by tisha332164 » Mon Nov 29, 2010 08:44 pm
I got in an accident a month ago and it has taken that long for the other persons insurance company to claim they are at fault, although they are not paying my storage fee for my car that is totaled because they said they advised me to move it in the beginning, I live in an apartment were it could not sit for a month I had no other choice but to leave it at a shop for storage. Should they be responsible for those fees?
Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 01:01 am Post Subject:
Should they be responsible for those fees?
Well, no... and I know that totally blows. As the owner you are responsible for your own vehicle and you also have a duty to mitigate your loss. Unfortunately this also means you needed to move the vehicle to a location that did not charge storage. If you suspected that it was a total loss then the towing/storage charge should have been paid and you could have moved it to a salvage yard (once the other carrier inspected it). If you could not afford to do this then you may have wanted to have obtained collision coverage.Is what happened fair? No. Can everyone afford to do what was mentioned above? Nope. Is it legal for the other carrier to do what they did? Yes... they did also put you on notice up front that they would not be paying excessive storage.
If I were the adjuster I'd probably see about paying for as much storage as I could get away with. Each carrier is different... each manager is different... each adjuster is different.
A salvage lot would have probably paid the towing/storage in return for being allowed to keep the vehicle as salvage. That way you could have had it moved at no expense.
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 04:16 am Post Subject:
Have you called the shop to find out what the fees are? I was in the same situation without collision coverage as well. The at-fault driver's insurance company was threatening that they would not pay for storage fees in an attempt to get me to accept a completely bogus settlement. I consulted with a lawyer who advised me to call the shop to find out what the storage fees were.
It turns out that since I had the car moved from the original shop to one of that insurance company's preferred shops, there were no storage fees after the move. And all fees incurred before the move ($800 for six days and a tow!) were to be paid by the other insurance company since their policy holder was at fault.
So find out first of all if there even are any fees. The initial tow and storage do not fall on you, but once they've had the car inspected, you do have to do something with the car. You can move it or sell it to a salvage yard. Also, talk to the shop owner. Sometimes they can be very accommodating. A lot of them know when an insurance company is just trying to sweat someone into a settlement.
Good luck to you.
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