Collision shop repair cost sticker shock

[MadScientist]

It's been ~20 years since my wife or I have had an accident. Yeah I realize due to inflation, increases in car part prices, salaries, etc. that the cost of having a car fixed has risen significantly. Our 2014 Ford Escape got hit on the passenger side, no airbags deployed. The first estimate by the shop was $5200. I have Progressive insurance and they have their own estimators. It took 5 days from when I dropped it off at the shop for him to look at it. He wanted them to take the fender off to look for hidden damage. The estimate then went up to $7300. Progressive totaled it. It was in the shop's yard for 27 days while Progressive dicked around with the appraisal and having someone pick it up. The shop charged Progressive 27 x $75/day = $2025. + $100 admin fee. Progressive pays up to $50/day storage and no admin fees. I got stuck with the difference, ~$700. I checked with a few other shops and their storage fees were $65.-$100./day.
I've read other horror stories of cars setting in a shop's yard for months building up thousands in storage fees. What do storage charges per day run in your area?

 

[dainthomas]

That's super scammy. If Progressive was dragging their feet that bad they should eat the excessive fees.

 

[pcgeek11]

My son just had his in the shop .30 days and paid zero storage fees.
If the insurance was slowing things down they should pay the fees 100%. I know I wouldn't pay them, tell them to go suck an egg.

 

[mindless1]

How does that work exactly? I would have thought that the most you would have been out was the deductible, whether the storage fee was added on or not and just considering the damage amount. Is this exception covered in the policy fine print?

Did you pick the shop? If so, I would be talking to that shop and telling them that they need to adjust their storage fee down to match your insurance or else they're not getting your business for collision repair any longer. This should have already been obvious to them. If the insurance co. picked the shop, then aren't they in possession of the vehicle for purposes of all shop charges? IDK, the situation seems untenable.

 

[MadScientist]

I picked the shop based on their reputation. Progressive's pick had a 4 month wait list. I spoke to the shop's manager about the storage fee and he told me it was average for my area, mid TN, and not negotiable. All of the shops here in mid TN that I called charge a storage fee, as I posted, ranging in price from $65/day to $100/day, and an admin fee. This is a main money maker for them. I blame Progressive for taking too long to process this. I spoke to them to try and get the difference between what was charged and what they cover in the storage fee taken off or reduced, no go. Is there an exeption in my policy's fine print? I'll check. I also thought that this should have been covered in my $1000. deducticle. Progressive said no. It might be time to start looking for a new insurance company.
Check the body shops in your area and ask what they charge for storage fees. It's probably about the same or more as here.

 

[WilliamM2]

I picked the shop based on their reputation. Progressive's pick had a 4 month wait list. I spoke to the shop's manager about the storage fee and he told me it was average for my area, mid TN, and not negotiable. All of the shops here in mid TN that I called charge a storage fee, as I posted, ranging in price from $65/day to $100/day, and an admin fee. This is a main money maker for them. I blame Progressive for taking too long to process this. I spoke to them to try and get the difference between what was charged and what they cover in the storage fee taken off or reduced, no go. Is there an exeption in my policy's fine print? I'll check. I also thought that this should have been covered in my $1000. deducticle. Progressive said no. It might be time to start looking for a new insurance company.
Check the body shops in your area and ask what they charge for storage fees. It's probably about the same or more as here.

If the car is totalled, at least in my state, after the payoff, it belongs to the insurance company. Let them worry about the excess storage fees. It's their car now.

Seems like a very low total though, My wife had an accident in her 2009 Camry last year. $6800, and it wasn't totalled, they fixed it. Is the depreciation really that bad on an Escape?

We assumed they fixed hers because the prices in the used car market are so high now.

 

[MadScientist]

In TN if the cost of repair exceeds 75% of the ACV (Actual cash Value) of the vehicle then it's considered totaled. I was told that the reason that Progressive took so long to decide whether to total it was because that decision was going back and forth between the estimator, adjustor, and their manager. The car was not theirs until they finally decided to total it. I still should have not been charged for the remainder of the storage fees.
I did not see the ACV until I received the settlement check and settlement summary statement. Progressive's ACV was $12,204.19. From the last estimate, $7300., the cost of repair calculates to ~60% of the ACV. I don't know what their reasoning was to total it. They sold it to a local auction company.
Besides the ACV they paid some fees and $942.29 taxes. The net summary was $13,164.98. The total summary, the check to me, after my $1000. deductible and the $707.89 adjustment (storage and admin fee) was $11,457,09. That's still a decent amount cosidering what I would get if I had traded it in or private sale before the accident, the extra $707.89 would have been even better. The Escape was 10 years old, 98K miles, very good condition before the accident, 2.0l turbo engine, panorama roof, and towing package. We purchased it from Carmax on 1/2014, back when used cars were cheap, for $19K, no dealer doc fee. It was 3 months old and had 4k miles on it.

