RemingtonRules
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2016
- Messages
- 149
You can use medical potential claims to your advanatage in negotiations. Don’t sign a release of medical until everything else is done.
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Your homeowner's/renter's insurance may also cover the damaged personal property if car insurance doesn't.Still have to figure out if they’re covering our stuff in the vehicle
This is the most accurate post here. I have worked in auto insurance claims for 15 years.There are at least 50 material facts that would shape what you should do next, none of which we have in front of us and it doesn't make sense for you to share on a public hunting forum. But in general I offer the following thoughts:
- Talk to a lawyer with a good reputation and experience in this field (and preferably with that insurance company). It doesn't mean you have to hire them, but they will walk you through the important facts/laws/considerations to help you decide the appropriate path.
- People first -- was anyone injured, not just in your car but even in the car that hit you (if they are hurt they can argue you stopped unsafely)? This is where the financial risk really lies for everyone involved. If everyone was physically fine, cleared by docs and have no lingering aches/pains then a bunch of 0's got taken off the checks for this incident.
- If anyone was hurt or has lingering problems definitely talk to a good lawyer.
- Don't settle/waive early. Insurance companies who fear lingering injury claims will give you what you want on "small ticket" property loss to get you to settle/waive claims of much greater long term value such as disability. Make sure any injury-related settlement/waiver absolves you from claims from the other driver as well - it's America, everybody gets their own story and their own lawyer.
- If this really is just about how to appraise lost value in a totaled vehicle, it is hard to imagine hiring a lawyer will net-net pay off. Anecdotes about how you treat your vehicles really doesn't move the needle enough to pay for $300+/hr legal assistance.
- Be nice and respectful always. First and second line claims employees can just fall back on policy/procedure and don't have to give you a damn thing if you are a jerk. The jerk role is for your lawyer (and preferably not even then). If this is just a vehicle loss, then a little sugar goes further than vinegar when trying to get a claim employee to give you the benefit of the doubt on valuation. Insurance employees, law enforcement at the scene, the other party, your lawyer, their lawyer, court clerks, judges, doctors, nurses, therapists, experts, etc etc are people - you want them to root for you, not against you. Pissing folks off comes at a price and folks who are persistent and firm but always polite will almost always get a better outcome than a jerk. I have seen many legal situations where a jerk walks out with story of how they bullied their way into a good outcome without realizing they would have gotten more but for having pissed off the other side so much they never put their best number on the table.
- Talk to a lawyer, but don't "threaten" to talk to a lawyer. In most insurance companies that will end discussions with anyone who could work with you on the vehicle value claim and sends you over to the group set up to litigate claims. If you cry "lawyer" you will likely need a lawyer. Getting a lawyer may very well be the right choice, but idle threats will rarely improve your situation.
Every company and service provider is trying to make money. That is how employees get paid and investors are encouraged to fund the formation of businesses in the first place. If they gave every claimant as much as the claimant demanded, they would not make less money, they would raise the premium costs to all customers. In a gross oversimplification, the model is to collect an amount in fees close to the amount paid out in claims and invest the "float" to pay the costs of running and make a profit. If they paid whatever $$ customers wanted you would have paid more in premium all these years you didn't have a claim. You might have actually paid more over the long haul in fact.One thing that became apparent through the process is that the insurance companies are in the business of making money, . . .
Every company and service provider is trying to make money. That is how employees get paid and investors are encouraged to fund the formation of businesses in the first place. If they gave every claimant as much as the claimant demanded, they would not make less money, they would raise the premium costs to all customers. In a gross oversimplification, the model is to collect an amount in fees close to the amount paid out in claims and invest the "float" to pay the costs of running and make a profit. If they paid whatever $$ customers wanted you would have paid more in premium all these years you didn't have a claim. You might have actually paid more over the long haul in fact.
You are in a risk-sharing pool - the more you expect to take from that pool the more others in the pool have to pay - and most years you are a payer, not a taker.