Auto Insurance Claims: auto insurance claim, auto insurance claim, reputable shop

Question
Our car was struck by another car while we were sitting at a stoplight (we essentially had a mini van land squarely on our hood.) The other driver's insurance company told us that they would take care of the situation since their client was clearly at fault. Our car was in the shop for about a month but within the first week of getting it back we identified several major problems that were definitely not present before the accident. Now the aforementioned insurance company claims that there's no way to prove that these problems were caused by the accident and is refusing to pay for additional repairs.  I am wondering if we have any recourse here.

Thanks

Answer
Julie,

Take the car back to the body shop and have then do another estimate for the newly discovered damages and ask them, if they can, to determine if the newly discovered damages were related to the automobile accident. If so, ask them to put that in writing for you so you can send it to the insurance company. If you don't fee comfortable going back to the same shop, take the estimate of repairs you got and go to a reputable shop and ask them to do a supplemental estimate based on the things you notice. Again, ask them if they can link the new damages noticed to the accident and put it in writing.

Send the supplemental estimate and the letter to the insurance company and demand payment.

Best of luck.

Marc B. Nussbaum, Esquire