We purchased a 2024 Hyundai Tucson SEL a few weeks ago to replace the Escape. Dealers here are finally selling the ICE versions for below sticker, plus a $500. military rebate, and 0% financing for 60 months, no finance charges, and no sneaky dealer add-ons, but still had to pay that rip-off dealer doc fee. They won't budge on that, and no cap on it in TN. The Hyundai dealer we purchased it from has 17 Tucson ICE and 4 Hybrids on the lot.
I miss the Escape's 2.0l turbo engine. The Tucson's 2.5l engine is just adequate.

Escape's NADA and KBB trade-in and PP prices with mileage, all options, and in good condition:

 

[Pacfanweb]

Cars today are built to collapse/fold up to protect the occupants. As a result, they are much more expensive to repair, if they can be repaired.

 

[crashtech]

If a shop is insisting on recovering the difference in fees from you personally, they are giving you a big middle finger, and you should make it clear that you'll never darken their door again. If it's another person's fault, you can sue them in small claims court for the difference. It's an easy case to win with documentation, but probably not worth the time investment. If it's your own insurance, you are probably screwed. But it seems bizarre that the shop would allow the vehicle out of their possession without collecting the fees in full from the salvage company. I wouldn't do that because even in damaged form, it's collateral. But then again, I would never stick a customer with fees that they hadn't explicitly agreed to up front.

 

[MadScientist]

Hopefully I will not have to use the services of a collision shop again. As I posted, $75./day storge fee is average in TN. Not the shop's fault, but Progressive for dragging their feet on the decision to total my car.
As for filing a claim in small claims court here, good luck with that. When we purchased our current house here 11 years ago we sued the seller in small claims court for things they removed from the house. We won but in TN the court will not get you the money. It's up to you to either put a lien on their property or garnish their wages. I found out who the seller worked for and garnished his wages. A week later he came back to court and paid in full, the settlement plus all fees. The court sent me the check.

 

[crashtech]

Probably time to fire Progressive, imo.

 

[MadScientist]

Probably time to fire Progressive, imo.

Not that easy. You would have to find an insurance company that wil give you accident forgiveness immediately. Some will but for an extra price, most others require that you be insured by them for 5 years. I have been with Progressive for 6 years. Best Accident Forgiveness Companies
An insurance agent once told me that the only way to save on auto and home insurance is, when they start to raise your rates, change companies every few years. Over the years I have found this to be very true. I have been with almost all of them, Allstate, State Farm, Erie, Liberty Mutual (the longest 10 years), Farmers, and now Progressive. I am a vet and have received quotes from USAA. Their auto insurance rates are good, but even when bundled, their homeowners rates are high.

 

[crashtech]

Well, maybe this is already baked into their crappy treatment of you. Insurance companies have it figured out.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Over the last 20 years with my old '95 Trooper, I've had fender-benders.

Once, I backed into a sedan when we were both leaving the bank parking lot. Damage to my car was a small creased dent in the corner of the lower rear quarter-panel, and a broken tail-light lens from which I'd saved all the pieces.

For the price of some super-glue and a $10 "tail-lens repair kit" with three colors of plastic rectangles, I was able to fix and seal the lens so that one could not detect the prior damage. A few years later, I found an undamaged tail lens for $35 on EBay.

The dent I was able to fix with a drill, a slap-hammer and fiberglass bondo, followed by primer and touch-up paint. Once finished, any prior damage was undetectable.

I also ran the Trooper by a body shop. This was back in 2005. They wanted A THOUSAND DOLLARS!

I have a friend whose wife drives a recent-model Toyota RAV-4 of a few years and miles. She accidentally backed it into my friend's truck, creasing the rear hatch-back door and pushing it in. The insurance company totaled the car, which they said had a replacement value of $12,000. My friend found the rear door at an online junkyard for about $150. The rest was elbow grease, the drill, the slam-hammer and the bondo.

The only drawback in stepping outside a regime of insurance, repair shop and parts shop interests, is that you might find yourself doing the repair in public. Your neighbors might see you.

