by daveyzus » Tue May 19, 2009 01:14 am
Hi, my car got damaged by another driver. His insurance company, Farmers, had an adjuster come and inspect my car. They sent me a check of $2400 the same day. I haven’t cashed it. I took my car to 2 body shop repairs to get my own estimates. The first shop estimated the damages to double the amount ($4800) of the auto insurance claim check and the second to even more ($5000). I called the insurance company and they want me to take the car to a shop to get it repaired and they will send somebody there to make arrangements. However, I do not want to repair the car because I am thinking about selling it as is to a friend and buying another one. Do I have the right to ask the insurance company to send me an adjustment check?
Thanks!
Thanks!
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 07:32 am Post Subject: Thanks for the fair claims post
Lori you're WONDERFUL girl :: does it say in FLORIDA I'd have to repair my car?
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 07:41 am Post Subject:
Well, no one can actually force you to repair the vehicle. Ask the adjuster if she can be at the bodyshop when they would tear down the vehicle. It'd save a lot of time on both parts.
BTW, have you obtained her estimate and checked for missing information?
Posted: Tue Jun 09, 2009 11:56 am Post Subject:
Do I have the option to just keep the money and live with the damages
yes,or do I have to have the vehicle repaired in order to go through with the claim?
no..The adjustor is making me feel like I have to get it fixed and he is making it seem like he wont write a check to me, ONLY to the shop. How do I fight this is he give me problems
Well, I guess I don't understand by what you mean by 'final estimate'...is the shop tearing down the vehicle to make all potential damage visable? Does the shop know that you have no intentions of having them repair your vehicle? If not then you can bet the shop is going to charge you for their time, and disassembly and re-assembly if that's possible...I guess what I need to know to help you out is ... What did you tell the shop when you dropped off your vehicle? And what did they tell you?Most of the time, if a vehicle is left at a shop, to be torn down for a complete estimate, the shop likely thinks they 'have the job'...when removing damaged parts the utmost care is not given UNLESS the shop KNOWS ahead of time that they will have to put these damaged parts back on the vehicle...they also will not do this for free...so let me know what you told the shop...
There are other adjusters & people in the "insurance" business on Yahoo answers trying to tell me that, the adjuster will pay the body shop to repair the damages and if I decide against repairing my car OH WELL I'll just have to settle for the original small check from the first estimate
This could (and is most of the time) be true in first party claims, not in third party which is what your claim is...Exactly what 'kind' of damage are we talking about here? Look at the estimate the adjuster wrote, how much was it? What are the parts being repaired or replaced? That might help me try to figure out what the shop is doing....
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 09:55 pm Post Subject:
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 09:56 pm Post Subject: Having some similar issues
A person hit me, and my insurance adjuster came and estimated it at around 1500 minus 500 for our deductible. They issued a check out in my husband and the car repair place name. We wanted to wait to get it fixed b/c of our deductible and the agent said that if we could work it out w/the repair place he didn''t see a problem w/us just depositing it in our bank account until we are ready. But the car repair place doesn''t want to endorse the check. Is there a way to get another check issued? The agent said that we would have to wait for the other check to expire (150 days from the date of the check). Any way around this? What would we have to do? We are in CA. Thanks!!')
Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2009 11:53 pm Post Subject:
Mikasweet, your agent is a bonehead. Or I'm guessing that you were not speaking to your agent directly and only someone occupying a desk.
I'm guessing you have a lien on the vehicle? If so, the check either needs t have the body shops name or your lien holders name on it. Both are going to require that the vehicle be repaired before they will sign the check. Your insurance company has a legal obligation to protect the vehicle for your lien holder. That is, they need to make sure that the money is _only_ used to repair the vehicle. As long as your going to do this, there is no reason that one of those parties cannot be on the check.
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 01:10 am Post Subject:
LOL Welll who's to say it wasn't him. But there isn't a lien holder on our car its paid off. Also if we wanted to make sure that we are getting the best deal when it comes to repairs we wanted to look around. I don't know, they just put it in their name and picked them.
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 03:03 am Post Subject:
If there is no lien on the vehicle then the check should be made payable to the owner and only the owner. Only reason why not is if you agreed to take it to preferred shop. Even then, you can still return the check and ask for a new one in your name only. This can be done at any time.
Posted: Sat Jun 13, 2009 02:30 pm Post Subject:
As long as they receive the check back, there is no reason for them to not issue a new one. I was dealing with a company that issued me a check that had my name grossly misspelled. So bad, in fact, that the bank would not allow me to cash or deposit it! I called the company and explained the situation and was told that they would have to let the check expire (in this case 90 days) and then they would send a replacement check.
I, of course, jumped all over them and sent the check back registered mail and had a new one in my hand within the week.
The more I think about it though...if a company sends a check (refund, reimbursement, etc.) and then somebody believes them that they have to wait 150, 180 days or whatever...GENIUS! This is one way to help with cash flow on the business end...an interest free loan for 6 months!
Good luck!
Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:17 pm Post Subject:
It's ridiculous for any carrier (P&C) to tell you that you have to wait for the draft to expire, with a couple of keystrokes, they can ascertain the draft has not cleared a couple of more strokes and they stop pay that draft, few more and they have reissued another draft in it's replacement...bing,bam,bomb, your'e done...I have to do this for one reason or another, about 50 times a year probably...the whole thing takes maybe 5 minutes.
I agree with T if their is no lein holder, and the carrier knows this, your name is all they need to put on the draft, if the carrier still shows a lein holder, (that too happens a LOT), then you will have to prove the lein's released, which is easily done by faxing a copy ofthe lein release...
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