Anyone have experience with Capital One as a Lienholder on an insurance payout check? I have a claim out for my 2024 WRX that I wrecked the other day in the rain. No one was injured and the accident only involved me thankfully and I am perfectly fine.
To add some details for context, I wasn't speeding and was flowing with traffic (about 50-55mph on the interstate and an 18 wheeler swerved into my lane without his blinker abruptly (i'm assuming to avoid hitting something), I missed hitting him by about a foot but when I pressed my brakes and swerved to avoid him, I hit a water patch (i'm assuming he was trying to avoid) and lost control. I was going towards the ditch and it was a very steep drop off so I corrected but started spinning, initially making contact with road debris or something else that kicked up and hit the two doors on my drivers side. From there I proceeded to spin several times across all 3 lanes of the interstate narrowly avoiding traffic before making contact with the concrete barrier on my rear passenger side of my car, which is where this came to conclusion. Damage to the rear passenger side, right exhaust, fender flare, and some concrete broke off and dinged that rear door slightly too. I was able to start my car and move off onto the side of the road where I waited to see if anyone else had been effected, verified my car had no leaks, tailight still worked, and left. No one stopped, no police report was filed, just a minor accident.
My main goal with the claim is to avoid seeing the deductible. I know I can't avoid it entirely, but if I can find someone who will fix my car for the amount that is on the check progressive sends me and my lienholder. I still have not gotten my official pre-liminary estimate / check from progressive, though I've sent them the pictures needed since they do everything initially with AI. From here, once I get that, i'll need to take it to a shop for a tear down to assess further damage and get supplemental payment.
Here is detailed list of the damage that I've found myself:
COSMETIC DAMAGE
- Front drivers side door: Two small dings / dents from road debris
- One is about the size of a dime, and the other is a tiny bit smaller. No paint damage.
- Rear drivers side door: Larger ding / scrape from road debris
- Larger than the front door, but not huge. t's about 5 inches long and maybe about 1/3in wide and about 1/4 in deep. Paint damaged.
- If not repairable, the door shell will need to be replaced, it's only about $500-$600 for the part, not including getting it painted.
- Rear Bumper: damage to the bottom passenger side
- This is where I made impact (internal components discussed afterwards).
- Bumper is cosmetic, but the whole portion is once piece and will need to be replaced.
- If it needs to be replaced, subaru only sends unpainted replacement parts, so it'll need to be painted. It's a small portion that will need to be painted.
- Upper rear passenger side panel:
- Slightly bent in under the wheel cladding. Might be able to avoid being replaced once the fender flare is replaced maybe, as it looks like it can be secured back in place.
- Cheap part. $227 for the cover itself, and about $50 for the hardware / brackets needed.
- If it needs to be replaced, subaru only sends unpainted replacement parts, so it'll need to be painted.
- Rear passenger side fender flare
- Broken / detached. Minor part to repair / doesn't need paint.
- Rear passenger side door
- Similar to front drivers side door, but smaller.
- Barely noticeable honestly. Maybe slightly smaller than a dime.
MECHANICAL / UNDERBODY SUPPORT DAMAGE
- Right side exhaust tip / muffler:
- Dented and bent outwards. Muffler is dented heavily. Technically only need to replace the right side, but will try to replace it all.
- Rear Impact Bar:
- Not an expensive part. Slightly bent on the right side. Might still have it's integrity and may not need to be replaced, but i'm assuming it'd be easier to do that.
- Upper underlying metal support / paneling:
- This I have no clue what the part is, but it does not APPEAR to be the frame. It's slightly bent in where I made impact under the bumper, and it's not visible from the outside. From pictures of my WRX base frame, it does not appear to be the frame. Though i'm not an expert.
Though progressive has not sent me a preliminary estimate that I need to take it to a shop for a tear down, I did take it to my areas subaru certified auto repair shop (continental auto) to see about a rough estimate. The estimate came out to about $10,000 and he said he didn't include anything under the bumper, only the exhaust as it was visible. He said it would definitely increase but he can't validate that / give me a more accurate estimate without a tear down. I need to mention that my car looks very minorly damaged and i'm confused with why it was so high. The parts they quoted were about $1600 (though when I priced it out with my dealership, it was only about $1000 for all the parts needed including hardware, so i know they're marking that up), which only includes paint supplies, bumper, fender flare, exhaust parts, and body work labor for the doors. All together they claim its about 101.5 hours of work not including anything underneath the car. Here is a breakdown of the bill:
Parts: $1652,43
Body Work (@ $82/hr): 24.5 hours - $2,009
Paint Labor (@ $82/hr): 19.0 hours - $1,558
Mechanical Labor (@ $280/hr): 11.6 hours - $3,248
Paint Supplies Hourly (@ $65/hr): 19.0 hours - $1,235
Body Supplies Hourly (@ $10/hr): 27.4 hours - $274
Misc: $8
Tax: $260.82 ($3,161.43 taxable w/ parts and body/paint supplies labor)
Total: $10,245.25
I obviously know that shops will mark up things once they know insurance is involved, and my adjuster from progressive doesn't seem to think its that much money to fix and thinks I won't even have to include the lienholder as their threshold is $3500 currently. Like previously stated, i'd like to take the check after this shop does the tear down for supplemental repair diagnosis / verification with progressive to repair the car with another shop.
Here is my primary questions, as info on this with capital one is bleak online:
- Is the self repair route an option / what makes me eligible for that? In this case, capital one would either endorse the check to me with proof of repair / inspection within a certain time frame. Or I'd pay out of pocket for the parts, repair it myself, have an inspection performed by either me or capital ones person and they'd send me the endorsed check. On their website, they say it's possible but you have to be eligible for it. How do I know i'm eligible for it / it even worth bringing up to capital one. Parts are cheap and I used to work on cars unofficially, so i'm comfortable doing all of this myself. I can easily replace the under structuring myself, unless it's actual frame damage. Though I don't believe that to be the case.
- If I did the self repair / out of pocket route (assuming they'll allow it) what is the proper documentation needed?
- In someone's personal experience, how did capital one handle this situation if theres an overage? It says online that they'll endorse the check to be paid and any overage is mine (even if going to a shop, the overage will be reimbursed by the mechanic as they'll send them a check for it. It says I also have the option to not repair it, but the entire balance will be applied to my principal balance.
Like I said. I don't want to pay my $1000 deductible, and If I went with progressives shop, they'd take the total and subtract the $1000 to which i'd owe the shop before they'll release my car to me. But if i go the self repair route and have progressive send me the check with me and my lienholder, I can essentially "pay cash" in the eyes of the shop which drastically reduces the labor rates and overall cost as they'll be less likely to nickle and dime me if I don't mention I have a set max budget. Secondarily, it'd be nice to have an overage to put towards other things I need done to the car and have leftover money to either be put into savings or applied to the principle of my car (though savings is preferred).
Any advice on how to handle this / what to do? I know the lienholders only want to make sure the money goes towards fixing / repairing their co-owned asset, which I understand, as I want my car fixed too. But wanting to see how I can come out of this on top as i'm sure my insurance rates will increase, so having some money leftover to put in savings can help eat away at the increased rates. Just trying to see if that's possible.