by Guest » Wed Sep 02, 2009 11:06 pm
Hello,
I was rear ended last week. No injuries but my car suffered big dents at the back. The insurance company for the guy who hit me has called me and verbally admitted they are at fault. They inspected my car and says it is totaled, but the value of my car is much higher than the property damage limit of their insurance. They have therefore asked me to use my own collision insurance first and then have my insurance company recover the costs from their insurance company.
Is this the proper way to handle this claim?
Thanks for any comments.
I was rear ended last week. No injuries but my car suffered big dents at the back. The insurance company for the guy who hit me has called me and verbally admitted they are at fault. They inspected my car and says it is totaled, but the value of my car is much higher than the property damage limit of their insurance. They have therefore asked me to use my own collision insurance first and then have my insurance company recover the costs from their insurance company.
Is this the proper way to handle this claim?
Thanks for any comments.
Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 12:35 am Post Subject:
Just as if there were two people with losses I'd do the same thing. I'd secure a release from the OPs carrier for the amount that they paid and a release from the OP for his/her amount (pro-rated up to the policy limits).
If the at fault carrier were to only pay the OP's carrier, the OP could file suit against the at fault person. The at fault person's carrier would have failed to defend their insured and would then be at risk of a bad faith claim from their insured.
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 04:59 am Post Subject: 2nd follow-up
Hello, I'm the OP. I just wanted to thank everybody for sharing your expertise. It's been three months since the accident and I have now finally received a final settlement offer from the at-fault party.
They will pay me ~10% of their limit for my rental cost and ~90% of their limit to my insurance company. This all look alright to me, but before they pay they want me to sign this general release form that waives everything including Section 1542 of the Civil Code of California.
Should I just sign it? Is it worth the trouble to try to negotiate with them to preserve my right to sue them in the future as described in Section 1542?
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 05:55 am Post Subject:
You can tell them that you are not going to sign a release waving Section 1542 and see what they say. My guess is that they will not issue payment unless it's included. It's worth asking.
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