After the crash, the repair is its own project
Once everyone is safe and the scene is behind you, a different job starts: getting the car repaired properly. It can involve you, an insurer and a shop, and each of the three may see the car differently.
If anyone is hurt, or the car sits in a dangerous spot, call for emergency help first. Everything below can wait until that is handled.
Record the car before it goes anywhere
If it is safe to do so, photograph the car from every side, then close up on each damaged area, then wide enough to show where it came to rest. Add the odometer, the dashboard with any warning lights, the other vehicle and its plate, and the road around you. Write a few lines about what happened while the details are fresh. If the car is towed, photograph it on the truck and note the operator's name and the address it is headed to.
Those pictures are your "before" record. They can help later if anyone questions which damage came from the collision and which happened afterward, in transit or in storage.
The first calls
- Your insurer, even if the other driver seems to be at fault. Ask for a claim number and the adjuster's name, and ask what your policy covers for towing, storage and a rental car.
- The other driver's insurer, if you plan to claim there. Ask the same questions and note who you spoke with.
- Wherever the car is parked now. Ask whether storage is charged by the day and from what date, and what it takes to release the car to a shop.
Ask your insurer plainly whether you may choose the repair shop, and what happens if your chosen shop and the insurer disagree on the price.
Treat the first estimate as a starting figure
An adjuster's visit or a photo estimate through an app may come quickly, sometimes before anyone has looked behind a bumper cover. Read it as an opening figure. Damage to brackets, sensors, mounts and inner panels can show only once outer parts come off.
Questions for the adjuster:
- Line by line, does the estimate assume new parts from the vehicle's maker, aftermarket parts or used parts?
- How will added damage be handled once the shop opens the car up?
- If the car has driver-assistance cameras or radar, is their recalibration included?
- Who pays for a scan of the car's computer systems before and after the repair?
Choosing the body shop
A collision repair can mean structure, panels, paint and, on newer cars, electronics. When you call shops, ask:
- Do you repair this make, and do you follow the maker's published repair procedures?
- Will you scan the car before and after the work and give me the reports?
- Is the paint done here or sent out, and how is the color matched?
- What state license or registration, if any, covers this work, and what is the number?
- What written warranty do you give on body and paint work?
Ask as well for proof of liability coverage while the car is in the shop's care, and check with your insurer how a loss at the shop would be handled.
When the shop finds more
Once the car is taken apart, the shop may send the insurer a supplement: a request to add damage that was not on the first estimate. Ask the shop to tell you each time it sends one, what it covers and whether the insurer has approved it, and ask for photos of the newly found damage. If the insurer and the shop disagree, ask each to set out its position in writing, and ask your insurer what choices the policy gives you.
Rental, storage and the calendar
Ask your insurer how long the claim pays for a rental, and what happens if parts delays stretch the repair. Ask the shop for an expected completion date and a call if it moves. Keep a dated log of every update, from either side.
Inspect the car before you accept it
Go back in daylight if you can, and walk around the car with the shop's estimator. Check:
- gaps between panels that look even side to side, and doors, hood and trunk that open and latch cleanly;
- paint that matches the panels next to it in color and texture, with no runs, specks or overspray on trim and glass;
- lights, signals, horn, and the dashboard for warning lights;
- the post-repair scan report and any recalibration records;
- a short drive: the car tracks straight, the steering wheel sits centered, and nothing rattles or whistles that did not before.
Write any concern on the paperwork before you sign the release, and ask when it will be corrected.
If something shows up after pickup
A paint flaw, a leak at a door or window seal, new wind noise or a warning light may appear once you have driven the car a while. Call the shop that did the work first, point to its written warranty, and bring your photos. Tell your insurer too if the claim paid for the work.
Keep the claim file together
Keep the claim number, the adjuster's name, every estimate and supplement, before and after photos, scan reports, tow and rental receipts, the final invoice and the warranty in one place. If you sell the car, the file shows what was done.
What NOAA records at Fargo/Hector Field
NOAA engineering weather data for Fargo/Hector Field, at an elevation of 899 feet, gives a 1% summer design temperature of 88°F with a mean coincident wet-bulb temperature of 70°F, and a 99% winter design temperature of -17°F. In an average year at Fargo/Hector Field, NOAA counts about 108 hours with the wet-bulb temperature above 73°F and about 540 hours above 67°F.