by rmccall869 » Thu Jul 11, 2013 08:01 pm
I need some advice. I probably posted this in the wrong forum. On tuesday July9, I was on my way to work. I came to a red light and stopped , and was the first car at that light in my lane to go straight across. The lane to my left was a turning lane. The turning lane light turned Green, and all of a sudden I was rammed pretty hard from the rear. My head flipped backwards looking at the inside of my roof. The sliding visor on the sunroof went back approx 8 inches. I didn't know what happened. I put my car in Park, and got out holding my neck. A yellow cab was behind me without a passenger, and the driver rolled down his window and asked me was I ok. I told him my neck was hurting and he asked did I want EMS. I told him no, I thought I would be ok, but I was going to get it checked. he got out and was looking at my car, a 2000 Pontiac Bonneville SSEI that was in excelent shape. The rear rubber covered bottom section was scraped with Yellow paint and had creases in several spots. He asked me if I wanted to let it go, and I said no, and called 911. A city policeman came out and gave an accident report faulting the cab driver. The General Mgr. for the Cab co came out and asked me would $1000.00 be enough to let it go. I said no, I was going to have my car estimated for damage. The policeman gave me a copy of the accident, and told me I could leave. I went to my Dr. and had my neck checked and was given a prescription for muscle relaxers, pain, and antiinflamatory pills. He said to come back in two weeks if the pain did not subside. I took the accident report to my Insurance Company and was told to call the Cab Co for a claim # that afternoon. I had my car damage estimated at a body shop , coming to $1552.55.
I called the Cab Co.and was told they didn't have a claim #, they were self insured. I told them what the estimate was, and was told I had to go to MACCO, and get an estimate. I told them I wasn't having my car fixed at MACCO, but they insisted I had to get three estimates, MACCO being one, and the other two would have to match MACCO's price. i asked about the medical charges and was told just to send them to them. I didn't think this was valid, and called my Insurance Company and asked them to handle the damage on the car. they agreed, but said I had to pay the $1000.00 deductible, and they would go to the Cab Company and when they got the money, would give me the deductible amount. I asked about the medical charges, and was told that since I wasn't at fault, I had to get that from the Cab Company. Is this vaild? Why do you have Insurance Companys if they can't handel the claims with the faulted party, instead of yourself?
I called the Cab Co.and was told they didn't have a claim #, they were self insured. I told them what the estimate was, and was told I had to go to MACCO, and get an estimate. I told them I wasn't having my car fixed at MACCO, but they insisted I had to get three estimates, MACCO being one, and the other two would have to match MACCO's price. i asked about the medical charges and was told just to send them to them. I didn't think this was valid, and called my Insurance Company and asked them to handle the damage on the car. they agreed, but said I had to pay the $1000.00 deductible, and they would go to the Cab Company and when they got the money, would give me the deductible amount. I asked about the medical charges, and was told that since I wasn't at fault, I had to get that from the Cab Company. Is this vaild? Why do you have Insurance Companys if they can't handel the claims with the faulted party, instead of yourself?
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 09:07 am Post Subject:
You first posted this under a different thread, and I responded to that post. Here is what I wrote:
You have a couple of different issues to address.
they told me I had to go to MACCO Paint and have them estimate it. I told them I wasn't going to MACCO, and they said I had to.
No one can require you to use a particular vendor for repairs. Not an insurance company, and not the at-fault party. Of course, the cab company probably sends all of its vehicles to MAACO, so they might get a slight discount on the repairs.I called my insurance Company and asked them to cover it and get it from the Cab Co. who said they were self insured.
If you have collision coverage, that's part of what you're paying for. The alternative would be to simply sue the cab driver and cab company for your damages, if they are truly self-insured. I doubt that they are. This is a combination of personal injury liability and property damage liability loss. As a common carrier, they are probably required by the licensing authority to have insurance.I asked my insurance company about the Medical charges for the neck exam, and was told that the medical was the responsibility of the Cab Co. Is all this legitimate?
In the same way that the damage to your car is their responsibility, so too are your injuries. If you have medical payments coverage in your auto policy, while the "responsibility" rests with the cab company, your med pay could cover the cost of any medical expenses (up to the policy limit) -- but it depends on whether your policy's med pay provision is primary or secondary coverage. In CA, it would be secondary ("excess") coverage.You must present a claim for payment to the cab company and driver (one or both could be responsible for your loss), and have that claim rejected before you can sue. But you'll probably have to sue to collect anything. What you cannot recover is what your own insurance company paid to repair your vehicle -- that's their business to conduct.
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Why do you have Insurance Companys if they can't handel the claims with the faulted party, instead of yourself?
This question of yours is new. So is my question to you: Do you have Medical Payments or PIP coverage in your auto policy? Neither are mandatory in South Carolina. So unless you are paying for it, your insurance company is right to tell you to ask the at fault party to pay your medical bills.Your auto insurance company has no responsibility to handle a claim with a responsible third party on your behalf. You aren't paying for that. What you are paying for is a defense against third party claims for damages you do to them.
If you have medical insurance, it will pay your covered medical expenses, but if you collect any damages from the at-fault party, you will owe the money back to your medical insurance company because that coverage is also not intended to pay for third party claims.
Why do you have Insurance Companys
Mostly, we use insurance companies to protect us from ourselves and the damages we do to ourselves and to others. Generally speaking, our insurance is not intended to pay us for the damages done to us by others. When it does, then a concept called SUBROGATION comes into play and the insurance company is entitled to recover its loss on our behalf.Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:12 am Post Subject: Thanks
Thank you MaxHerr, I appreciate your response and the info.
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