[deeLow]

In the event you do not cash the check for a year or 2, AFTER the car is paid off you can get insurance to issue you a new check written out to YOU only.

[upstatedoc]

You wouldn't be in this pickle if you drove a Corolla.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by upstatedoc

You wouldn't be in this pickle if you drove a Corolla.

He wouldn't be in this pickle if he didn't have a GF.

[grieverr]

If I'm not mistaken, you are not allowed to fix the car yourself. That's why some insurances even have preferred and approved shops they use.

I would try to work with the shop to see if there's anything they can do to lower your price a bit. Keep in mind that most shops will charge you a daily storage fee if your car is just sitting there doing nothing.
Give them the check, let them get started on your car. Maybe by the time they're done you can have that deductible or negotiate not getting a storage fee if you can tell them you'll pay the balance by a certain date.

Worst case you're gonna have to use a credit card or borrow from someone. I would start by asking the GF. Unless she's just some girl you're hooking up with and not a real GF, she should feel some responsibility and want to help.

I know you didn't ask for life advice, but I'll still add that you may want to revise your insurance policy after this and get a lower deductible, if possible.

[NY10]

First off, I would just pay my $1000 deductible but being you can't do that I'm not sure exactly what to tell you. You can't cash a check that is written to you and the shop, you'd need to have the shop sign the back of the check with you and they want their money and don't know if they'll be willing to play that game.

You might want to look into getting a lower deductible being you can't afford 1000

[NemesisX]

Originally Posted by NY10

First off, I would just pay my $1000 deductible but being you can't do that I'm not sure exactly what to tell you. You can't cash a check that is written to you and the shop, you'd need to have the shop sign the back of the check with you and they want their money and don't know if they'll be willing to play that game.

You might want to look into getting a lower deductible being you can't afford 1000

He can't afford $1000 to fix his car. What makes you think he can afford the higher monthly car insurance premium for a lower deductible policy

[EdmJunky]

Read the damn first post. I can afford the 1,000 however something came up which forced me to USE the money I had for this. That being said I'm also not trying to run away with the money from the insurance company as nemesis stated (he seems to be having the time of his life joking about me being broke), that would do me no good at all. All in all it looks like what I had in mind isn't possible. I'm just going to wait until I have the money for the deductible again as that seems like my only option at this point. I also don't plan to get a lower deductible, in all my years of driving I have never been in an accident and if it happens it certainly won't be my fault. In this particular case I just made the mistake of letting my gf behind the wheel.

[squishy]

Simmer down Sammy boy.

You live and you learn...

[EdmJunky]

Originally Posted by squishy

Simmer down Sammy boy.

You live and you learn...

Where is the aggression...?

I agree though, shit happens.

[Chrisruf911]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

Even if he did own the car, it's still considered fraud if he ends up spending less than the deductible + insurance payout and pockets the rest (or uses it for something else).

You can't just go to a body shop and have them quote you a price of $1500, ask the insurance company to send you a check for $500 (to cover the cost minus deductible), and then spend $400 on spare parts fixing the car yourself while pocketing the remaining $100 (hypothetical example).

Sure you can. The way the insurance companies see it as you suffered a loss. Your car is now worth x amount of dollars less due to damage. You are free to spend the money as you see fit. The only time fraud comes into play is if the damage is exaggerated on the estimate by the estimating shop. In the ops case the dual party check is to protect the lien holder. It will be hard but not impossible to find a shop to sign off on the check because they will get a 1099 and be taxed on it even though they never did the job.

[Chrisruf911]

Fwiw if you do some checking around you should be able to find a shop who will do the job soley for the check. Shops will substitute a used part here or there versus new to save people their deductibles.

[NemesisX]

Originally Posted by Chrisruf911

Sure you can. The way the insurance companies see it as you suffered a loss. Your car is now worth x amount of dollars less due to damage. You are free to spend the money as you see fit. The only time fraud comes into play is if the damage is exaggerated on the estimate by the estimating shop. In the ops case the dual party check is to protect the lien holder. It will be hard but not impossible to find a shop to sign off on the check because they will get a 1099 and be taxed on it even though they never did the job.

Filing for diminished value is a separate issue entirely, but good point the OP should absolutely look into doing that.

[Chrisruf911]

Originally Posted by NemesisX

Filing for diminished value is a separate issue entirely, but good point the OP should absolutely look into doing that.

Diminished value is basically for value depreciation due to a recorded wreck or damage on Carfax or Autocheck. It doesn't apply to existing damage you choose not to fix. What I'm saying is if your paid off vehicle suffers hail damage or a wreck you have every right to take the money and spend it on hookers and blow if you want. You got x amount of dollars, your damaged vehicles is worth x amount less. Heck I have even bought cars cheap where people sell them with damage and keep the insurance check.

