*His* insurance refuses to reimburse my rental.

Yesh, that is real dumb. The shop would probably charge more to reassemble the car and then take it appart again than the rental car costs.

If you have Car Rental coverage on your own policy, you can make a claim, and if you have a good company, it should not effect your rates. Then your insurance will go after the other lame company and get their money back from them.

 

I agree get your insurance involved. That guys insurance company would hate to have another insurance company go after them because that would cost them even more money. Unless you have a horrible insurance company your rates should not be affected at all. You can also ask them if it would affect your rates they should tell you what to expect.

 

Last time I had an accident, the body shop said it would be unsafe to drive the car until full repairs were done. So my insurance paid 80% of the car rental up to a maxinum of $1,000. That coverage costs me $12 per 6 months. I've NEVER had to deal with another insurance company. My company takes care of me, and then deals with the other company.

This is why it is such a bad idea to shop for insurance by price. You can buy cheap insurance, but then your company won't take care of you, or tries to avoid paying. It's like buying a ticket to yesterday's football game. It's really cheap, as long as you never want to actually go to the game. But if you want to use the ticket, it's no good.

The other guy's insurance company is doing what cheap companies always do: Trying to avoid paying. Your company is doing what cheap companies do: failing to take care of you, their customer.

Get a written statement from the body shop saying that the car was not drivable while they were waiting for parts, and then go to court. And then switch your own insurance to a company that will take care of you!

 

do you know specifically what parts had to be ordered? i mean, they can't expect you to drive around without something like functional headlights because that's a safety issue... as well as just plain crazy. maybe a list would reveal something that made the car unsafe to drive and you could use that to prove your point.

good luck!

 

If your state permits removal to regular court his insurance company will probably file the papers to move it to superior court (or the equivalent) and hope to scare you out of your lawsuit.

You might also file a complaint with your state insurance department.

 

Note to Self: Don't get hit by someone with Met Life.

 

If the case stays in small claims court, then I believe neither party is allowed to have a lawyer (unless one of them IS a lawyer, then the other side gets to hire one.) In this case, the defendant is the individual driver, not the insurance company.

 

Everyone should go to small claims court once; a very interesting education in civics. My experience is 30 years dated, was a claim against a Toyota dealership, and, at least then, did not allow legal representation in San Diego and bore more than a passing resemblance to (stupid) People's Court. Considering that the actual owner, his repair mgr, and a corporate guy from Torrance showed up to contest a broken window, I'm amazed he could stay in business. But there I was with my bag full of broken glass and polaroids of the damage. I won. More amazing, he appealed to superior court. We all did it again. I lost. Probably played golf with the judge as he didn't even want to see my polaroids. But the experience was priceless.

Part of the education is filling out the forms and what not yourself which can be a drag if you're a wage slave, but relatively cheap out-of-pocket. I couldn't get close to him to serve the subpoena, but I would have loved to have seen the look on his face when the marshal showed up.

Do it.

 

Godiva, are you surrrrre you don't feel some neck pain? I've heard these types of injuries can take some time to show up. Go to your doctor immediately. If it were me and I felt a bit of neck tweek and the opposing insurance company was honest and cooperative I would chalk the tweek up to experience. However, if they were trying to ramrod me into an unfair settlement I would not let even one twinge go unnoticed, undocumented or unsettlementized. The main reason they are trying to take advantage of you is that the last person they cheated allowed them to get away with it. Don't you.

Like Daniel said, your good insurance company will go to bat for you and leave you out of the loop. Consider a change when it's all over.

 

I second the neck pain idea. The soreness usually doesn't show up until 3 to 10 days later. A minor back or neck injury should be worth about $7 to 10K for Pain and Suffering. That can cover a real nice rental car.

I am NOT advocating milking the insurance company and running up everyones rates, but pain is pain.

 

If it is not your fault, your insurance company can represent you to pursue the rental car cost from the other party's insurance company. This is regardless of what your insurance policy covers since your insurance company is not paying for the damage. Your premium shouldn't go up either since it is not your fault. On the other hand, His insurance company should have told you about the amount they would reimburse you on the rental car when they authorize the repair. Or else you have grounds to ask for reimbursement.

GOod luck

 

Godiva,

In addition to suing the other driver in small claims court, you should file a complaint against his insurance company with the California Department of Insurance.

Contact Us: File a Complaint

 

Interestingly enough...
My insurance is Met (house and auto). Neighbors DEAD tree fell on pool. Neighbor admitted that they were at fault for not removing said dead tree [dead for 2 yrs +]. Neighbor called her insurance and admitted fault. Neighbors insurance wouldn't do anything. Neighbors insurance waiting for met to fight them for $$$.

Analysis: It's not just met......they are all cheap a$$. If they can get away with not paying a dime - they will. Terrible waste of the rest of the world's time for sure!!



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Godiva @ Apr 20 2007, 07:03 PM) [snapback]427055[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brucem5755 @ Apr 20 2007, 08:42 PM) [snapback]427156[/snapback]</div>

Some are, some are not. True, it's not just Met. Wrong about all of them being the same.

It's a lot like Honda vs GM: Both are in business to make money, but GM increases profit by screwing the customer, while Honda understands that providing stellar customer service helps increase market share: they spend some money on the customer in order to get more customers.

You can shop for insurance by price, or you can shop by whether or not they'll pay you when you have claim. The first is penny-wise and pound-foolish. Or, as Tom & Ray like to say: The stingy man pays the most.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brucem5755 @ Apr 20 2007, 10:42 PM) [snapback]427156[/snapback]</div>

Years ago we had an ice storm that took down some tree limbs pulling the power line out of the meter box and sending a surge throughout the house. Insurance had to replace several thousand dollars worth of electronic and appliances. After it was all said and done, I asked agent if they would pay to have the tree taken down. They said no. Guess what next winter another 6000 dollar claim. insurance companies are pennywise and dollar foolish.

 

Just a suggestion - if you do take them to court, name BOTH the driver and his/her insurance company as plaintiffs.

If you just name the driver it's between you and them.

When an insurance company gets sued, it is usually cheaper for them to settle out of court, so the filing fee will most likely be worth it.