They might think that you are Poooo-urr. "Why isn't he spending all his money for the status and prestige, like the rest of us do? That guy must be Poooo-uurrr!"

 

[Hans Gruber]

Over the last 20 years with my old '95 Trooper, I've had fender-benders.

Once, I backed into a sedan when we were both leaving the bank parking lot. Damage to my car was a small creased dent in the corner of the lower rear quarter-panel, and a broken tail-light lens from which I'd saved all the pieces.

For the price of some super-glue and a $10 "tail-lens repair kit" with three colors of plastic rectangles, I was able to fix and seal the lens so that one could not detect the prior damage. A few years later, I found an undamaged tail lens for $35 on EBay.

The dent I was able to fix with a drill, a slap-hammer and fiberglass bondo, followed by primer and touch-up paint. Once finished, any prior damage was undetectable.

I also ran the Trooper by a body shop. This was back in 2005. They wanted A THOUSAND DOLLARS!

I have a friend whose wife drives a recent-model Toyota RAV-4 of a few years and miles. She accidentally backed it into my friend's truck, creasing the rear hatch-back door and pushing it in. The insurance company totaled the car, which they said had a replacement value of $12,000. My friend found the rear door at an online junkyard for about $150. The rest was elbow grease, the drill, the slam-hammer and the bondo.

The only drawback in stepping outside a regime of insurance, repair shop and parts shop interests, is that you might find yourself doing the repair in public. Your neighbors might see you.

They might think that you are Poooo-urr. "Why isn't he spending all his money for the status and prestige, like the rest of us do? That guy must be Poooo-uurrr!"

Great story. You cannot escape a totaled car when it comes to the DMV. The title will show the car is salvaged. In the case of your friend, not serious damage. But people lie about the history and reasons why a car was totaled making salvaged vehicles worthless.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Great story. You cannot escape a totaled car when it comes to the DMV. The title will show the car is salvaged. In the case of your friend, not serious damage. But people lie about the history and reasons why a car was totaled making salvaged vehicles worthless.

I agree about cars that have been totaled by an insurance company, when it gets to the point where they commit the decision to paper. 40 years ago, I was keeping a fleet of Honda Civics repaired and running, and I affiliated myself with some good ol' boy country mechanics in Virginia. After some point, they would come to me asking if I would help sell repaired vehicles which they had "resurrected" -- either from the junkyard, or by benefit of a tow-truck driver who might intercept a totaled vehicle before it became official.

In those cases, the vehicles needed some new body panels, bumpers, fenders and hoods, but the frames had emerged unscathed. If I was naive about anything, I'm just glad that it worked out for everyone, including the buyers of the repaired vehicles -- whom I knew. Last thing I would want is the legal attentions of a DMV -- whether in VA or CA.

 

[mindless1]

But people lie about the history and reasons why a car was totaled making salvaged vehicles worthless.

Worthless? Hardly. If it drives, someone will buy it. How much it will fetch on the market can depend on sufficient evidence of what the prior damage was. You may not be able to determine that if it has changed hands and is appearing in an auction (unless you can find damage pics by searching the VIN), but a private owner can document it and supply that with the vehicle.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older vehicle that was totaled by something as minor as a fender bender that damaged the grill/bumper/headlights, for example. It just has to be priced appropriately.

If a vehicle is priced/worth more than what you'd consider a beater, a competent inspector should be able to tell you if anything is now less than factory spec.

 

[Hans Gruber]

Worthless? Hardly. If it drives, someone will buy it. How much it will fetch on the market can depend on sufficient evidence of what the prior damage was. You may not be able to determine that if it has changed hands and is appearing in an auction (unless you can find damage pics by searching the VIN), but a private owner can document it and supply that with the vehicle.

I wouldn't hesitate to buy an older vehicle that was totaled by something as minor as a fender bender that damaged the grill/bumper/headlights, for example. It just has to be priced appropriately.

If a vehicle is priced/worth more than what you'd consider a beater, a competent inspector should be able to tell you if anything is now less than factory spec.

You are kidding yourself. When a vehicle inspector sees a salvaged title they would say it's worth $500-1000 in a best case scenario. Getting insurance could be a real problem as well. Suppose you are in a serious car accident with a salvaged title. Good luck with that one if the car chassis was damaged and never repaired correctly. Whenever a hurricane or tropical storm hits the south east. They get car carriers and ship off flooded cars to Arizona and western states that have loose regulations.

Everybody has a story when it comes to selling you a car. You are one of those buyers who they wait for to show up. Then they spin you a story.

