Car estimates

Today was spent going to a couple of places to get some estimates on my car.  According to State Farm, I only needed one estimate, but I thought that I would be a good insuree and get two estimates.

I went to Place 1, a non-dealership and they did an estimate for me.  They figured a new rim, repair and refinish the right rear door, replace the right rear quarter panel and refinish.  Along with some other repair and refinish, it’s a hefty price.  Below are the costs for parts & labor:

Gross parts $650.53
Paint materials $424.00
Parts and materials $1074.53
Tax on parts and materials $53.73
Labor $1566.50
Tax on labor $78.33
GRAND TOTAL $2773.09

After that, I went to Place 2, a dealership.  I thought that if Place 1 was this much, Place 2 would be double that, or more.  This is what the dealership had to say:

First and foremost, they didn’t think anything was wrong with the rim.  If you look at the picture, there were some scuffs on the tire and one on the rim.  So no replacement on the rim, so that saves $289.93 off the top!

It didn’t look like they needed to replace anything according to the estimate.  There were several repair and refinishes, but no replacements.    Here’s Place 2’s breakdown:

Paint materials $344.00
Tax on parts and materials $17.20
Labor $1222.00
Tax on labor $61.10
Sublet repairs $15.00
Tax on sublet $0.75
GRAND TOTAL $1660.05

So now there are a couple of questions.

  1. Will State Farm go with the highest or cheapest estimate?
  2. After I pay my deductable, and if I get a choice, do I go with the highest estimate with most work or go with the cheapest and hope they didn’t miss anything?

So, what are your thoughts?

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Categories: Jared, Tucher
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2 thoughts on “Car estimates”

  1. Holy Christmas!!

    State Farm will probably go with the lowest estimate, especially since the first estimate wants to do so much more work. But I can’t believe the costs to either one — wow! It’s like New Jersey prices. However, I think the tax on the sublet repairs would be higher in NJ.

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