[EdmJunky]

I did some calculations, basically the check I have from the insurance company is $2,000. If I were to purchase all the parts I need online (with the exception of a few things that I can worry about replacing later), it would be a total of about $900, and that's the parts only. If I can find a shop that will sign off on the check so I can buy the parts on my own, then take all the parts and have said shop do the painting/installation for the remaining $1,100, then that could work. In my head this all makes sense and seems like something that wouldn't be too hard to get a shop to agree to. What do you guys think about this.

[Chrisruf911]

Originally Posted by samfb24

I did some calculations, basically the check I have from the insurance company is $2,000. If I were to purchase all the parts I need online (with the exception of a few things that I can worry about replacing later), it would be a total of about $900, and that's the parts only. If I can find a shop that will sign off on the check so I can buy the parts on my own, then take all the parts and have said shop do the painting/installation for the remaining $1,100, then that could work. In my head this all makes sense and seems like something that wouldn't be too hard to get a shop to agree to. What do you guys think about this.

As long as the car is fixed in the interest of the bank this should be fine. Find a friendly shop and explain the situation. Tell them you have a great hookup on parts and want to purchase them yourself. A lot of shops will do what your asking because they are at least getting to make some money on the job. Btw what parts need to be painted?

[EyeGuy]

Dude... im going to give you some advice in your situation. Deposit the insurance check into your account. Shop different Indy places to fix your car and tell them you will pay cash.
Fix car, pay them cash, pocket difference.
You do not have to go back to original shop to get the work done.

[EyeGuy]

The original shop gave you a quote to give to insurance company... An inflated one at that. Ins company cut you a check for that quote. Do as you want. Yes your insurance premium may go up

[EdmJunky]

Originally Posted by Chrisruf911

As long as the car is fixed in the interest of the bank this should be fine. Find a friendly shop and explain the situation. Tell them you have a great hookup on parts and want to purchase them yourself. A lot of shops will do what your asking because they are at least getting to make some money on the job. Btw what parts need to be painted?

Just the driver side fender and the bumper.

Originally Posted by EyeGuy

Dude... im going to give you some advice in your situation. Deposit the insurance check into your account. Shop different Indy places to fix your car and tell them you will pay cash.
Fix car, pay them cash, pocket difference.
You do not have to go back to original shop to get the work done.

That would be ideal and is in fact what I was trying to do. The problem is I can't deposit the check.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by EyeGuy

The original shop gave you a quote to give to insurance company... An inflated one at that. Ins company cut you a check for that quote. Do as you want. Yes your insurance premium may go up

Did you actually read the posts in this thread? The check was NOT made out solely to the OP. It has the OP and the body shop listed as payees. This means BOTH parties have to sign the check. And the way it works is the body shop is supposed to be the one that cashes the check after the OP signs.

[zx10guy]

Originally Posted by samfb24

I did some calculations, basically the check I have from the insurance company is $2,000. If I were to purchase all the parts I need online (with the exception of a few things that I can worry about replacing later), it would be a total of about $900, and that's the parts only. If I can find a shop that will sign off on the check so I can buy the parts on my own, then take all the parts and have said shop do the painting/installation for the remaining $1,100, then that could work. In my head this all makes sense and seems like something that wouldn't be too hard to get a shop to agree to. What do you guys think about this.

If you have a very good existing relationship with a body shop, this may work. The problem is if you find a random body shop to do the work. Part of what the body shop is supplying you is a guarantee the work is done properly....to include any parts defects. This is built into the mark up they place on the parts they order. If you remove this markup from the equation, you're asking the body shop to basically cover any issues that may happen afterwards for free. I've done what you are trying to do with various shops but it didn't involve insurance money. And these shops I've done it with, I had very good existing relationship with. Don't be surprised if you don find a shop which will do this but they will write on your invoice..."Customer provided parts....no parts warranty."

[EdmJunky]

Originally Posted by zx10guy

If you have a very good existing relationship with a body shop, this may work. The problem is if you find a random body shop to do the work. Part of what the body shop is supplying you is a guarantee the work is done properly....to include any parts defects. This is built into the mark up they place on the parts they order. If you remove this markup from the equation, you're asking the body shop to basically cover any issues that may happen afterwards for free. I've done what you are trying to do with various shops but it didn't involve insurance money. And these shops I've done it with, I had very good existing relationship with. Don't be surprised if you don find a shop which will do this but they will write on your invoice..."Customer provided parts....no parts warranty."

Well I'd be fine with that, I wouldn't expect them to guarantee parts they didn't provide anyway. I'm thinking the problem might be convincing them that I will return to them with the parts and not just pocket the money, which pocketing the money isn't what I'm intending to do, I need the car fixed.

[m3ray]

Just ask the shop to sign the check and tell them you will give them a finders fee or something. See what they say. If they can make $200, 300 without doing anything they might sign it for you.