have to hear the other company tell me how much they’re going to “give me” for a rental. My insurance company doesn’t care what I turn in for a rental fee, because they simply charge the other party. Although my policy has a daily limit on the rental, that doesn't matter if I'm not at fault. This isn't guesswork, I've done this in the past. (4) For me, this is the biggie - my insurer offers lifetime guarantees on the work if I use one of their recommended shops. It just so happens, the best body shop in my city is one of their recommended shops. The lifetime guarantee covers all the work, but I’ve specifically asked about paint fade. If the paint fades at a different rate, whether it’s what they painted or the surrounding paint, they simply fix it. It doesn't matter whether the original body shop is still in business, the guarantee is through my insurer and they've been in business over 80 years. If I use the other party’s insurer, and come back in 12 months because their mickey mouse paint faded, at best they’ll send me back to their body shop. That body shop will have 400 excuses why the paint doesn’t match – it was washed too soon, waxed too soon, used the wrong wax, acid rain, anything other than them fixing my car. At worst the other insurance company can tell me to get lost. They can tell me that because when one countersigns the insurance check, they’re signing a document that states the car has been repaired to their satisfaction. Maybe I can argue in court that the crap paint shouldn’t have faded, but rather than go through that, I simply use someone who has a vested interest in collecting money from me year after year.

YMMV, and people should do whatever they’re comfortable with but I’m old school. I’ve had the same insurer for 30+ years. My guy owns his franchised Allstate agency, has an office, and I deal with the same guy – the franchise owner. He’s the one who clued me in on always letting them fix my car. The home, cars, term life, umbrella, he gets a commission for all that. I know the only reason they pretend to like me is because I pay them, but as long as he does a good job of pretending, I’m comfortable.

 

Yes 'struts' and yes I am going through my insurance company (USAA) as I would like to have control over where the car is repaired. The at fault company is GEICO and I do not trust this company at all. After speaking with the shop I took the car to I called USAA and told them of my concern about not replacing the struts as a pair. The car has 60K miles on it and I really had no intention of replacing them for a while. The shop I took the car to specializes in Mercedes and uses only genuine parts. I am honestly surprised the adjuster did not suggest replacing the struts as a pair, but he works for USAA and I am hoping my concerns will be addressed as it is GEICO that will be footing the bill.