 

[mindless1]

^ Untrue, salvage title vehicles can still be fine after a competent repair and in that case, tend to retain at least 60% of normal book value if (after) it can get a rebuilt title. The key is usually how badly it was damaged, if structural or practically, exclusively bolt-on parts (plus paint).

You get the vehicle inspected and issued a rebuilt title, then several insurance companies will cover it. If you don't feel comfortable DIY an inspection prior to purchase and the seller won't allow it to be taken to a 3rd party, then don't buy it.

You're writing "good luck" but it is about a competent inspection, not crossing your fingers and hoping for luck. A crappy repair job is usually easy to spot.

 

[Hans Gruber]

^ Untrue, salvage title vehicles can still be fine after a competent repair and in that case, tend to retain at least 60% of normal book value if (after) it can get a rebuilt title. The key is usually how badly it was damaged, if structural or practically, exclusively bolt-on parts (plus paint).

You get the vehicle inspected and issued a rebuilt title, then several insurance companies will cover it. If you don't feel comfortable DIY an inspection prior to purchase and the seller won't allow it to be taken to a 3rd party, then don't buy it.

You're writing "good luck" but it is about a competent inspection, not crossing your fingers and hoping for luck. A crappy repair job is usually easy to spot.

I was talking salvage/totaled vehicle titles. Rebuilt titles cost $$$$ making it a pointless endeavor.

 

[crashtech]

Seems like the perception of totaled/branded titles can vary radically by state. I do counsel my customers to bring any vehicle they wish to purchase by for a free cursory inspection. Unfortunately virtually nobody takes us up on that, sometimes to their serious detriment. Just as an aside, many states don't require periodic safety inspections.

 

[Hans Gruber]

Seems like the perception of totaled/branded titles can vary radically by state. I do counsel my customers to bring any vehicle they wish to purchase by for a free cursory inspection. Unfortunately virtually nobody takes us up on that, sometimes to their serious detriment. Just as an aside, many states don't require periodic safety inspections.

Do you work at or own a chop shop?

 

[crashtech]

Do you work at or own a chop shop?

I do not. Is this a serious question, or are you just trying to insult me?

 

[mindless1]

I was talking salvage/totaled vehicle titles. Rebuilt titles cost $$$$ making it a pointless endeavor.

We have to assume that whatever damage there was, that is significant to legal operation on public roads, and safety, is being repaired even if cosmetically it looks like ass. The cost of such repairs can vary wildly depending on what is wrong, how much you can DIY, and where you source the parts. Often thousands of dollars worth of new OEM parts can be had for 1/10th as much at a junkyard.

Paint, there's the rub. If it needs much and you don't want it to look like a grade school project, that could end up half the cost if the rest is DIY labor, unless you're far better than the average shade tree mechanic at paint.

The cost to get the rebuilt title itself is practically nothing in most states, various fees and may be less than or little more than $100, and accumulating the required paperwork, potentially including the work (or at least part if DIY) receipts.

 

[Hans Gruber]

We have to assume that whatever damage there was, that is significant to legal operation on public roads, and safety, is being repaired even if cosmetically it looks like ass. The cost of such repairs can vary wildly depending on what is wrong, how much you can DIY, and where you source the parts. Often thousands of dollars worth of new OEM parts can be had for 1/10th as much at a junkyard.

Paint, there's the rub. If it needs much and you don't want it to look like a grade school project, that could end up half the cost if the rest is DIY labor, unless you're far better than the average shade tree mechanic at paint.

The cost to get the rebuilt title itself is practically nothing in most states, various fees and may be less than or little more than $100, and accumulating the required paperwork, potentially including the work (or at least part if DIY) receipts.

I do not know what state you live in. In most states an actual vehicle inspection by an insurance company is required to obtain insurance. You cannot just take a trashed car to a body shop and get a signature on work done or vouching for the car being road worthy. You have to take it to an insurance company owned adjuster shop. The good news, they do not charge for the inspection. They just deny the work if not done properly and deny insurance for the vehicle.

The vehicle chassis and structure have to be intact to absorb real world driving and vehicle incursions. If you have a car with bondo hiding major structural damage. You would have a death trap on your hands in the event of a major collision.

Go to a car dealership, ask them where their rebuilt title vehicles are located. Tell them you are looking to save some money. Ask about salvaged titles, cars that have been totaled. Where are those at? I will save you the time and trip. They do not knowingly sell those types of titled vehicles.