by x0083144 » Thu Nov 18, 2010 05:39 am
in the beginning of October a truck backed into my parked car. The driver stopped and we exchanged information and I made a claim with her insurance company (Farmers). I took pictures after I got off the phone with them just in case. In these pictures you can clearly see water leaking from the bottom of the vehicle. I turned my vehicle in for repair. The adjuster I talked to refused to use VW parts and said he could only use aftermarket parts. 2nd on 11/14 he contacted me saying he couldn't authorize the repair of the water leak because it was comming from behind the engine. He wouldn't even authorize them to find out where it was leaking from. well long story short the repair place looked into it and said it was the water pump leaking and that the adjuster wouldn't pay for it. so 390$ later I get my car back and now the fan behind the radiator won't stop running and I just know I'm gonna get "well that's not accident related" how do I make them fix my vehicle correctly.
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 05:46 am Post Subject:
how do I make them fix my vehicle correctly.
Which "them" are you talking about? This sounds like a failure of the mechanic who replaced the water pump to put things back together correctly. If so, that's not the insurance company's problem -- unless they "guaranteed" the repairs.
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 06:01 am Post Subject:
Well no "They" is the insurance company/adjuster who said the water leak wasn't accident related and therefore wouldn't cover the repair of it because the water pump is behind the engine.
on 11/14 he contacted me saying he couldn't authorize the repair of the water leak because it was comming from behind the engine. He wouldn't even authorize them to find out where it was leaking from. well long story short the repair place looked into it and said it was the water pump leaking and that the adjuster wouldn't pay for it
my point is that it wasn't leaking before the accident and I've got photos that show the water on the ground after. What should be my next course of action. Do I really need to get an attorney or is there a less formal way of resolving this?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 07:21 am Post Subject:
You should try and show your reason to your adjuster first. Attorneys would take a fair share of the settlement amount. You'd also need to be sure that the root cause of your damage had never existed before the accident. I'm saying this since the adjusters today are well-equipped to determine the cause and the age of a damage.
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 08:36 am Post Subject:
It's _highly_ unlikely that a minor impact to the rear of the vehicle is going to cause the water pump to fail. You say it was not leaking before but how does anyone else confirm this? Weight the possibility of a minor impact to the rear bumper somehow reaching all the way up to the water pump without damaging anything in between. Can you account for how this would happen?
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 08:43 am Post Subject:
yea sorry that was my mistake the impact was to the front passenger side. in addition the impact was enough to push my car a good foot from it's original position. I don't know much about cars all I know is that it wasn't leaking and now it is.
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:40 pm Post Subject:
I know most vehicles where the engine on a front wheel drive car has the front of the engine on the passenger side frame rail and the transmission on the left have an exposed water pump one half inch from the motor mount or frame rail. An impact from either side could very easily rock the motor on loose mounts and bang off the frame rail. I see marks very often indicating that this does take place.
Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 10:55 pm Post Subject:
This was taken 20 min after the collision
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