by Guest » Tue May 21, 2013 01:01 pm
I own a large, 4 1/2 foot by 4 foot vintage beveled 3-dimensional acrylic letter "R" from an old Red Owl store. The thing was wiped off a building about 30 years ago. The thing was in excellent condition- bright color, no cracks, intact steel frame, and sturdy. I bought it a month ago to use as an art-piece in our house and kept it in my garage while remodeling work was taking place. I kept it in a safe spot and it was easily visible from any direction.
Last friday some floor installer knocked it off and shattered a good portion of the sign while they were placing their tools in our garage. I contacted a sign company that specializes in repairing vintage works. As of the beveled design, they would need to have the work outsourced. Apparently, specialized machinery is needed to repair this design of replacement acrylic, and they could only find one company that is still capable of making this type of mold. The estimate they gave me for the repairs was "a minimum of $2000 to $4000, and quite possibly higher than that."
The floor installer company is licensed and bonded and carry insurance for such damages. They told me that they will take care of the claim. NOw the thing I'm concerned about is that how do I get the claim approved.
Last friday some floor installer knocked it off and shattered a good portion of the sign while they were placing their tools in our garage. I contacted a sign company that specializes in repairing vintage works. As of the beveled design, they would need to have the work outsourced. Apparently, specialized machinery is needed to repair this design of replacement acrylic, and they could only find one company that is still capable of making this type of mold. The estimate they gave me for the repairs was "a minimum of $2000 to $4000, and quite possibly higher than that."
The floor installer company is licensed and bonded and carry insurance for such damages. They told me that they will take care of the claim. NOw the thing I'm concerned about is that how do I get the claim approved.
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 08:06 am Post Subject:
There is no doubt that you are “on the hook”. Chances are pretty less that you will get enough from the insurance carrier of the floor repair company.
As you didn’t specifically insured it as a vintage item, you are just going to get the “actual cash value” from the insurance company of the floor repair company.
You perhaps are required to sue the company in small claims court if you really want to get the actual appraisal.
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 12:59 pm Post Subject:
You give the bill/estimate to the flooring company and give them 30 days to pay it. If they don't, you can file a lawsuit against them. If you want to see if their carrier would pay then you need to find out who their insurance is with. In some states this information will be on file with the dept that gives out their license. You can contact that dept and see if they have that information.
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 03:47 pm Post Subject:
There is no doubt that you are “on the hook”.
How much more wrong can you be? The damage was caused by the flooring person not the OP -- the OP is not on any "hook" for anything. The OP has suffered a loss due to someone else's negligence.As you didn’t specifically insured it as a vintage item, you are just going to get the “actual cash value” from the insurance company of the floor repair company.
If this were a first-party claim, that could be true, but it's a third-party liability issue, and that means the flooring installer is one who is "on the hook" for 100% of the loss. His insurance company might refuse to pay the full collector value or the cost to restore the item, but that does not relieve the party that caused the damage of their liability for the full amount of the loss.You perhaps are required to sue the company in small claims court if you really want to get the actual appraisal.
Do you just sit and dream up this happy crap? A person does not have to sue anyone in order to have a piece of property appraised. An appraisal could be valuable to have when suing another person for a loss they caused. But that's already been taken care of in this case, which does not require an appraisal:The estimate they gave me for the repairs was "a minimum of $2000 to $4000, and quite possibly higher than that."
As tcope correctly stated, if the insurer or the flooring installer fails to pay, then the flooring installer may be sued in the appropriate court.
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