by Guest » Fri Jan 01, 2010 01:25 am
Please anyone with any good advise. I was in a 3 car accident in NJ almost 2 wks ago and just yesterday I finally received the police report specifying the driver who hit me from behind being at fault as I was driving the car in the middle. I received damage front and back. It is a 08 Infiniti G35. I've filed a claim with my own insurance company and so far their service wasn't good, I took a day off and drove the car to their drive in to get appraised only to be told he estimates around $8k in damage but he couldn't do a good enough appraisal so I decided to have it towed to one of their preferred body shop. This shop has since been urging me to sign a authorization to start the repair for almost 2 weeks and meanwhile I asked them to send me an estimate 1st and had lots of resistance to a point I'm thinking to go elsewhere as the car is actually still drivable. Their excuse was oh it will always change once they tare it down and start the work. Anyways he finally sent me a preliminary estimate totaling $13300 subject to go higher being that it omitted my request to fix seat thigh support, wheel alignment and re-apply Simonize which I guess to be worth an extra $700 together. Here are my questions:
1. I just filed a separate claim with the party at fault's insurance company, will this cause a problem or will I be best to drop the claim with my own ins since I've hard no matter who's at fault my ins premium may still get raised (in NJ we hear crazy things often)
2. the bodyshop is affiliated to the insurance company of the driver at fault, should I stick to my own ins company the fact they back the repair for life even if I move out of state. However I drive $35K miles a year so I don't hold a car more than 4 years anyways.
3. I would rather they total the car, the currently value is around $21 to 25K. Would this be possible considering the loss of market value after the repair, aka diminished value. How should I approach this.
4. the rental allowance from his ins is only $27/day up to intermediate sized car. My car is what I called near luxury and I'm currently in a compact rental that's costing me $40/day so if the repair takes 30 days which i'm told it might I'd be upside down by alot
1. I just filed a separate claim with the party at fault's insurance company, will this cause a problem or will I be best to drop the claim with my own ins since I've hard no matter who's at fault my ins premium may still get raised (in NJ we hear crazy things often)
2. the bodyshop is affiliated to the insurance company of the driver at fault, should I stick to my own ins company the fact they back the repair for life even if I move out of state. However I drive $35K miles a year so I don't hold a car more than 4 years anyways.
3. I would rather they total the car, the currently value is around $21 to 25K. Would this be possible considering the loss of market value after the repair, aka diminished value. How should I approach this.
4. the rental allowance from his ins is only $27/day up to intermediate sized car. My car is what I called near luxury and I'm currently in a compact rental that's costing me $40/day so if the repair takes 30 days which i'm told it might I'd be upside down by alot
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 02:59 am Post Subject:
He kept urging me to go through my own insurance company again which I ignored. He is pulling a fast one telling me they'll cover my rental car starting from the date I contacted them(12/30) which means I'm out $200 bucks for rental charges I paid before. Is this fair or legal?
Well, yes. You have a duty to mitigate your loss. Since you have collision coverage you could have filed the claim under your own policy and been back into your vehicle quickly. Instead it eventually got moved and repairs were still not started. From this post it seems even before this that they vehicle sat around for several days. You may see this as their fault but again, you have a duty to make your loss as low as possible and not cause it to get higher. Not having the vehicle repaired quickly increase the rental expense. Going back to the date the carrier was informed of the claim seems reasonable. Granted, they could allow for more. Why were they not informed for almost two weeks? I understand that there was a holiday in there but that was only 1 day.I told him it will be considered luxury size being an Infiniti G so he offered $27.50.
I don't think "luxury" is a size. I can see a carrier offering to put you in a full size vehicle... it's the same size. But if the person pushes, I'd think most adjusters would pay $2/more a day as it's not much of a difference.Anyways I feel ripped off still and forgot to ask him about his driver's PD limit and to appraise the damage using OEM parts only and confront them the fact they don't ever reply my emails.
What are your state minimums? If the adjuster thought his insured's limits were going to be an issue he would/should have referred your to your own carrier and explained that limits were an issue. Again, he should have been quite clear about this if it might be an issue. You can ask about the limits but in many states the adjuster does not have to release that info. If the state requires it I might tell you that it's not an issue and if you still wanted them I might tell you to send me a written request for the info. I'd do that for two reason's... so my adjuster could not fault me for releasing this info but also I'd probably see this as someone trying to give me a hard time and lead me around in circles. If I tell the person that the limits are not an issue, then this is really all they need to know.If used OEM parts or after market parts are available and allowed by law, they may be used by the carrier. You can ask all you want but if they are appropriate I doubt they are going to change this.
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 04:32 am Post Subject: My opinion
thanks for following this thread. I agree with you all "luxury is not a size", that's in the regulation too. I only said that b/c he low-balled me for no reason and according to Enterprise's rates, luxury is more expensive than full size. That reminds me I have to stop by Enterprise tomorrow to give them the State Farm claim number and get them to match the $27.55 rate as the current rate stated on the rental agreement is a few bucks higher.
T: I think you misunderstood just like state farm did you see. Here is the time line:
12/18 accident happened, claim reported to my own ins. company. State Farm's driver who hit me attempted to leave the accident scene, therefore I didn't know what insurance he has until obtaining the police report(blame the cop for not giving us all info onsite). cop wouldn't let us leave our cars.
scheduled damage inspection with allstate at their drive in center. they told me over the phone the earliest appointment is on Tuesday 12/22nd
12/22 Allstate inspector cancelled the appraisal onsite due to extent of damage, found me a bodyshop and deemed the vehicle un-drivable. As it turned out he told me their inside adjuster lied to me they actually can go to their insured to assess damage. could've save me the embarrassment of driving a bent up car
12/23. bodyshop towed it away from the drive-in site to the shop and it's been there ever since.
