Getting into a car accident, even if it is through no fault of your own can cost you thousands of dollars in medical bills, but you may also have to pay a lot of money to get your car repaired, unless your insurance or the insurance of the other party involved will pay, and in many cases this requires an attorney to collect, as insurance companies are consistently reluctant in paying. But what does the typical repair cost after you have an auto accident and what can you do to make sure that you aren’t stuck with the bill for several months or years to come.
The cost of repairs to your car will depend upon the shop that you take your car to be repaired and the extent of the damage. Cosmetic damage is often more expensive than replacing parts that are broken, and can include paint or dent removal as well as window or windshield replacement. A paint job on a car could cost as little as a few hundred dollars or up to a couple of thousand. Dent removal can cost $50 – $200 dollars for tiny coin sized dents and from a few hundred to a thousand per dent for large ones. You can get a windshield repaired or replaced for as little as $100 but in most cases will be a few hundred dollars as well.
One thing that you should know is that if you are involved in a car accident, liability insurance, which is the insurance required by law to be carried on your vehicle, only pays for damage to the other party’s car when you are at fault. If you have collision – or full coverage insurance – then your insurance will cover your repairs as well, even if you are at fault. If both of you are at fault equally, as is sometimes the case, then usually your insurance will pay your repairs, if you have collision, and their insurance will pay theirs. Insurance may also, in some cases, pay for a rental car while repairs are being made.
If there is extensive damage to the car, then you may receive a settlement from the insurance company in lieu of paying for the repairs to your vehicle. This is done in cases where the cost of fixing the vehicle, including body and engine work, will cost more than the value of your car. This settlement value is the amount that your vehicle was worth before it was in an accident. A good estimate to use when figuring what this amount would be is, what you could sell the vehicle for before the accident if you sold it to another private citizen.
If you are having trouble collecting money from your insurance company to pay for vehicle repairs or to settle on a car that was beyond repair, or are struggling with another insurance company then you may want to contact a vehicle collision attorney. This is also the case if you were found at fault in an accident and you believe that the other driver was at fault instead. Contact an attorney that has represented clients in collision cases before, and is knowledgeable about motor vehicle law in your state.
