by Guest » Thu May 29, 2008 07:48 am
My daughter was involved in a car accident on 4-7-08 and we are having a difficult time settling this claim with the other persons insurance company.
Heres what happened, my daughter was driving at the speed limit and came to an intersection with stop signs on the left and right of her but no stop sign for her. She saw a car on the right coming to the stop sign my daughter slowed down until she saw the car on her right stop she then resumed to the speed limit. The car at the stop sign then came thru the intersection and the two cars crashed our car was totaled. My daughter and her passenger were then taken by ambulance to the hospital and released the same day. My daughter recieved a fair amount of soft tissue injuries and has returned to the ER 2 times and is now seeing a surgeon for a large hemotoma on her leg, he has her in physical therapy for the next 4 weeks. She has been unable to work since the accident because of the injuries she recieved.
Because of clerical error on our part her car was without insurance for several day at the time of the accident. Once we were able to obtain a copy of the police report which clearly states that the other car was responsible I contacted the other cars insurance company on 5-13. I spoke with an adjuster one time and she wants to us to assume 10% liability because in my daughters statement to her that she (my daughter) had slowed down, she also wants us to assume some of the liability for the tow and storage of our totaled vehicle. I explained that we would not assume any liability for an accident their client is responsible for. The adjuster said she would get back to me the next week to talk about the value of our vehicle. On 5-28 a different adjuster left a message to return her call, I called many times and was able to talk to her late today. She told me that they had settled our claim and sent a check yesterday. We never agreed to settle and the amount that they are offering is not acceptable, they undervalued the vehicle and deducted the salvage buy back of the car at 2,883.00, the car was a 2004 Scion xA with about 90,000 miles. No one has spoken to us about her lost wages, medical expences, on going medical care and her pain and suffering. Whats so frustrating is that we just want what is fair and are willing to give and take but these people are settling this without speaking to us, got any advise on how to deal with this.
Heres what happened, my daughter was driving at the speed limit and came to an intersection with stop signs on the left and right of her but no stop sign for her. She saw a car on the right coming to the stop sign my daughter slowed down until she saw the car on her right stop she then resumed to the speed limit. The car at the stop sign then came thru the intersection and the two cars crashed our car was totaled. My daughter and her passenger were then taken by ambulance to the hospital and released the same day. My daughter recieved a fair amount of soft tissue injuries and has returned to the ER 2 times and is now seeing a surgeon for a large hemotoma on her leg, he has her in physical therapy for the next 4 weeks. She has been unable to work since the accident because of the injuries she recieved.
Because of clerical error on our part her car was without insurance for several day at the time of the accident. Once we were able to obtain a copy of the police report which clearly states that the other car was responsible I contacted the other cars insurance company on 5-13. I spoke with an adjuster one time and she wants to us to assume 10% liability because in my daughters statement to her that she (my daughter) had slowed down, she also wants us to assume some of the liability for the tow and storage of our totaled vehicle. I explained that we would not assume any liability for an accident their client is responsible for. The adjuster said she would get back to me the next week to talk about the value of our vehicle. On 5-28 a different adjuster left a message to return her call, I called many times and was able to talk to her late today. She told me that they had settled our claim and sent a check yesterday. We never agreed to settle and the amount that they are offering is not acceptable, they undervalued the vehicle and deducted the salvage buy back of the car at 2,883.00, the car was a 2004 Scion xA with about 90,000 miles. No one has spoken to us about her lost wages, medical expences, on going medical care and her pain and suffering. Whats so frustrating is that we just want what is fair and are willing to give and take but these people are settling this without speaking to us, got any advise on how to deal with this.
Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 11:27 am Post Subject:
Personally, I think the adjuster is making a mistake putting 10% liability on your daughter for the property damage when there is an injury claim going on. The injury portion of the claim can amount to a _lot_ of money. Why piss the person off with 10% liability
No joke! I thought this stupid too. Geeze, this is 'adjusting 101' !! unless the adjuster is playing a little game of 'i should hit you with 10%' then drop it, showing a willingness to 'play nice'....like they are doing you a favor (seen it...even done it in 'some' situations)....I agree 10% isn't anything I'd argue about more than five minutes...just not worth the time...HOWEVER, there are some companies out there that have a theory that being on the road gives you some comparative negligence.... idiotic in my book...could be one of 'those' in this situation....please let us know, and if we can be of further assistance don't hesitate to ask!
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:19 am Post Subject: intersection accident
Hi Lori, Its Mother Hen. I cant believe what a mess this is turning into. The insurance adjuster said she put the settlement into the mail on May 27 as of today we have not seen it. The insurance company said the savage buy back is well over 2000.00, I called the salvage yards in the area and the best offer I got was 300.00. Not that it matters I spoke with the storage yard and the insurance company paid them 700.00 the yard will not release the car to the salvage yard until the balanced is paid which is 2200.00 and climbing, I offered to sign the car to the storage yard they declined, they also declined us making payments on the balance. The adjuster said the check is for 6200.00, once the storage yard is paid off that leaves 4000.00 for a vehicle that is valued at 9500.00.
The accident report clearly states the accident is their clients fault. I having been playing telephone tag with a suppervisor at the insurance company. I'm thinking about hiring an attorney it's not alot of money but the attorney wouldnt have to spend alot of time on it, depose my daughter and their client, write a brief, file the case and court time probably 3-6 billable hours for 2500.00 to 3000.00 of return. I'm not going to sue the insurance company I'll sue their client. If I'm understanding the insurance laws they will have to provide her with representation and she then can sue her insurance company for punitive damages. What do you think. thanks Mother Hen.
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:43 am Post Subject:
I offered to sign the car to the storage yard
DON'T DO THAT!!! You can't really do that because you ''sold'' it to the insurance carrier, or did you? If you didn't why?....let them worry about it...hope the lot owner sues them for it!they also declined us making payments on the balance.
Don't do that either!!! Why isn't the adjuster paying this 2200.00? Why do you think you owe this?The adjuster said the check is for 6200.00, once the storage yard is paid off that leaves 4000.00 for a vehicle that is valued at 9500.00.
Is this 6200.00 supposed to be with you retaining salvage? Did you agree to this amount? I'm really confused here...Lets go back to square one...Have you accepted their evaluation of the vehicles ACV? Has there been any more talk about this non-sensical 10% liability on your daughter? Has that been taken care of and have they assumed 100% of this accident? What about her injury claim where are they on that? Why is the lot still owed money? Did you refuse their request to move it to a storage free facility? Did you agree to retain the salvage?
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