It just sounds awful to say it out loud: “What to do if you get in a car accident on vacation?” Vacation is the time to relax, kick back and have fun.  Nobody wants to spend half of their vacation dealing with an accident. Good luck finding a body shop near you, that has top quality collision repair and paint services, and is affordable, especially to an out-of-towner, or in a resort town.  This is, however, one of the things that you should have an idea how to solve if it occurs while on vacation. With Thanksgiving, one of the biggest travel holidays of the year, coming next week, we wanted to outline how you could deal with the unthinkable:

• Don’t expect to take your car home for repairs.  The insurance company isn’t paying to tow your car back home.  They just won’t.
• Getting your car and any rental cars is on you. If you want to rent a car to finish your trip/head home before repairs are complete, your insurance company is not shipping your car home.
• You’re a one-time customer for this shop.  Make sure that they treat you like an auto body shop near you that you trust. Driving back to the shop to get repairs made to your repairs is not how you want to spend your next vacation.

Here are a couple of ways to help save you some time and hassle:

• Stay in contact with the police. Make sure that the insurance company doesn’t have to fight over a police report and that the facts are right before you leave town.  You don’t want to get a ticket in the mail that you weren’t expecting, or worse, a warrant for an unpaid ticket that you had no idea existed.
• Do minor repairs at your local auto body shop. If your car is drivable, take the vehicle home for repairs.  There is a level of comfort with your local auto body shop that makes it so much easier to take it to an auto body shop near you than to deal with it out of town.
• A patch job can be good enough. Talk to your insurance company.  If your vehicle is not badly damaged and you can get home with just a small, temporary repair, the insurance company may let you fully repair your car when you’re back home, and allow a temporary fix at the out of town shop. If you just need replacement wheels and tires, wheel alignment, minor suspension repair, or headlight replacement, this could be a great way to go.

• Find a nationwide shop that has national warranty coverage. There are a lot of collision repair shops that contract with insurance carriers to guarantee a nationwide warranty. If you go to a shop like that, and they have a shop near you, you can fix issues that may pop up at the local branch or affiliate.  The cost, incidentally, is sent back to the original shop, which would give them more incentive to do the job right, even if you’re out of town.

If you are in an accident on vacation or visiting relatives next week for Thanksgiving, we hope that this guide helps you to navigate a tough situation smoothly.  In the St. Louis area, if you’re in a collision, Five Star Auto Body of Arnold, MO is a Gold Star Certified auto body shop, and the best collision repair shop in the area.  Let us look at your car today for collision repair, paintless dent repair, and vehicle painting and detailing.   Call us at 636-282-5600 or come in to 1756 Jeffco Blvd. in Arnold, MO today.  You can also request an estimate athttps://fivestarautobody.com/need-estimate/ to start the process for your repair.

