Legal help Insurance claim

[fireplug]

I need some help from an attorney on an insurance claim.

some jackwagon rear ended my wife's brand new car about 4 weeks ago. He has some BS online insurance that is not wanting to pay the devalued amount that the dealership gave me for the car as well as the time that I had to take off work for dealing with their BS. There are no words for how pissed I am right now.

Can someone contact me or point me in the right direction. It's not a huge amount of money, it's the principle. This clown's BS online insurance garbage will make it worth whatever I have to spend to get them to pay.

[deltadukman]

How much time do you have in dealing with their mess and what exactly have you had to do above meeting with an adjuster or taking it to get an estimate?

They don't want to pay the diminished value from being wrecked? That's really nothing new. They don't usually just had out a check for being hit and inconveniencing you and diminission of value is a relatively new thing. Did they give you a reason for denying it?

[fireplug]

How much time do you have in dealing with their mess and what exactly have you had to do above meeting with an adjuster or taking it to get an estimate?

They don't want to pay the diminished value from being wrecked? That's really nothing new. They don't usually just had out a check for being hit and inconveniencing you and diminission of value is a relatively new thing. Did they give you a reason for denying it?

they haven't totally denied the diminished value yet. I had the Toyota dealership that I bought the car from give me the devalued amount. They aren't using that amount, they are going to use their own amount given by their "experts".

Traveling to get the estimates done at two locations (one was theirs and then where I wanted to get it fixed at) then to get a rental car and drop it off for repair, then back to return the rental car and pick the car up. The time amount I wouldn't kick up much dust about, but I'm the victim and not the other way around. They say they aren't responsible for anything outside of what they deem themselves responsible for basically.

[Jelly]

make them tell you in writing they will not honor the DV claim. I highly doubt they will do that... If they do, contact the insurance commissioners office

[StraightUp]

Good luck. I just went through a situation with a one of those discount insurance companies. It involved a 18 wheeler. Fortunately I knew one of the ladies in the office. She got the truck owner to pay me out of his pocket.

[mshunter77]

I am no insurance expert but I do have several friends that are and I pick their brains all the time for knowledge in case I have issues. From my understanding they have to make you "whole" again. Which would mean either totaling the car and giving fair value or money for the deminished value.

[gps4]

The catch is "what is it going to make you whole"?

Insurance adjusters know the game. lets say you get rear ended and the person what hit you has insurance. For the sake of argument, let's say your car was totaled. You claim your car was worth $20,000 before the wreck. They say $15,000 and offer you $15,000 before you lawyer up.

They know they ain't got to pay you a red cent until and after you file suit against their client, you litigate for 6-18mos, and convince a jury that your car was worth $20k, and it was completely the other guys fault.

They also know it's probably gonna cost you 25%-40% in attorneys fees, plus litigation expenses.

Best case scenario, even if you convince a jury you should be paid $20k (the full value of your property damage claim) and you get a judgment, you're gonna pay your lawyer at least $5k right off the bat, leaving you with the $15k they offered to begin with.

They got no exposure over and above the $20k, plus a few grand to their defense attorney. They prolly have trained professional adjusters/auto sales people that will show all kinds of numbers and charts about why the car was only worth $15k

Yes, technically repair costs and diminution of value is an element of the OP's damages, but at the end of the day, the cost to prove it and get a judgment will prolly be offset by the litigation costs to prove your entitled to them, if not be more than the difference being argued Over.

[Jelly]

They can't deny the DV claim... They know they owe it.. That's why I say make them put in writing that they will not honor it. Then take that to the insurance commissioners office..

[gps4]

They can't deny the DV claim... They know they owe it.. That's why I say make them put in writing that they will not honor it. Then take that to the insurance commissioners office..

Who decides how much is owed? I submit that the disagreement will boil down to a checkbook dispute- car owner thinks diminution of value is x amount of dollars and insurance company who holds the purse strings thinks is worth y amount of dollars.

I submit the insurance commissioners office does not decide how much the insurance company has to pay. As long as the insurance company has complied with adjusting guidelines and regulations and can reasonably substantiate that the DV is Y amount rather than X amount, not much the insurance commission going to do about it.

[REBEL DUCK]

not looking for a argument but they are only going to pay what your car damage is worth in their eyes. if they want to put Chinese aftermarket parts get ready for that. if they want to send you to some cut rate body shop and call it a "preferred shop" they will. they will not pay for your time. only option and I see its who your directing your question to is to hire a lawyer.

[Jelly]

They can't deny the DV claim... They know they owe it.. That's why I say make them put in writing that they will not honor it. Then take that to the insurance commissioners office..

Who decides how much is owed? I submit that the disagreement will boil down to a checkbook dispute- car owner thinks diminution of value is x amount of dollars and insurance company who holds the purse strings thinks is worth y amount of dollars.

I submit the insurance commissioners office does not decide how much the insurance company has to pay. As long as the insurance company has complied with adjusting guidelines and regulations and can reasonably substantiate that the DV is Y amount rather than X amount, not much the insurance commission going to do about it.

That's the problem, No formula for it. Get someone who deals in valuing used cars to put something in writing and submit that...

Geico told me once that they wouldn't honor my DV claim until I traded the car in I told him I was keeping my landcruiser forever that that wasn't an option...... He then asked me to rate him a 5 out of 5 when I got the survey for his performance. I told him he was getting a 1 if he gave me any more crap... That worked..

[SB]

I feel for you Fireplug and anyone else that has been a victim of insurance companies. I know what it feels like.

I had one insurance company want to put an odd wheel on my truck. The wheel their client damaged as a result of the accident he caused was no longer in production. So instead of buying a matching set, they were just going to put an odd wheel on. I asked the insurance guy, "would you want a non matching wheel on your truck?" He replied, "No." I then said, "All I want is to be treated the same way you would want to be treated." He said he understood and was going to get me a complete set, which he did.

[fireplug]

I have devalued amount quoted from the Toyota dealer I purchased the car from. We had only had the car 3 weeks when the guy rear-ended my wife in it. It wasn't a terrible amount of damage but repairs cost $2k. I had the dealership do the repairs and not the body shop they wanted the estimate from.

If I took them to court with all the paperwork showing the value before and after the accident along with the repair costs for OEM parts and not aftermarket parts, could I sue them for enough to cover the legal fees?

I'm not a legal expert or even claim to know, but I know what's right and wrong, and the insurance guys are in the wrong. They haven't denied the devalued claim, they just said that their adjusters would set the amount and they won't use the amount that my dealer gave me. I plan on keeping the car a long time, as long as it holds up, so I'm not too concerned with it. It's more about principle to me. If I was a millionaire I'd already have the letter from a lawyer on their desk.

[Seymore]

My brother got rear ended by a drunk and his insurance started acting like horses rears. He got an attorney and got everything out of them; damage, lost value, medical, vacation time he lost dealing with it, and some for them just being horses rears. He has the money so waiting them out wasn't an issue for him. When they saw how that he was going to dig in and knew he could wait them out they came off their wallet. It's unfortunate that it has to work that way. The thing is he would have been happy if they would have just fixed the car and then covered the medical and physical therapy but they decided to jerk him around.

[fireplug]

latest update. They agreed to pay what the dealership quoted me for devalued amount instead of going with their number, which was about $400 less. I am out my time having to deal with it, but I just didn't want the frustration of having to go to court for another $400. So we have agreed to meet in the middle I guess. I ate my time lost and they paid what I asked for in devalued amount. Dam an internet insurance company. They would have to pay me to have them.