Before I get into anything I should put a small caveat on this:  laws vary from state to state.   That being said it has been quite the ordeal dealing with this whole car-is-now-expensive-1ton-paperweight thing.

1) If you are not at fault they need to give you a rental car equal or similar to your car
If you drive an SUV and they try to give you a tiny compact car (though right now gas costs you might prefer a tiny compact) push back on them.

2) They will lie to you
Esurance told me I HAD to take my car to one of their preferred shops.  This is a flat out lie.   Colorado, like most states, allows you to pick where you want your car taken to.   The shop then told me I couldn’t take it to another shop, which is akin to my car being taken hostage (and is very illegal) so I had a wrecking company get a flatbed, pick it up, and move it.

3) They will try to screw you - behind your back
Once I had my car moved, I gave the new repair shop all of the insurance information and called and left a message for the insurance agent that I had moved my car to the new shop.  I was out of town on business and missed one call from the insurance agent.  He called Enterprise (where my rental was with) and told them to cancel my rental because I wasn’t responding to him.  Luckily Enterprise called me and left me a message saying what the insurance agent was pulling and so I was able to call both of them and make sure that didnt happen.  Sleezy.

Ok so you probably knew those things already, but let me pound it into your head: beware when dealing with them, they have one thing in mind and surprise: its not your best interest.

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