Insurance help.

[crapsguy]

Ok guys I’ve got a weird one for you so if anyone Im works in insurance I would greatly appreciate a PM or reply to the thread with some help and guidance.

Situation:
In January of this year my wife I was in the school pickup line and a highschool girl rear ended my wife pretty hard. Wife and daughter were in the car and they both go to chiropractor and the other party’s insurance pays for medical bills and a $500 settlement each to my wife and daughter. That part is fine and I have no issues with that. A week or two after the accident my wife goes to an auto body shot for a quote. The guy crawls under the car and jots his notes down and goes to his computer and prints out a quote with parts and labor of $1,7xx.xx. We submit that to other party’s insurance. We tell them we don’t know when we will get the repairs done and that we own the vehicle outright and just want to be paid for the damages to the car . Couple months go by and nothing. Finally I get the claim number and phone number from my wife and I call and they say they already issued payment to the auto body shop. And I explain the car hasn’t been repaired and that we didn’t want payment sent to them. The guy says he needs to contact the auto body place to get the money back. ANOTHER couple months go by and I call back this time it’s a different claims lady and she is more helpful yet no results. I call again a month later (present) and say look, our vehicle was damaged, you all issued payment to the wrong place and that’s not my problem. The only person who hasn’t been compensated is the person that has property damage done! I need the $1,700 paid. She goes, “sir the payment was only for $789.03.” I asked where she got that number and she said well our appraiser only approved that much. I said I don’t care what he approved I am legally allowed to go to whatever auto body shop I choose and I chose the one that quoted $1,700. She basically said her hands are tied and she can’t do anything above what the appraiser quoted . So I called my insurance and my agent said I should get another quote from a different shop and send it to her. If they still don’t want to play ball I can file a claim through my insurance where my insurance will pay me and they’ll go after the other party’s insurance for reimbursement. But that will put a ding on my account and cause my rates to go up. Do I get an attorney to send a strongly worded letter to the other insurance? Do I send them an invoice? I don’t know what to do but I’m getting more and more pissed over this. Thanks in advance OSA!

my experience is that is the way it works
if you want to fix your car let the shop fix it and they either take what they got or fight the insurance company
if you want cash you take what they offer this is the way it is with car or home insurance.
otherwise people scam the insurance companies by getting high bids on work - collecting money - then getting the work done for much smaller price
when you think about it that is the way it should be.

 

[caliberbob]

my experience is that is the way it works
if you want to fix your car let the shop fix it and they either take what they got or fight the insurance company
if you want cash you take what they offer this is the way it is with car or home insurance.
otherwise people scam the insurance companies by getting high bids on work - collecting money - then getting the work done for much smaller price
when you think about it that is the way it should be.

Called my agent and they told me to get a second quote for that reason. That way it shows I’m not just getting one high quote and having them Jack it up.

 

[BillM]

I second the other guys that said contact an attorney. They'll take their cut, but you might end up with more than the damages out of the deal. That guy "Pepper Wins" on TV all the time eats situations like this for lunch, I've been told.

It can take a long time, though. And their lawyer wouldn't talk to me when my wife was injured in an accident last year. Said they might have to sue me, since I was driving. Other guy was speeding, ran a red light and hit us, but I made a left turn on a solid green, instead of a green arrow, and was also ticketed. Fought it and lost.

 

[C_Hallbert]

This is why I don’t carry insurance.

LOL

 

[BryanDP]

Insurance companies make lowball offers in hopes that you'll just take the money they offer and not fix the car. You're not going to get them to agree to pay you the $1700 if they disagree with that amount. The only way to get the full amount of the damage is to get it fixed and have your shop of choice (find one that is not on any insurance referral lists) work with them on a supplemental payment. If the damage is really worth $1700 the shop will get that out of them but you almost certainly will not.

 

[golddigger14s]

Of course I am. I do think it is typically a waste of money though.

Thank you for that. To a degree I agree, but on the rare occasion you need it, it does help a lot. My mower recently burned up and $1600 of the $2600 replacement cost was covered.

 

[caliberbob]

I have had damage done to other vehicles twice that I can think of that wasn’t my fault and after getting quotes I was paid the damages to the vehicle equal to said quotes. I get insurance doesn’t WANT to pay, but in the past I haven’t had an issue with them paying when I didn’t get the car fixed. That’s why I’m wondering why they’re being little B 1 T Charlie’s about this

 

[trekrok]

To me, It's one thing when dealing with my own carrier and another when dealing with someone else's. If someone else damages my property, they owe me for the damages. How or whether I choose to repair them shouldn't matter to them. I'd expect payment to me for the middle of 3 quotes from body shops.

What business is it of theirs how I handle the decreased value of my property?

 

[caliberbob]

To me, It's one thing when dealing with my own carrier and another when dealing with someone else's. If someone else damages my property, they owe me for the damages. How or whether I choose to repair them shouldn't matter to them. I'd expect payment to me for the middle of 3 quotes from body shops.

What business is it of theirs how I handle the decreased value of my property?

Thank you, that is precisely how I feel.

 

[Frank Pope]

Start with the state ins commissioner office.

Tell the State Insurance Department you want to file a Bad Faith Claims Practices complaint. I think that will get the insurer calling YOU.