Insurance Claim - How should I proceed?
A while back the Prius was backed into by a Jeep while parked. My wife was in the driver's seat, parked, along with 3 passengers. I was not present.
According to her, the Jeep reversed rapidly for 30 ft until he collided with the car. The other party's insurance has accepted 100% liability. The damage to the bumper is very straight forward and easily repaired, but the real problem is that the car developed a massive interior water leak immediately after the accident. Whenever it rains, water runs down the passenger side firewall / footwell. This car has a reconstructed title due to previous front end damage that was repaired. I'm guessing the leak wouldn't have happened from this minor accident if it wasn't for the previous wreck causing it to be weakened. Next week I take the car in to get an estimate from a shop State Farm (other party's insurance) has a partnership with. I'm certain they will try to deny responsibility for the water leak. What's worse is that the carpeting and probably a fender would have to be removed to locate the source of the leak. The shop isn't going to want to do this, especially just to come up with an estimate. Previously, I got 2 independent estimates, but neither one wanted to spend the time to investigate the water leak, and both said they didn't think the accident would cause it. The way I see it, the at fault party is responsible to restore the car to pre-loss condition, which was leak-free, regardless of the fact that previous damage made it more prone to have issues. How should I proceed? State Farm will issue me a check in the amount of their estimate, and if the cost to repair exceeds that amount, they will cut another check for the difference, provided the repairs are necessary to cover the damage from that accident. How would I prove that? All I have is my testimony that there was no leak before the accident, and photos from later that day showing water pooling in the interior. Mostly this thread is just about me ranting to let off some frustration. Insurance companies are all a bunch of shysters, and I'm not looking forward to all the yelling, phone calls, and time spent on this. My time and sanity are valuable, and there is no compensation offered for the loss of it. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...magejpeg_0.jpg http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y26...mage000000.jpg |
I know where there is a yellow Firebird convertible. (Sorry if you don't get the joke)
I commiserate. I totalled my car on black ice a few years back, and it took almost daily phone calls to three different offices in my own insurance company, contesting their estimation, and citing Oregon State law where it differed. IIRC their original offer was ~$2800, the final check was ~$5500. I was out of pocket another $800 to the body shop for up and extras, and they didn't get the color matched. Perhaps the path forward is to think about whether this particular example of this particular [reconstructed title] car is what will make you happiest. In my case I didn't want to be the guy who took another 'old' VW off the road. Old is in single quotes because 1971 is the latest model year car I've owned. I switched because of fit and finish. |
If two independent engineers are saying they don't think the water leak is related to the collision, then I can't see where you go from there.
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I'm not a proponent of insurance fraud, but you may want to consider the power of a medical claim. It may help in negotiations if they know you have them by the balls. The at-fault insurance will throw money at you to reduce their liability.
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In high school I drove a beautiful red 1969 Beetle. I raced it everywhere like a go-cart, and even rolled it once. I could fill the gas tank, hand the attendant $10, and get a couple bucks back. Those were fun times, but having to do frequent valve adjustments is annoying. Getting exhaust in the cabin whenever the heater is used was also annoying. Anyhow, I'm loving my plug-in Prius. So far it's gone everywhere I want to go, handles emergency maneuvers well (stability control), gets phenomenal fuel economy, and has enormous utility. Quote:
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Mr. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.
The squeaky wheel often does get the grease.
No squeaking, no grease. Squeaking in this context will mean at least 27 phone calls to at least 5 different levels and versions of insurance bureaucrats. Compute your hourly rate that you would accept to get the correct outcome. Add a little more personal gumption because you know you are fighting the good fight for the regular people. |
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Legally, I was screwed. However, insurance companies want to get claims settled AND they are intimidated by people that know their rights. My leverage was that I had talked to a lawyer. The lawyer charged me $5 for a half hour conversation. Then the adjuster called. The conversation went something like this: Adjuster: "I understand that you are not satisfied with our offer". Me: "It was ridiculous. I consulted with my attorney, and he recommended that I give you another chance." Adjuster: "What would you consider a fair offer?" And that was what they paid. In full. |
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My car is up on ramps right now waiting for me to get out there and adjust the valves. Broken heater cables trump leaky heat exchangers. |
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The at-fault insurance will start a medical claim and likely offer you several hundred dollars to sign a form saying they are no longer liable, it's their standard procedure. My point is, they will have MUCH more reason to play ball and keep you happy if they are at increased risk of litigation. I mean hell, they're an insurance company, they are in the business of risk mitigation. |
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http://www.2040-cars.com/_content/ca...611408/004.jpg |
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Not my car, but this is Koral Rot: http://i.imgur.com/1k1yDOh.jpg I've got the stance, roof rack and (uninstalled) skirts; but I don't have the pop-out quarter windows and the cheese grater. |
My Mustang got rear-ended twice and repaired twice by repair companies. But it also developed a water leak from damage the repair people couldn't find because like yours it was hidden behind carpet.
In any case, what I ended up doing was I took apart the area myself and took some silicone waterproofing stuff, loaded it into a caulking gun, and I used that to seal the leak. What the leak was in my case was some factory seams between sheet metal had become weakened and open but like ever so slightly that a repair guy would have never noticed. I found the leak by looking for dried dirt markings that indicated the path the water took into the trunk. I followed those paths up to the seams and then went at the seams with the silicone. I never saw water back there again. This is probably easier than writing angry letters and going for a third estimate. If you're tying to find the leak and just can't, an option is to have someone outside the car spray it with a hose while you're inside so you can find where the water is coming in. |
My thought is that it doesn't matter what the previous estimators think. What matters is that the car did not leak before the accident and now it does. Could be that the frame got tweaked a hair and that is just enough to cause the leak. Find someone to diagnose it properly.
JJ |
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Just because it's difficult doesn't mean auto repair shops should avoid it. That's their job, and it's the job of the insurance company to compensate them for their time. I shouldn't have to be driving around with my carpeting pulled up and drain plugs open. My car wasn't this way before the accident, and I'm willing to do a whole lot of yelling and upsetting people to give them the motivation to do the right thing. I'm not politely asking for a favor; I'm demanding justice. |
It could be coincidence. When I worked the spammers BITD weld get blamed form some ridiculous things that 'must' have been out fault. The daftest one was a guy who's headlamp relay failed, and he tried to blame us as I'd changed his wiper blades that morning. Apparently is it 'must' have been us.
Coincidence does exist, and if the insurers aren't having it then you'll have to not only identify the source of the leak, and demonstrate the link to the collision. |
Coincidences happen all the time. It's hard to believe that a leak appearing the first time it rains after being rear ended is one of them.
We get some beautiful sinceyas at work, too, but "Sinceya hit my car with your SUV, there's a leak" looks like one of the most reasonable statements I've seen on teh interwebs in a while. |
Get your "justice" and then sell the car. Two front end impacts, one enough to total the vehicle, + the leak = lost structural integrity + lost capacity to absorb further impacts.
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