by Guest » Tue Feb 21, 2012 06:43 am
Hello,
Recently I was in an auto accident involving three vehicles. Vehicle #1 rear ended me (vehicle #2) while stopped and pushed me into vehicle #3. I took each vehicles insurance info and a police report was taken on scene before any vehicle was touched. It is clear from the report and statements from each driver that Vehicle #1 is at fault.
I notified my insurance and filed a claim with State Farm (the insurer for Vehicle#1). I sent them all the information along with the police report. State Farm received notification and had my vehicle assessed at that shop which they found to be a total loss. A week later they told me they are still investigating the claim and had not had a response from their insured driver. The driver of the vehicle at the time is not listed on the policy and does not reside at the same address. For this reason they are unable to confirm the driver had "permission" to drive. In the meantime they told me to remove my vehicle from the shop and return any rental car because in the event they are liable they will not cover expenses after January 30th.
Now it has been over 5 weeks and still no response from their insured party. State Farm's rep claims they have tried numerous times to contact the insured through phone, mail and home visits. I now have a totaled car sitting in my garage for which I pay for monthly and have a bill for over $800 from the shop for storage.
The next step would be filing suit against State Farm and taking the to Civil Court. Is there any other options? How can I resolve this claim? It seems to me that State Farm should be liable for their insured vehicle since the owner/insured is not cooperating. Any advice?
-Adam
Recently I was in an auto accident involving three vehicles. Vehicle #1 rear ended me (vehicle #2) while stopped and pushed me into vehicle #3. I took each vehicles insurance info and a police report was taken on scene before any vehicle was touched. It is clear from the report and statements from each driver that Vehicle #1 is at fault.
I notified my insurance and filed a claim with State Farm (the insurer for Vehicle#1). I sent them all the information along with the police report. State Farm received notification and had my vehicle assessed at that shop which they found to be a total loss. A week later they told me they are still investigating the claim and had not had a response from their insured driver. The driver of the vehicle at the time is not listed on the policy and does not reside at the same address. For this reason they are unable to confirm the driver had "permission" to drive. In the meantime they told me to remove my vehicle from the shop and return any rental car because in the event they are liable they will not cover expenses after January 30th.
Now it has been over 5 weeks and still no response from their insured party. State Farm's rep claims they have tried numerous times to contact the insured through phone, mail and home visits. I now have a totaled car sitting in my garage for which I pay for monthly and have a bill for over $800 from the shop for storage.
The next step would be filing suit against State Farm and taking the to Civil Court. Is there any other options? How can I resolve this claim? It seems to me that State Farm should be liable for their insured vehicle since the owner/insured is not cooperating. Any advice?
-Adam
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:24 am Post Subject:
The next step would be filing suit against State Farm and taking the to Civil Court.
First, you'd really need to pay an attorney for this and most likely the attorney would tell you that you don't file suit against SF as they did not cause your loss, you file against the driver and owner of the other vehicle (there are only a few states that allow direct action against the insurance company but even in those you also file against the other party directly. You'd need to pay the attorney.This is a coverage issue for SF. They may deny coverage to their insured as their insured has a duty to cooperate and he/she is not doing that. If you were to file suit against their insured they then need to show that their insured's lack of cooperation caused them harm. Most likely once suit was filed, their insured would cooperate.
My advice is to ask SF if they have sent someone to this person's home. Pressure them to do so. Let them know you intend to file suit in small claims court and remind them if they do, they'd need to provide their insured a defense which would cost them money (this is a little bit of a bluff but it might help).
So far I don't see that SF has done anything wrong. Their insured is a dead beat and should be kicked in the nads, no doubt about that.
$800 bill from the shop? Did they inform you in writing that they would be charging storage? I'm guessing since you have the vehicle that you've already paid this bill?
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 12:35 pm Post Subject:
Tcope is right, just keep up the pressure on SF and they will surely find a way to compensate you. I guess they'd have to pay more in the form of litigation cost than they'd have to pay you for the car. If you have to file suit, do it against the owner of the vehicle and the driver.
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 05:34 pm Post Subject:
I was never informed of storage fees until State Farm mentioned they would stop paying for them. Luckily I have not payed the bill because a friend knew the shop and they allowed me to take the vehicle without payment.
Do I have any other options to pursue this claim? If I were to take this to Civil Court would it be against the owner of the vehicle or the driver at the time (who does not have any insurance) or both?
SF said they have sent someone to the house and will try again. But if they still don't get a response then they would be forced to deny the claim all together. Is that reasonable?
-A
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 07:06 pm Post Subject:
What they would be doing is denying their insured coverage. Although this means they would not pay the claim... it's really not that they are trying to screw you over.
They have a coverage issue on their end. The driver is not listed on the policy so they need to find out why he was driving the vehicle and if he should have been listed. If their insured lied on the application for insurance then they could deny coverage all together. While this is unlikely, until their insured cooperates, they don't know.
But here is the deal... if you were to file suit against the drive and owner (which is what you would do) their insured would probably then cooperate and SF would most likely pay the claim. Even if their insured did not cooperate at that point SF would probably still need to offer their insured a defense. A defense would cost them more then just paying the claim so they may just choose to pay the claim instead. In some states (there are 3 or 4, LA and WI and two of them that come to mind) you can also name the insurance company. Again, if you are allowed to do this then its then a question of how much they want to spend defending themselves vs paying the claim. So filing suit (easiest in small claims court as you don't need an attorney) may be needed to get SF to pay the claim. To SF it's a business decision not to pay the claim now and see if you file suit to press the issue. They are not really wrong in doing it this way.
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 09:50 pm Post Subject:
Additionally, State Farm (or any insurer, really) needs to know if the driver has insurance of their own that could be subrogated against. Why pay all the claim if there is additional coverage that could be "attacked"?
Five weeks (or longer by now) is TOO LONG for this not to have been resolved. The one thing not yet mentioned is making a complaint to your state's Dept of Insurance. If nothing else, that will give a wake up call to State Farm that it is dragging its feet.
If your vehicle is a total loss, the damage amount likely exceeds the small claims filing limit in your state. You could potentially get around that by filing separate claims against the vehicle owner and the at-fault driver, but then you run the risk of losing one of the actions and cutting your recover by at least half. If you have to sue, you'll have to do it in the next higher court (Superior Court in California, Supreme Court in New York, for example). There, you will necessarily involve attorneys and a greater level of expenses, and like small claims court, have no certainty of the outcome. But you sue all the parties and if you prevail, they may each be held jointly and severally responsible for your loss. You can't collect twice, but if one refuses to or cannot pay, the other becomes 100% liable for the loss.
Because there is nothing really at stake beyond the actual damages, no attorney will take this on a contingency basis. And you probably wouldn't want to give up 30% to 40% of that loss. So you would agree to pay the attorney out of your own pocket and hope that he recovers his expenses as part of the court's award if your suit is successful. He would reimburse you for whatever you had paid him.
Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2012 09:56 pm Post Subject:
One other thing . . . Although you have chosen to do this the best way, you can decide to let your insurance company pay your loss under your collision coverage, and let them deal with State Farm. If you have a deductible, when your insurance company eventually recovers its loss from State Farm, they will reimburse you for the deductible.
Or, you can easily sue the vehicle owner and at-fault driver for that amount is Small Claims Court.
That would save you a ton of grief and expense. It could result in your premiums being increased, but really should not because it's not an at-fault accident on your part.
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