So you’ve been in an accident.  When it’s your fault, you at least know who to deal with.  You call your insurance company, they deal with it, you pay your deductible and get a higher premium.  But what about when it’s not your fault?  When someone else hits your car, it can be an utterly exhausting experience to deal with the other insurance company.  You’re not their customer, they just don’t care about taking care of you.  At Five Star Auto Body, we have handled claims from every insurance company possible.  We are happy to talk to them on your behalf for your collision repair job on your vehicle.  Here are some tips that we’ve learned over the years for dealing with them on all other aspects of the accident. Gather necessary information Get everything written down, including the other driver's address, insurance company name and policy information.  Gather statements and contact information from any witnesses. Make sure to take pictures of the accident scene – get your phone out and document everything. You’ll be able to prove your claim when it comes to fighting with the other insurance company.  When it’s your word against the other driver’s, anything can happen.  Pictures and evidence tell the story. Notify the right people The police will make the call on who is at fault to give out the tickets. The insurer will then make its own determination of who’s at fault, which doesn’t necessarily match law enforcement’s assessment. The insurer is supposed to take into account items such as the police report, driver and witness statements and physical evidence. Even if you didn’t cause the accident, still, report it to your insurance company.  They can be helpful with advice and it’s a gesture of good faith to tell them.  They don’t want the claim to cross their desk, so they’ll help you deal with the other company if they can. In a perfect world, you should only have to notify the other party's insurer of your damages and injuries, take your car to a body shop, visit a doctor and expect the insurer to pay your bills.  We don’t live in a perfect world. Insurance companies may demand that you obtain their authorization before proceeding with vehicle repairs and injury treatments. If the insurance adjuster doesn't authorize a repair before you take it to the auto shop, it can create a problem. At minimum, make certain that the insurance company has accepted liability before going ahead with repairs. Get that authorization in writing. Ask the insurer to email it to you. Remember that an insurance company can't force you to take your vehicle to a specific repair facility. The choice is yours. Know what you deserve Knowing your state's prompt-payment law is beneficial. Every state's unfair claims settlement practices act outlines the time frame in which an insurer must issue you a check for your damages. Read through Missouri’s Improper or Unfair Claims Settlement Practices here. Laws vary widely from state to state, with many simply mandating a "prompt" payment of claims, while others specify a number of days and the interest owed to you if the insurer fails to pay within the specified period. One last factor to keep in mind: Unfair claims settlement practices acts often do not extend the same rights to you if you're making a claim against another driver's insurance as opposed to making a claim under your own insurance policy. Writing a matter-of-fact letter to the at-fault person's insurance company is a smart way to inform it of your expectations and rights. Telling the insurer that you expect it to pay all reasonable costs you incur as a result of the accident, including payment for repairs to or the total-loss value of your vehicle, diminished value of your car, medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering and rental-car costs will highlight the insurer's responsibilities under public policy. Make sure you keep a record of all correspondence, including dates and the names of customer service reps. Find the Best Collision Repair Shop These tips will help you deal with the insurance company after a collision.  For help, and the best collision repair in Arnold, Imperial, and Fenton, Five Star Auto Body is the best choice.  Five Star Auto Body Repair is a Certified I-Car Gold Class Facility that has a high level of collision repair training.  In Arnold, Imperial, Fenton, and Oakville, they are the best shop close to you, and will repair your vehicle to factory condition with the most advanced techniques and newest training.  They also will work with your insurance company for you, to save you the hassle of working with them. If you have any questions, visit www.fivestarautobody.com or come in to 1756 Jeffco Blvd, in Arnold, MO.  To set up an appointment, call 636-282-5600 today!

If you're planning to lend out your car to someone, there are a lot of variables to consider.  Here's what to know before you lend out your car.  What if your friend is in an accident? Who is liable for the damages? What if you didn’t give your friend permission to drive your vehicle? Car owners should know the answers to each of these subsequent questions before allowing third-party drivers to operate their vehicle. There are a number of variables to consider when interpreting the framework of insurance coverage policies. Rule of Thumb – Car insurance coverage follows the vehicle, not the driver. Supplemental Coverage– Generally, insurance policies are applicable to:

• members of a shared household;
• persons who have been specifically granted permission to use the vehicle; and
• individuals who have been explicitly added to an insurance plan.

Excluded drivers—You can opt to exclude specific parties from your auto insurance policy. In addition, you can testify that a person did not have permission to operate your vehicle—although this can be hard to prove. Exceptions—You have the potential to be liable for damages if the person driving your car was intoxicated or unlicensed. What if the driver also has an insurance policy – The person driving the car at the time of the accident could be a secondary insurance provider—meaning, their insurance policy could absorb extra costs that fall outside of your policy. This happens more often than you’d like to believe.  If you have any questions, visit www.fivestarautobody.com or come in to 1756 Jeffco Blvd, in Arnold, MO.  To set up an appointment, call 636-282-5600 today!  Five Star Auto Body is a Certified I Car Gold Class Facility that has a high level of collision repair training.  We are dedicated  to training our employees on the latest collision repair technology to help achieve a safe and complete repair.