Body shop wants 7% of "totaled car" pay-off?

I have a friend who unfortunately totaled his supercar...the body shop guys who did the estimates and interfaced with the insurance company quite a bit want 7% of the "pay off"...a few hundred thousand dollars.. for their time and expertise...$20-30K! Does this seem reasonable? They didn't even fix it...i guess i would think that a storage fee and their time plus a little bit ought to cover it...especially b/c there was a predetermined value for replacement...they did nothing as far as negotiating a value etc.

what do you all think? is this standard? has anyone else had a body shop help them with a "totaled" supercar?

thanks
ccr

 

Sounds like crap to me. There just trying to take advantage of your friend since he must have money since he has a couple hundred grand car. But I dont know how you go about telling them you wont pay, maybe a more knowaldgeable member can help you with that.

 

I don't know if this varies by state, but my experience is that the body shop can charge for reasonable expenses, like towing, storage, assessment/teardown time, etc. That's all part of their bill, but that has nothing to do with you, that's paid by the insurance co.

What's happening is that the insurance co. is buying the car from you at the agreed on payout in exchange for you turning over the keys and title and releasing them from further responsibility to fulfill their insurance obligations. The insurance co. then pays the body shop directly (or negotiates if they think the fees are unreasonable) to get THEIR car back from the body shop, so they can send the car for salvage auction. The insurance co. then collects the bid at salvage and uses that to offset their payout on this particular accident.

 

Yin's got it right.. if it's a 'payoff' situation then I don't believe he has any real obligation to pay fees for a car that is no longer his.

Tell him to call the adjuster (and I'd love to be in on that conversation) to discuss.

 

I was in a similar situation. Although I don't own a supercar. When a vehicle of mine was totalled, the shop wanted compensation for their hours spent in inpsecting the car. I felt this was reasonable of course. They would have waived the inspection if the repairs would have been made. But I owed them for the storage, towing and estimates. My insurance company covered it though since they were taking control of the vehicle. I was compensated for the value of the car. I don't know what kind of inspection those guys did for your friend, but DAMN, 20-30k! ? ! ?

 

Let the insurance adjuster handle it.

 

It's fairly routine for shops to charge outrageous "storage fees" on totalled cars. By the time insurance companies get around to dealing with the wreck, they will often simply turn the car over to the shop rather than pay the storage.

But going after the (previous) owner is a bit much. If the car is totalled, then it's the insurance company's car.

On the other hand, if your friend worked a deal to buy the car back from the insurance company after it was totalled, then he may be on the hook for those storage fees, because now it's his car again (even if it was the insurance company's while he negotiated the buy-back).

But many shops have gotten used to getting cars for free when they're totalled, and don't like it when one "gets away". Something to keep in mind if you're trying to buy a totalled car back from the insurance company -- make sure you cover who pays the storage fees.

Or, better yet, never let the car just sit somewhere unless you know the rates or are done with it forever.

Maybe the shop owner has an alimony payment due, and figures that if *he* has to make payments on a wreck he doesn't have anymore, ....

 

This is interesting. My sports car - granted its only a Trans Am WS6, was totaled in spring of '05 in WI and I ended up buying the car back from my insurance. The estimate & other fees from the dealership where the car was taken to were taken care of by my insurance company. I rebuilt the car and ended up not paying the dealer a cent for any of thier services, nor did I receive a bill from them either. They had my car for 3 days and I had my AAA covered flatbed bring them the car from the accident scene which is also how the car left the dealer to where we rebuilt it.

 

That is unheard of. They are entitled to whatever hours they have into it at whatever their hourly rate is. It does not matter whether it is a VW or a Porsche. A percentage of value is ridiculous.

We have assisted on several totaled claims and have never charged the customer a dime.

Not a good year for supercars in Utah........

 

The insurance companies are responsible to the client. The owe the insured the money. The car then becomes property of the insurance company. Have the shop call the insurance company for it's fees. The check is cut to the insured individual. I don't know how the shop would recoup any of that money out of the settlement.

 

First I'd like to say I don't know Sean personally only by reputation but this is why IMO one should ALWAYS deal with a reputable Dealer. Using a dealer like Sean in the end will save you major grief. This is also the reason why one should also use an insurance Co. like Grundy/Chubb. The rates may be higher but when Air France prangs the nose of your P 3/4 they write a check that enables you to fix it properely.

 

Tell that body shop to pack a lunch!

If there was no contract as to that arrangement, wave good bye, and if they persist, call the local DA's office and report them for attempted extortion!

If they can't get them on the extortion charge they can at least nail them for the attempt!