Over thanksgiving weekend, my dog got loose while we were gone and apparently was chasing a stray cat at my in-laws that had crawled up under my car. In the process, she managed to rip out a wiring harness in front of the rear wheel that went to the fuel pump, chewed on the underside of the bumper, and generally just fucked up my car including shallow scratches over most of the car and a few deep scratches on the panel behind the rear door down to the metal.

Anyways, luckily our insurance is going to cover everything (including the wiring) and basically the only quality body shop in that area quoted us $4800 to fix everything (which my insurance company approved). Now, honestly 99% of the scratches can be buffed out and worst case scenario on the deeper scratches is replacing the panel. The $4800 quote seems really high, but it's not my money so I am not going to complain too much. The wiring repairs are gonna be minimal so I think (and it has been confirmed by another shop in my city) that it can be adequately repaired for around $1000. Now clearly, I am not gonna go to my insurance company and ask them to go the minimal route, but I certainly wouldn't mind pocketing the difference.

I have never dealt with an insurance company for something like this so I can only assume that they must have a way to prevent that sort of thing, but maybe it really is as easy as getting them to cut the check to you and then I can go get the repairs on my own?

tl;dr Dog fucked up my car. Insurance company approved $texas repairs. Car only needs $rhode island repairs. I want to know about pocketing the difference.

12/1/2009 4:38:08 PM

you have to ask them for the check to be in your name. i dont think they will do this unless you have the title. im sure someone will rudely correct me if im wrong.

12/1/2009 4:49:21 PM

hello. insurance fraud.

12/1/2009 4:51:21 PM

^^Yeah, I suspected that I would need the title.

^Not so much. Like I said, I'm no expert in how these things go, but I'm not colluding with the body shop to give me a high estimate. In fact, they recommended the body shop. This would only be a matter of me opting for the budget repairs, which I can live with, rather than the luxury repairs that would truly bring my car back to the value it was before the damage occurred. What would the insurance company care if they were paying $4800 dollar bucks either way?

12/1/2009 5:44:52 PM

^^it is not fraud if you dont lie or deceive. they owe you the money whether you repair it or not

[Edited on December 1, 2009 at 5:45 PM. Reason : c]

12/1/2009 5:45:35 PM

Quote :

"getting them to cut the check to you "

pretty typical for them to do this so i dont see it being an issue. i've always just gotten a check and been able to do whatever i want to with it

and no, it's not fraud. you're getting paid for the damages..what you do with the $$ is up to you

12/1/2009 9:51:39 PM