hypervish

x3. i'm pretty sure the insurance covers the car no matter who is driving.

txt

Sorry to hear about your story. It'll be a headache for a little while trying to deal with your insurance company and the body shop.

If you file the claim with your insurance company, they will be paying for collision damages to your vehicle, the hydrant, pole and tree (up to the limit of your coverage),
The company won't pay for any injury your brother suffer since his name is not on your policy.
You'll be responsible for the deductibles and any expenses higher than the limit of your coverage.

After paying the claim, your insurance company may decide to seek compensation from the person responsible for the collision (ie. your brother).
If your brother doesn't have the means to pay, then the insurance company will turn around and raise your rate high enough that you may have to go else where, or the company may refuse to renew your policy.

Since there's no bodily injury, you are looking at less than $8K total ( $4500 for parts plus labor expenses) to fix your car which should be a straight forward claim for the insurance company.
I would file the claim and let the insurance company do what they are paid to do.
I don't think $8000 is big enough for the company to refuse coverage.
Depending on how much the next renewal will cost you, you can decide to stay with the same company or bring your business to a different company.

lanb

I second this. Use your insurance company unless there is some Canadian law that
exempts them from covering your car with another driver.

Double-check on what your agent said by calling another agent for the same company.

Benzat17

ok so i called another agent and this is what they told me
the vehicle should be covered but since the airbag went off it is considered totaled ( Canadian law) although some insurances have the right to refuse to pay and cover that BECAUSE on the driver license of your brother's it shows that he lives with you from approx a year and something and they will say hes been living there for a while and most likely hes been driving it for the whole year and you didn't put him on the policy.

i have two options when i asked my agent and a diff agent also agreed on those options
1. file the claim IF they cover it then my payments will go sky high and even if i take my business somewhere else it will still show my claims history and what happened ( they can search for up to 5 years) therefore my payments will still be high no matter what insurance i switch to

2. i fix it on my own pay the 6000$ and save money in the long run . because right now with NOOOO accident or tickets 7 years clean record and non fault accidents i already pay almost 250$ a month if the claim go through it will be at least 500$ a month for 5 years till the claim goes away from my history

the way im looking at it is no matter what its coming out of my pocket
lets say they fix it and they raise the price 150$ a month if im lucky 150$ x12 months = 1800$ and 1800$ x 5 years = thats 9000$ thats minimum

am i thinking right here or what?

Benzat17

brand new on eBay is 299$ and a used one that wasn't ever diploid here in Canada goes for 250$

txt

Not sure the reason behind the Canadian law saying that if airbag is deployed, the car is considered totaled.
If the car is considered totaled, that's a different ball game.

Gather more information and make the decision that won't hurt you in the long run.

Emilaman

You can do half and half with insurance. Let the insurance pay what they can afford without rising your payments, and pay the rest from your pocket or split it with your brother

Emilaman

I think you may need new dash also

Weighit

So you decide to fix it on the cheap and not use the insurance policy you have already paid for. Using used parts and doing who knows what quality of work, now what is your vehicle worth when you decide to sell it? Your going to lose a lot more for a poorly repaired vehicle that you would if you paid the deductible and let the insurance do its thing. When i owned a body shop the rates that got increased because of a claimed accident went on the collision portion of your policy only, not on the entire policy amount. Just for example just had my 400H painted on the sides and hood from a key scratch, plus 2 headlight units, $7,000, no body parts, no suspension parts, no air bag parts. I bet You have well over 10 grand damage from the looks of your wreck. Heck just price a new wheel, let alone a tire, my tire was $265.00 that my wife hit a curb with and punched a hole in the side wall.

Benzat17

you make sense i know what you mean tomorrow im going to ask a third agent and ill go from there i didnt buy anything yet. the way im thinking about it is i do have the 7000$ to fix it with the help of my brother too and just move on . now with this economy no one knows whats gunna happen in a year or two or three so for me to end up paying 500$ a month for a car later on when something goes down with my job god forbid its really gunna hurt my pocket and the family you get what im saying
and i usually dont fix my cars at a mechanic who doesnt know what is he doing ive seen his work and im gunna be working on it too specially this holiday i have good 2 weeks to work on it.
but talking to a third agent tomorrow is going to help me make a decision and i will let you guys know

jfelbab

Looking at the photos and the list of damage, I'd see that repair running well over $8-10k.

As others have pointed out, usually the car is what is insured not the driver, unless you are talking about a rental policy.

I'd be surprised if a good collision repair shop doesn't wind up with over 10k in repairs. If you have any plans on keeping this vehicle you want it repaired to last.

Keep us updated on the job.

arnieosp

iTrader: (1)

Great source of used parts.

lexus114

DOG GONE thats a lot of damage!! I pray this all works out for you. BTW, I dont know if this was mentioned already, but I would not recommend only getting two new struts. try and get all four.

Emilaman

I know that on most mercedes cars during hit, before airbags deploys, engine falling down to prevent the engine fly into the cabin, but i dont know about Lexus, so ask your mechanic

Benzat17

so i ended up talking to another insurance agent and they also confirmed that the car is insured and that insurance will fix it but the fact that my brother isnt on the insurance it will effect me and raise up the payments by atleast 4000$-5000$ a year and we are talking for 5 years so i decided to fix it
ended up getting the whole rear and front axle suspension spindle pretty much everything for 1200$ the car that i got it from had only 47xxx miles
got brand new rotors brake pads front lower ball joint 200$
4 sets of rims and tires 1000$
rear bumper found one for 100$
brand new rear driver side door for 400$
side curtain air bag brand new 185$
plus body paint 1700$
so at the end of the day its costing me 4800$ plus labor which is 300$
i shall post some pictures when it goes in the shop this coming week
i know some of you might say go thro insurance because its better this way ill get everything fixed professionally but i am taking it to a mechanic whos a friend and knows his stuff plus at the end of the day im gunna pay it back to the insurance i rather get it over with fix it and still pay the same amount with clean record and at the same time if i wanna sell the car i can sell it with no hassle it showing been into an accident