This is my thought too, although now I’m wondering if I need to make sure I get BMW authorized parts for this.
Yes, they need to be OEM. That doesn’t, however, mean that you’re required to have the car repaired at a BMW dealer. Any licensed facility can repair it with OEM parts. You’ll need to make sure Insurance estimated your repairs using OEM equipment. You can’t get a bumper off Amazon from some 3rd party, paint it and slap it on. Well, technically you could, however, if they see an issue, you’ll get charged at grounding. Might as well do it right from the start since it’s an insurance issue.
Or, do like @max_g says. Find out how much excessive damage you’ll be charged when you ground the car. Some BMW dealers are authorized to do inspections, so call your local dealer and see if they can assist in the charge. Then, look at the check Geico sent you. If the charge is more than the check, get if fixed first. If the charge is less than the check, turn it in damaged, and pay the difference, leaving you with a few bucks in your pocket.
Thanks for the good advice.
I did a prior lease preinspection but having it redone this afternoon with the damage, and see how it comes back. Holding off on the body shop until I figure out what I want to do (whether go through body shop or just get paid and pay BMWFS).
Exactly I would dump that bill to the insurance company for excessive repair and damage. It’s hard to argue for them. Why would you pay the extra month in lease for them and waste your time
Quick update… I took it to the dealer, they estimated damage will like be $2500-3000ish on a lease pre-inspection. The inspector basically said if the damages were that extensive, BMWFS will take the car offsite and have a third party do the appraisal and he couldn’t necessarily say how much the damages would be by that third party. He suggested to have insurance take care of it before lease return as the easiest option.
Still thinking of going to get it fixed through GEICO… and looking at body shops now.
What are you smoking? The damages to his vehicle will be paid by the other persons insurance.
Since when does Geico send you a check? The appraiser goes out to the bodyshop and pays them directly. This isn’t the 70s where everything is a racket.
Believe it or not, this still happens.
In this instance, where OP filed claim with the other party insurance, this is a possibility. They will recommend the car be inspected at a body shop in their network, but you don’t even have to take that choice. It’s just much faster and a check will be cut very quickly if you choose to repair the car at your choice of body shop.
I know, because this happened to us a couple months ago. Check cut directly to us from other party insurance and we were free to use it as we pleased where we pleased.
I just went thru this a few months ago as well. The adjuster goes out to the body shop and pays them directly. I didn’t go to one of their “network” body shops. I went to the dealership. It makes no sense to cut the individual a check.
In any case, just because it didn’t happen for you doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.
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Same here.
It varies by insurance company. I believe it was All-State who cut us a check when their client rear ended us. My experiences with NJM and Geico were them paying the shop.
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Thanks all for their help. I’ve had both happen too (pay the shop vs. cut a check)… I think it may depend on the state and the insurance company.
Ultimately I just took this into GEICO and had them fix it. The dealer didn’t seem too interested in dealing with it and neither did BMWFS. Went into one of the preferred shops on Friday, got a rental (paid for by GEICO) and it’ll be done today some point (supposedly). I asked them to use BMW OEM bumper – they said the bumper needed replacement but nothing was damaged behind. Total came to $1400 parts+labor. Will update with pics when it’s done.
Will get it back in time for the original return date of Black Friday…
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The body shop can usually negotiate on your behalf to use BMW OEM parts, at least that’s my experience with Geico.
They still do this. I have Geico and I take it to their network bodyshop to get assessd and get an estimate. They offer me the option to get it repaired there or take the check and get it repaired where I want. The in-network bodyshop will guarantee the work too so it just depends.