How Much Do You Have to Pay for Vehicle Damage You Cause

**tmac33** · 06-28-2012, 10:00 PM

My question involves an accident that occurred in the state of: Washington

I am curious as to my rights when it comes to paying for an accident I was involved in,

I was involved in a minor accident a couple weeks ago, no one was injured. I was riding my motorcycle, I am an endorsed rider, and was traveling at about 20-25 mph (speed limit). I came into town which was crowded with people and vehicles. I got distracted by another vehicle on the side of the road that I thought was going to pull out in front of me. After avoiding I looked back in front of me and hadn't realized traffic had stopped, granted the break lights were difficult to see as well due to glare. I tried slowing and ended up having to lay my bike down where it proceeded to slide into the back of a Lexus SUV at roughly 10 mph or less. Their lower lamp lens was broken and some of my paint from my plastics rubbed off on the bumper, minimal damage. I contacted several repair shops and showed them photos and got estimates of repairs any where from only needing to replace the lens and clean up = $180 to $1,200 = for having to replace the whole bumper due to a specialty part on the bumper (if damaged) cannot be repaired. I am at the mercy of the owner of the vehicle and how much they want to repair. I fully understand I am at fault and responsible for the damage and repairs. I do not have insurance on my bike yet, I've had it for several months, but it is not required in this state. So payment will be out of my own pocket when their insurance files a claim against me.

My questions are; Do I get to see repair bills for the damage? If I receive a bill for more than the estimates I acquired to complete the respective work can I dispute the claim? Does the owner have to use a repair shop authorized by the insurance company? Do you have to pay the insurance company at once or are payments accepted?

My biggest concern is that I don't want to pay more than what should be reasonable. E.g. they take their car to an exclusive shop thats rates are twice as much as every other shop or they get more repaired than what seems reasonable for the intensity of the accident.

Thank you for your time.

**FullAuto** · 06-29-2012, 04:35 PM

As long as it goes through their insurance company, you'll be okay. The insurance company will write an estimate for what is competitive in the market place. If the owner decides to take it to the most expensive shop in town, that shop will repair the car for the insurance estimate (excluding supplements which there won't be on that car). For example, if the insurance writes for $50/hr and the shop usually charges $55/hr, the shop will do the job for $50/hr. The alternative would be to charge more, which would be uncompetitive, and the insurance company would refuse to pay the additional, then the shop would bill the excess to owner. That is EXTREMELY rare. If it was common knowledge that a specific shop charged customers over what the insurance paid, they'd lose business. The insurance company will only subrogate for the competitive repair they paid for, not some bogus amount the shop bills for. If the owner pays out additional, that's on them. There will really be nothing to dispute. You did the damage. They'll pay for it then bill you.

The lower part of that bumper cover is textured. If there is the slightest scratch in it, the entire cover has to be replaced. Textured parts don't repair to insurance quality. Other than that, the cover would be repairable. The $180 quote you got is a joke. If you give me the year, make and model, I can tell you what it would cost to repair here. The only difference would be the labor rate difference for your part of the country which will only be a few dollars per hour.

**tmac33** · 07-02-2012, 02:31 AM

Okay thats good to know and what I figured was the case for when the insurance company was handling it. Sorry I should have specified better,the $180 quote was for the new lamp lens cover that was broken, but that could be off. It was a 2008 Lexus RX400h. Thanks a ton for the information!

**FullAuto** · 07-02-2012, 06:42 PM

Now I'm curious how you got a quote all the way to $1200. Here, it's $849.76 on the upper end. That's a $376.78 new OEM Lexus rear bumper cover, a $107.93 new rear marker lamp, 2.0 hours to R&R/overhaul the rear bumper assembly which includes the light labor and 2.9 hours to refinish. The rates I used were $44/body, $44/refinish, $34/paint & materials, 8.375% tax and a $2 haz mat fee.

There are remanufactured covers available for about $100 less than the new cover. Aftermarket covers are probably pretty difficult to get for a Lexus Hybrid. There are 3 major estimating systems used across the country. They will vary for the amount of labor by a tenth or two each way between them. And if you know your market's labor rates, you can plug them in. Most of the country varies between $40-50/hr for body/refinish and lower $30s/hr for P&M in major metro areas. More rural can be higher. But there is so little labor involved, I'd seriously question anything over $900.

**tmac33** · 07-02-2012, 09:57 PM

The $1,200 estimate came from the first autobody shop I went to. I contacted the Lexus dealership to see what shop they referred their clients to and so I went there. The guy working there gave me the estimate and told me it would need a new bumper, painted and finished and he estimated that quote after tax. But he said he couldn't be certain without seeing it, I thought it was really high as well so I contacted more shops. Other places I talked to were between high $700's to $1,000. Thanks for your estimate, it helps to actually get a pretty exact number so I at least have something to go off of.