total loss theft/fire claim

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 01:45 am Post Subject:

they also had my wife and i both sign a consent form, it basically states that if requested we will provide them with phone records, financial records, med bills, credit checks, etc. what is all of this for, everything is pretty much in order when it comes to financials.

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 05:33 am Post Subject:

Well...so its reached up to the claims investigator!!
I'm sure that its enough to indicate that your claim has gone beyond the purview of the adjuster..due to any doubt!!!
Now it is upto the investigator to study your case thoroughly & then pass on their feedbacks to the adjuster..& I must say that the claims investigation could be a process for an longer duration & they are under no obligation to convey their feedbacks to you!! Peculehubb

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 10:02 am Post Subject:

Well kind of Peculehubb, sounds like your claim has been turned over to their SIU dept..(special investigation unit) which means there is a fraud concern...don't panic (yet)...when a car stolen THEN burned...that's an automatic red flag which signals car fires fraud ...most genuine car thefts don't burn vehicles they run the crap out of them wreck them, trash them and leave them but they rarely burn them....

Is there anything in your financial information that will add fuel to this fire (no pun intended)? Like late payments especially late or missing car payments? Ever had another total vehicle theft or fire? They do have to tell you the status of the claim...so call again and tell them you understand you only have the rental for 30 days you want to know the status of the claim...

The SIU rep will want an in person (more than likely) interview...they will question you very very methodically...don't lie whatever you do because I assure they have done their homework and them some before they will talk to you...If you have done nothing wrong you have absolutely nothing to worry about...it's just a process that needs to be gone thru...

Please don't hesitate to ask any questions we'd be happy to help where we can...Sorry this happened and hopefully you can get this wrapped up soon..

Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 02:57 pm Post Subject:

how much longer should i expect this process to go on, and i am still paying on the vehicles loan and insurance, what do i do about this? i know in the mean time i am responsible for the loan, but what about after everything is settled, i mean i have been paying a loan and dont even have a vehicle to drive. if this goes beyond the 30days, i have to turn in the rental, or pay for it, do i get any loss of use compensation. my main concern is getting back and forth, i work 25 miles one way from where i live. the bus line dosent go near my place of employment. thanks

Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 09:47 am Post Subject:

Now way I can guess how long, because I don't know which company or the particulars of the claim, or what they are looking at..That's why you need to call and ask to talk to the investigator. If you can't get an answer then you need to contact your states Dept. of Ins. and file a complaint soon. Your ins company isn't responsible for the terms of your loan, only the ACV of the vehicle...so if you are upside down, then if you GAP ins you need to file a claim if not and there is a balance you will need to work that out with your lein holder...No, no loss of use is owed on these types of claims.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 02:26 am Post Subject:

thanks for the replyies. the company is progressive, the investigator left a message on my home phone telling me that someone from their local attornies office will be contacting me to set up an appointment to give a "explanation under oath", and they are requesting phone records. they also want my wife to do the same, my wifes name was no where on the trucks title or loan, yes she is on the ins policy. why are they concerning my wife and what is an explanation under oath? i feel like since they are involving an attorny that i should get one myself just for my protection and to ensure this process done correctly without trying to screw me. as far as particulars about the claim, basically what happened is my wife and i took our daughter downtown fro the day. this is something that we do a few times a year. my daughter likes to ride the train. so we parked at the train station, went downtown had lunch, did some shopping. about 3 1/2 hrs later we get back to the train station and my truck is gone. to make matters even crazier, there is a police station across the street from the train station. mind you this is not the best of areas, but who would expect something like this and the police station is right there. i went to the police station to report the truck stolen, while the police are working on the report i called my insurance company to inform them what happened. the claims adjuster calls me in about 45 minutes, i explained to him what happened. he comes to my house the next business day to take a recorded statement from me and to get particulars about the truck and so forth. 2 days later i get a call from the police telling me that they found my truck on the other side of town and it is a "burn out". i immediately email my claims adjuster. othe claims guy calls me later in the day to tell me that the truck is a total loss. about 3 days later another guy calls my wife and gets a recorded statement from her, and he was acting like my wife is stupid the way he was questioning her. he would ask her the same thing like 4 diff ways. come to find out its the investigator. this is all roughly within the first week. from this point on up till today, i havent really heard anything else about what the next step is from here. all of a sudden i get a message from the investgator talking about attornies and this explanation under oath. do i have to give another statement since we have already given recorded statements, what should happen from here? i dont like it when anyone starts talking about attornies being involved for the simple fact people are so sneaky these days, and ever since this has happened i have talked with a few people at work and there has been nothing but horror stories. basically they were given the run around for anywhere from 45 days to 3 months before the claim was resolved. and in some cases the people had to get their own legal representation involved and at that point the claim was closed within a matter of days.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 04:30 am Post Subject:

An examination under oath. It's _usually_ done when they suspect fraud was involved. The attorney will ask all kinds of questions, some will be quit frank, and it can last anywhere from 2-6 hours. You can obtain the service of an attorney if you would like but there is little he/she can do for you in in the examination. You are obligated under your policy to give one and your attorney cannot answer for you or tell you not to answer questions.

As mentioned, they are probably investigating possible fraud. From experience I can say that a common reason is that there might not be any indication that the ignition was forced... meaning a key was used to start the vehicle. Of course, I don't know what the situation is in this case.

There is not much else I can say. It's unfortunate that you have to go through this but I don't see any way around it.

Posted: Thu Jul 31, 2008 10:20 am Post Subject:

I'm in agreement with T there are some things in your claim that are screaming red flags....T mentioned one, but that in and of it's self wouldn't get an examination under oath going I don't think...SIU yes, but not to the 'next level' with is the EOA....Have you had ANY other total thefts or fires? Are you finances in rough shape especially your vehicle payments? Your policy requires you to produce all records etc...requested including your wifes phone records....if you don't they will more than likely deny the claim.

I'm sorry this is happening, I assure you this is rare and not the norm...they have found something that has them concerned, they would not go to the expense and length if there wasn't something....I'm just going to throw this out here, not that I think you did anything wrong...I'd tell my brother the same thing...If you had anything to do with this...I promise you they already know it, if you're smart you will back out of the claim. If not then more than likely when it's said and done, they will deny the claim AND file criminal charges...I know this company and they don't fool around, they will spend 100k in a second to prove a point....just food for thought...and remember I'm not saying you did anything...just some friendly advise....If you had nothing to do with this at all and it's a clean claim...then hold your head up high and finish this up, the truth will always come out, and you'll be fine. Let us know...

Posted: Sat Aug 02, 2008 05:46 am Post Subject:

When an insurer goes to those lengths in the investigation process they surely have a reason to suspect that some sort of fraud is occuring.

I had lunch with a group of insurance brokers this week and we were discussing claims. We discussed a few fraudulent claims and in each case the insurer found proof of the fraud. In each case they gave the insured a chance to back down from the story ...

Why do I say that? Because Lori is right .... IF you are not completely honest about the claim there is a very good chance the insurer has found that out already.

That said, having a lawyer working with you can ease your mind and possibly help you through this. But if the claim is totally legit then you and your wife have nothing to worry about. The interviews will clear things up and make the "red flags" go away for the investigators.

Hope that helps a bit!

It's too bad you don't have an agent or broker to help you through this.

Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 12:54 pm Post Subject:

my wife and i went for the examination yesterday. they asked a lot of questions about our financials. asked if we knew who may have done this. asked more questions about where we were and what we did the day of the incident. what should i expect from here?