Some questions about claim resolution and loss of use

by Guest » Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:17 pm
Guest

Hi there,

I've been using this forum a lot in the 4 weeks since I got into an accident and have benefitted tremendously from all of the information here. I still have a few questions though about my specific situation and was hoping maybe I could get some answers by making my own post.

Here's some background:

4 weeks ago my car was hit by another car and suffered damage that made it unsafe to drive. Thankfully, no one was hurt. I reported the accident that same day to my company and to the driver's (I'm pursuing a 3rd party claim). 1 week later, the other driver's insurance company accepted liability. 1 week after that, my car was declared a total loss (on account of cost of repairs relative to value) and 2 days after that a settlement offer was made wherein I was going to be able to keep my car. 1 week after the offer, I received their valuation of my car and the next day I called to say I thought it was too low and shortly after the conversation, I faxed over a "demand letter" with evidence to substantiate why I thought I was owed more. Now, nothing.


1. My first question, then, is about timeframe. I know 4 weeks isn't a long time when some people's claims take months to resolve, but I'm eager to get my car back and other than the dispute about value, the situation seems cut and dry to me. I faxed my "demand letter" on Friday and today, Wednesday, the adjustor claims he hasn't had a chance to look at it because he's backlogged and that he's going to need "a few more days" before he can give me an answer. In two days, it'll be 2 weeks since their initial offer and I feel like either this adjustor or the company itself has consigned my claim to the "ignore for a while" box. Should I be on the phone with a supervisor politely demanding a more swift resolution to my claim or am I being unreasonable to expect it to move more quickly?

2. I've seen a fair amount of posts about loss of use claims, but I'm still confused. I haven't taken a rental and I want to make a claim. Am I only entitled to loss of use money from the date of the accident to the date of their first offer? Or am I entitled to loss of use money only from the date of the accident to the date the claim is resolved? In addition, I was intending to ask for storage fees because up until today, the car was just sitting and I'm being charged. I want to be reasonable in my demands and not add complications.

3. Since this is taking so long and I'm going to be keeping my car and I live in NY where vehicles older than 8 years do not have to get salvage titles, I'm planning on paying for the repairs myself and using the car. Does this complicate my claim in any way or am I in any way obliged to tell the company my intentions? I don't intend to demand loss of use or storage fee reimbursement from this point on since the car is now being worked on and I can reclaim it in a few days. I definitely don't want to cause myself more difficulty.


Thanks so much for reading,

B

Total Comments: 5

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:06 am Post Subject:

1) If I ratted you out to your supervisor, saying you should be able to do a ton of work in a matter of minutes... how would you feel about me? Yes, I know this is not what you intend.... but it's how the adjuster would probably look at it. Keep in mind... you want money from this person. In that you may be entitled to it is another matter. You still need that adjuster to use his desecration to increase the offer. Should it take as long as it has? Perhaps not. Should the adjuster be able to work more quickly? Perhaps. But I'll tell you this... as an adjuster I'm _much_ more likely to bend over backwards for someone who makes may day/week much better. Some of the best injury attorneys are good at this.

2) Yes... only from the date of the accident until the initial offer. Adjusters are pretty tight on this even if their offer goes up. The argument is that the initial offer was not wrong... they just agreed to increase it in order to settle the matter. They could very well left the offer as it was _and_ not paid any more loss of use. But you also are welcome to plead your case and person see if they "might be willing" to add in a few days as you can see their point in not increasing the loss of use but are they willing to see your point as well. Perhaps sugar coat this and see where it goes. If no where then person mention that you understand everyone is busy and loaded with work but it did take a few days... a week for the insurance company to react to your new information. So really they delayed a little on their end. Again, coat that with some sugar. Sell it.

My question is... why is the car _still_ incurring storage?!!! This is a big problem! Someone should have had it moved already. If you know you are going to keep it then you should have moved it to some place where they don't charge to storage. Or are you willing to pay excessive storage fees?

3) Just confirm with the adjuster that you can keep the vehicle and that they don't need to change the title. You don't need to let them know what you are going to do with the vehicle and they probably don't care.

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 02:34 am Post Subject:

1) You're right...I'd hate it and wouldn't feel well disposed toward whoever called my supervisor. I'll just keep on it myself. With a gentle daily call?

2) As for the storage fees, they're $20 a day which is not great but not awful...I live in NYC and there's no such thing as cheap storage as far as I know.

3) Will do! Thanks for the help.

Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 03:08 am Post Subject:

1) Personally, and I'm not saying you need to do this, I'd be empathetic to the person and ask when he thinks he will be able to get to it. If he does not call on that date, call him. If you think the time frame is to long, let him know.

2) Why is storage still occurring? Isn't there some place you can keep the vehicle for free? You are going to need to move it eventually... why not now?

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:21 am Post Subject:

So I followed your advice about being empathetic, tcope, and have achieved what seems like will be the best resolution I can get without having to tax myself unreasonably to fight for a few hundred dollars.

One thing about this whole process strikes me as odd though. If the company accepted my valuation, which was only about $500 more than theirs, they wouldn't have had to total the car and would actually have had to pay out significantly less if they had just paid for the repairs.

I guess what I'm asking is: why would they have wanted to total my car when it cost them $1000 more to do so than if they had just accepted my valuation and only paid for repairs?

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 01:03 pm Post Subject:

Most states require the insurance company to consider a vehicle a total loss. Usually around 80% of it's value. Also most insurance companies will consider the vehicle a total loss amount this amount as, with that amount of damages, its almost a given that there will be additional damages found.

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