How should we handle this?

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 07:50 am Post Subject:

I have not looked but $2.2k for a 98 F150 with 120k miles sounds about right (or just a tad low). The carrier only owes Loss of Use (rental) from the time the truck was undriveable until they make an offer. Most carriers will extend rental consideration 3 or so days after they make an offer but rental expense is usually a hot issue for carriers and they try to control it very tightly.

Here is the best way to handle that type of situation.... Adjuster or repair shop: Your vehicle might be a total loss. Right at that moment, you should start making arrangements to look for a replacement vehicle. To be honest, in any case it should only take a couple of days to find another vehicle and then you can usually get it as soon as the settlement check arrives (or earlier if you finance).

How can you get more rental time? About the only way is to sweet talk the adjuster and convince them that you are _very_ interested in getting everything handled yesterday but you just need a few extra days. Some people like to think a bunch of 4 letters words will get them extra rental time or more money. I never understand why they think that. :)

Getting an attorney is certainly your right.. but just remember that he/she will take 33% of the injury settlement. With minor injuries, this might not be worth it. That is, I have little doubt that an attorney might be able to get a few thousand more but it's not likely that this will make up 33% of the settlement. My recommendation is to hear what the offer is on the injury and then determine if you think an attorney can help. Just remember, the initial offer on the injury will be low. This is how it works. You then come back with an offer for a few thousand more then you think is fair (not a million dollars) and let the adjuster counter. You then let the adjuster know that you feel they are being reasonable, you appreciate their offer but you think $xx would be a fair settlement. Again, it does you no good to berate the adjuster as they are still holding the check book. If the adjuster is getting the impression that your are seriously working on settling the claim, they will work with the offer. If you don't feel the offer is fair, sit on it awhile. Adjusters get paid to close claims. The longer they have to look at that open claim, the more they might be willing to throw some money at it to close it.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 06:59 pm Post Subject:

Thanks for the solid and easy to understand advice

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 08:11 pm Post Subject:

That is awful that you have to come up with the extra money for a truck, especially since the accident was not your fault. did you run the truck with all the options to see what it is worth or ask them how they are coming up with this figure, you should not be out money when it was not your fault.

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:14 pm Post Subject:

Our Truck 1998 Ford F-150, 120k miles.
- They are offering us 2,200 for the truck

What can we do to get the money for the new truck,

the rental car,

time spent having to shop for a new truck

and pain and suffering from the accident?

Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2008 11:54 pm Post Subject:

Thanks again to everyone for their insight and input. As for the truck, it was considered "total'd" in the accident and was not in the best visual condition at the time. Chipped paint, bent bumper, interior was dirty but not trashed - its a work truck. So although I don't agree with what they offered us, I do think its fair value considering we saw it in Kelly Blue Book for 3.5k in excellent condition. It had no features or add-ons.

At this point we are bum'd about the $ for the truck but I am more concerned about my Dad's pain and suffering. When the truck T-boned him and spun him out he pulled a tendon in his left-arm from yanking on the steering-wheel - it feels like he has a body-builder muscle bump in the middle of his bicept. I'm no doctor but I think its a torn tendon.

On his right-side (impact side) he has severely strained his muscles/tendons and lower back. To give you a for-instance; it hurts him alot to reach his right arm anywhere above his shoulder-line.

My dad saw the doc a couple days after the accident and did not recommend that time-off was needed from work to recover. The doc said that his injuries were pretty standard from accident and that it would just take time to have his muscles/tendons relax from such a stained situation. After a week of it not really getting any better my dad made another appointment with the doc. This time the doc was very surprised that my dad had not recovered further and that he was still having reaching pain in his right arm. The doc did some exercises with my dad and came to the conclusion that he might have some rotator-cup damage in his right arm, so he recommended my dad see a orthopedic surgeon for a consultation.
We have an appt next week.

At this point I don't really care about the 2-3k they are not willing to negotiate on for the truck. We just want to make sure that health-wise that everything is taken care of and that they don't try to minimize how much pain they think my dad has gone though.

We've documented everything, saw the docs as soon as we can, etc. The one thing I think they might try to use against us is the fact that my dad had not taken any time off of work from his injury. This was mainly because the doc said the first time that it was just going to take time to heal. My dad does not do strenuous work so he's just been dealing with the pain while doing the job.

My Question:
At this point do you think he should still take some time off work to help the recovery process, even though he is able to do his job? I guess he really won't know how bad it is until he gets some x-rays from the ortho.
Sorry about the long post.

Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:31 am Post Subject:

was not in the best visual condition at the time.

they are not willing to negotiate on for the truck.

The one thing I think they might try to use against us is the fact that my dad had not taken any time off of work from his injury

Sorry about the long post.