Insurance Questions!

[gabkwong]

The story is that my son took his car to the body shop (in LA) to fix a dent in the fender earlier in December. It has been parked since he got it back from the body shop before Christmas and has driven it for less than 100 miles since he got it back. Today, it caught fire after he got to work. The fireman was able to put out the fire before it burnt down. The belly pan was melted to the ground. There may be some other damage which he does not know. The insurance agent told my son not to touch the car again until they send out an investigator. The fireman told my son that there was a glove, apparently left by the body shop, was sitting on top of the exhaust manifold and caught fire. My son still has part of the burnt glove. The fireman told my son to expect a fire report sent to him in a few days. This is his DD and he needs to settle this soon so that he can get back to work.

My questions are:
1. Should my son just claim this on his insurance and move on?
2. Should my son start calling the body shop to make them pay?
3. Should he do both and cancel his claim if the body shop willing to pay for their mistake?
... or better solution??

Thanks!

[cwisenheimer]

If I was in his shoes, I'd have my insurance company handle it and tell them I wanted it totaled ASAP so I could get another car. The exception would be if he has rental car coverage until it's fixed. Either way, I'd let the insurance company handle it. I would also be perfectly clear with my agent and with the adjuster that the car was my DD and that I needed transportation again ASAP.

[POS Racing]

I'd go with #1.

If it was on fire long enough to have melted the belly pan I wouldn't want it back. I'd bet the damage is extensive.

[SirHustlerEsq]

Insurance.

[OZMDD]

That as what its there for. Let the insurance do its job. Its unlikely that they'd ignore the claim at this point, even if he withdraws it, they will be wary of reinsuring the car. His insurance co has plenty of lawyers who will go to great lengths to make the shop pay up if there is a chance they are at fault. Trying to be nice in this situation never paid off for anybody.
If nothing else, go on priceline and get a $10/day rent car for a couple weeks. I just did that for my wife's car while it was in the shop last week and they were out of loaners.

[VFR750]

option #1...........the body shop will deny the glove came from their shop and you have no way to prove it........good luck.

[shortshift]

Is auto rental not included in the policy? If covered, I'd rent a car via comprehensive coverage, then persue a claim either under the shop's general liablity policy or the son's auto policy.

[altiain]

On a side note...

It is always a good idea to pop the hood and poke around a little bit after getting your car back from the shop. Something like a glove laying on the exhaust manifold would be pretty easy to spot.

I scored myself a really nice pair of Snap-On needle nose pliers after the CR-V recently visited the shop. Mechanic left them laying under the intake manifold.