12/30 police report arrived, I filed 3rd party with state farm immediately. I got the estimate from the shop and told them State Farm will most likely take responsibility but they're waiting for their insured to respond
1/8 after calling them multiple times and getting the same answer, they finally decided to take responsibility today.
as you can see, I am not the one dragging my foot. I didn't purposely wait around for a few days before taking it to the shop. Had the car been still safe to drive, I'd have gotten a few more estimates but this isn't the case. As to why the driver at fault still didn't contact them yet really beats me. I hope he is still alive . . .
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 01:03 pm Post Subject:
Well good Mal...apparently they made contact with their insured and/or the police report was enough for them to accept liablity.
If they have extended coverage and want to start on your car..then don't worry about limits...they would not have done this had their been a limits issue.
As to the rental car. They only owe you from the time they were notified, and as T and Trinch, and I have pointed out..you have to mitigate your damages, meaning you could've went straight to your carrier on the date of loss, and been back on the road. Very doubtful they will back up to the 18th.
Tcope, has explained the OEM parts thing. You can check with your carrier too, see what their SOP's are regarding this. But most likely the parts usage will be the same with both carriers. You can demand all you want (re: OEM parts) but the chances of either carrier waivering on this is slim to none.
Your final cost of repair could rise, but even at 10-20% I doubt it will be enough to total it...Have you not seen the estimate of repair? If not you need to
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 02:49 pm Post Subject: thank you
The only estimate I got was based on a visual inspection from the shop for $13,300. But he told me state farm's appraiser had done one for $15K and some odd hundred. I've just faxed my authorization to the shop for them to start the work. I drive 120 miles/day so it has about 37000 miles already so I'll be happy to just get a check for around $22K. The adjuster on the phone told me it doesn't have to be 80%, sometimes 75% of ACV . . .I'll have to get an official estimate from them again after they strip it down. But do you think the shop will rather be able to finish the repair by working the numbers?
oh by the way it doesn't help me if I went with my carrier since I've no rental coverage and i would've have to be out of pocket submit the receipts to 3rd party anyways as oppose to having Enterprise bill State Farm directly.
anyways i'll stop the updates you guys are busy enough with your real jobs, thank you.
Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2010 06:50 pm Post Subject:
But do you think the shop will rather be able to finish the repair by working the numbers?
I don't quite understand you mean by this :?
Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 02:10 pm Post Subject:
I'd have to know all the options on your vehicle to determine the ACV..(bose stereo, nav. system, power sunroof, sport pack.,theft recovery)...also 'which' 4dr is it? just 4dr-or 6speed, or AWD...?
Without knowing the above I'm getting around 27,800.00..so 75% of that figure (and it's probably higher) is $20,850.00 that would have to be spent on the cost of repair to reach the 75% (that includes rental typically but most states with percentage laws allow airbags, sales tax and tow/storage to be removed from that figure).
oh by the way it doesn't help me if I went with my carrier since I've no rental coverage and i would've have to be out of pocket submit the receipts to 3rd party anyways as oppose to having Enterprise bill State Farm directly.
No, you could've used your collision and State farm still direct paid the rental.i'll stop the updates you guys are busy enough with your real jobs, thank you.
No, please don't do that...we do have real jobs, but volunteer our time here, and like to know what happens on the claims or questions we try to help with...seriously....Also have you talked to them about dimished value?
Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 02:14 pm Post Subject: G35S info
Hi Lori,
The MSRP is public info but I paid $29,500 before taxes, it's the 6 speed S RWD model with no bose, nav, sunroof or any additonal packages. With 37K miles I'm seeing retail value around $22K to $25K on kbb but I've no access to redbook.
Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 12:22 pm Post Subject:
I'm getting a clean retail of 29,925...(JAN. NADA-CA region)...which is more than you paid! Central region is 29,525.00.
I'm surprised you got lower on KBB, I don't know a carrier that uses KBB, but do know several that use NADA...at any rate, chances of the cost of repair getting high enough to total it look bleak.
What about the DV claim?
Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 08:28 pm Post Subject: claim update
so they cut me a check for $15,500 already based on the preliminary estimate. I've since straighten out the rental car issue with them and I stated to them if the car is not deemed total loss I will pursue DV and I get the same reply as you all been suggesting. And he's not bothered by my intention to claim DV and said that'll have to be done separately. I've not started on the DV research yet figuring I'll deal with that when I come across that bridge. I got the bodyshop to hold off on starting the actual repair until they stripped it down and assess all possible damages to make sure it's definitely repairable. I told them I'm willing to accept the avg trade-in value from NADA 08844 instead of the retail value just to get out of the car.
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 12:49 pm Post Subject:
Don't mess around with stalling the repair process too much or you'll end up (rightfully so...sorry) footing some of the rental bill. The shop should by now know what they are looking as regarding the repair and have some idea of the possibility of supps, and to what extent that might be. If you are willing to accept (i assume you mean 18844)...they I'd have them do a complete tear down, get paid for the entire repair amount, then keep the repair money (should be within a grand or two of this 18), and sell the car. Of course you are going to owe the shop, tear down etc. They may even be interested in buying it as a builder to sell.
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