are there any statutes of limitaions on subrogation in the s

by nudnjuschillin2003 » Fri May 15, 2009 10:13 pm

ok so when i first got my license (about 4 years ago) my parents decided not to include me on their insurance (to save money... ha!) so i was driving home one night and was involved in a 5 car pile-up on the 10 freeway.

i hit a ford fusion.. (this car had already rear-ended the car infront of it and i was the last one to "join" the pile-up)

the insurance wouldnt cover the accident due to the fact that i wasnt on the policy so i got a call from the insurance company covering the ford fusion. The subrogation specialist mentioned that i had to pay back 28,xxx.xx dollars... (thats wayyy more than the car would even b worth...) i mentioned that i would be more than willing to pay for the damage that I caused and im not gonna pay for the front end damage from when the driver of the Fusion rear ended the car in front of it.

the subrogation specialist then stated that if i had 5,000 dollars they would close the case out. i didnt have that kind of money at the time so we worked out a payment plan. 150 dollars a month.
Ive paid the 5000 dollars worth via the monthly payments so im wondering if i were to stop sending payments would i be okay since they were willing to settle it for 5k anyway??

(((sorry for all the grammatical errors... at work tryin to type this up quick..)))

thanks for any advice

Total Comments: 12

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 12:41 am Post Subject:

Well it's going to depend on what the amount on the agreement you signed was...you're kidding about it being 28k right?

Look at your installment agreement or promisory note, whatever you signed and see what that says...i agree you should only have been held responsible for the rear end damage..and honey if that was 5k, you were movin'...

check your agreement and let us know...also how old were you when you signed that? Minors cannot commit to a contract.. and what state are you in?

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 05:16 am Post Subject:

First Fusion was a 2006... came out late 2005. This means it came out less then 4 years ago. :P . So it much have been one of the very 1st Fusions put out. Possible it was pretty expensive.

As mentioned, you may have been asked to sign a covenant note. If so, if you stop making payments then you probably agree to allow the carrier to obtain a judgment against you and seek all recovery costs in addition to the amount still owed. Paying $150/month means it's going to take 15 years to pay off this debt.

Perhaps at best you might see if you can get a loan. You then might ask the carrier if you could pay several thousand more to them right now and see if they would accept that as full payment.

If you signed a document, no statute of limitations would apply.

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 05:58 am Post Subject:

Well it's going to depend on what the amount on the agreement you signed was...you're kidding about it being 28k right?



I'd hazard a guess..... since he was the last one to join the queue of the four cars ahead of him the insurer might be charging him for the damages caused to the other cars as well.

so i was driving home one night and was involved in a 5 car pile-up on the 10 freeway.

Posted: Sat May 16, 2009 12:23 pm Post Subject:

She says they had already hit...hopefully she made sure that the amount she agreed to pay was for the rearend damage to the fusion only..

I still wonder if she was a minor when she signed this contract. It may not be any good.

Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 05:00 pm Post Subject:

Ok...
I live in california I was actually 18 at the time but nothing was signed.

They really do want 28k..

They asked me to sign some papers stating that when I pay off the 28k I would no longer be liable or something like that. (I didn't agree to that amount so I never returned those papers). The subrogation specialist came to 150 a month after we spoke on the phone and I told him that I had rent n bills n I was only making minimum wage at the time. He also mentioned that if I had 5000 dollars they would call it quits on trying to collect the 28k from me. So I began to send the 150 dollar checks (I figured if they were gonna accept 5k id just keep sending the checks until they totaled 5k )

So I've stopped sending them checks ever since the amount of $ I've sent totaled a little over 5k... its been 3 months and they haven't even sent me a letter or called. if they suddenly decide to take me to court I can show proof of the payments.. (copys of the checks made out to them with the claim number on them and bank statements showing the checks were cashed)

So since there was no document signed... would there be some sort of statute of limitations??

Thank you all for the help.

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 04:27 am Post Subject:

He also mentioned that if I had 5000 dollars they would call it quits on trying to collect the 28k from me.



How was it that no document was signed when the payment plan was set? :?

Nudnjuschillin, have you received any receipt or acknowledgement from the insurance company about the payments received by them from you?

Posted: Mon May 18, 2009 11:15 pm Post Subject:

So since there was no document signed... would there be some sort of statute of limitations??

I don't know about the statute of limitations, but he most certainly couldn't have made you pay all this time...If you get a call or letter just respond, (preferably in writing, keeping a copy for yourself)...that you have paid the verbally 'AGREED' upon amount of 5k...and you're done as far as you're concerned...If they say you owe more ask them to produce the document showing this...that you can prove you paid 5k...for the damage to the rear of the vehicle...I personally would make them attempt to sue me for the difference...(never happen)...they may turn you over to a collection agency, but again if they have no promisory note, or any agreement, they're sunk...

Put it out of your mind...

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 05:38 am Post Subject:

Is it the right time to ring the fraud bell since things don’t look pretty with the OP? She neither had signed any document regarding the payment plan, which IMO is unusual; nor she was contacted by the insurance company during this time.

wondering if i were to stop sending payments would i be okay since they were willing to settle it for 5k anyway??



Have you called them up to find out about it?

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:21 am Post Subject:

I don't think you could call it fraud...she's paid all along, finished her 5k...now she should be able to stop...

Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:59 am Post Subject:

Problem is after it gets to a collection agency then she will have to worry about them suing her for tripple the amount. Once it gets it in a collection agencies hands they will do a lot to collect. I still can not see how she is responsible for that amount of money. Sure she was the last person in line but it seems as if they are talking about one vehicle. the ford. By reading the post it sounds as if she is only talking to the one specialist. If it were more than one vehicle would there not be more than one subrogation specialist involved? I thought maybe each car would have their own case against her.

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