Assistance with Insurance Claim

[Hennessy]

Hi,

A few months ago my car was involved in an accident. The other party assumed full responsibility but his insurance refused to pay for 100% of the damages to make my car whole again. I ended up paying $4500 out of pocket to get my car back. They refused to pay the Tesla rate for the paintwork. I filed a complaint with my state and waiting for Allstate to respond. It's been almost 2 months. What else can I do?

 

[iamnid]

Did you sign any paperwork? Accept any money from the other driver's insurance?

Assuming you didn't sign a release, releasing the other driver of all further responsibility for your claims, you can sue the other driver in small claims court for the $4,500.00.

 

[Hennessy]

I did not sign anything to release them. I dont want to go after the other driver, i want to go after the insurance

 

[FunSecured]

Did you try seeking assistance from -your- auto insurance company?

 

[Radlaw]

Hi,

A few months ago my car was involved in an accident. The other party assumed full responsibility but his insurance refused to pay for 100% of the damages to make my car whole again. I ended up paying $4500 out of pocket to get my car back. They refused to pay the Tesla rate for the paintwork. I filed a complaint with my state and waiting for Allstate to respond. It's been almost 2 months. What else can I do?

Let your insurance company handle all this. That's why you bought insurance so they have the headaches.

 

[dmurphy]

Let your insurance company handle all this. That's why you bought insurance so they have the headaches.

Exactly right. This is why I think the advice to cut out your insurance company is a bad one.
If nothing else; they have an army of lawyers on YOUR side. Otherwise, it’s you against the other insurance company’s lawyers.

Why wouldn’t you avail yourself of the army of lawyers at your disposal? Release the kraken!

 

[DopeGhoti]

they have an army of lawyers on YOUR side

Almost. They have an army of lawyers on their employer's side. Often there is some overlap, but if your insurance decides it's cheaper (and within the letter of the agreement you have in your policy), you're SOL.

 

[dmurphy]

Almost. They have an army of lawyers on their employer's side. Often there is some overlap, but if your insurance decides it's cheaper (and within the letter of the agreement you have in your policy), you're SOL.

Fair enough - but as you said, there is overlap. And especially when you’re a one legged man in an ass-kicking contest against the 3rd party insurance, they can only be net accretive to your cause. Got nothing to lose and everything to gain here.

 

[Gasaraki]

If it is their fault, it is in the best interest of your insurance company to go after the money because your insurance company paid you to repair your car and now your insurance company wants payback so they will go after their insurance company. Now this is how it works in NY, don't know about the other states. I just let my insurance company handle stuff like this.

 

[Hennessy]

I will try my insurance. Although i have Essurance, which is own by Allstate. I'll wait for the state to respond first, I filed a complain with the state department of insurance.

 

[MP3Mike]

I did not sign anything to release them. I dont want to go after the other driver, i want to go after the insurance

But that is the way it works. You have to go after the party that harmed you, and then they ask their insurance to step in to protect them. (You can't go after them directly because you don't have a contract with them.)

Don't forget to request a DV payout as well.

 

[jonquiljo]

I will try my insurance. Although i have Essurance, which is own by Allstate. I'll wait for the state to respond first, I filed a complain with the state department of insurance.

No. Call your insurance and have them fix it. I have never heard of completely cutting out your insurance coverage. Well, I've heard of it, but I have never heard of anyone doing it successfully on a large claim. Your insurance (as others have said) should pay to fix your car and then get the money from the other insurance company.

I really don't think that the state of Massachusetts will do anything to help you.

 

[DopeGhoti]

Given that OP is presumably paying for more than just the state-mandated liability insurance, it seems daft that ey is not trying to actually derive some value out of the service that is being paid for. I do understand some skittishness about the spectre of raised rates, but that generally won't happen for a "other-fault" incident- particularly one in isolation. It's when you start to look like you may be part of a pattern of being an expensive client that the company will start preemptively balancing the books.

 

[Radlaw]

Let your insurance company handle all this. That's why you bought insurance so they have the headaches.

I repeat the above!

 

[AdamVIP]

Yeah the best part of insurance is that they will handle this for you. Let your insurance go after their insurance. That's what you pay them for,

 

[Big Dog]

Hi,

A few months ago my car was involved in an accident. The other party assumed full responsibility but his insurance refused to pay for 100% of the damages to make my car whole again. I ended up paying $4500 out of pocket to get my car back. They refused to pay the Tesla rate for the paintwork. I filed a complaint with my state and waiting for Allstate to respond. It's been almost 2 months. What else can I do?

Your first mistake was not involving your own insurance company. (Skipping your own insurer and dealing directly with other guy is something that pops up on TMC all the time, and I just don't get it.) Your second mistake was not looking up MA law (took me 2 seconds of google) which clearly says you can take you car to any repair shop of your choice. Your third mistake was listening to the other guy's insurer about what their practices are -- don't matter since you did not sign up with them.

 

[trm2]

Do you know the liability limit the other guy had for PD? MA only requires $5,000. Say your damage was $9,500. His insurance company would pay $5,000 and they are done. Now, if you carry Uninsured/Underinsured Insurance, your insurance company will pick up the remaining $4,500. If you don’t carry UMUIM, you only have the option of going after the other driver personally, his insurance company is done if they paid out policy limits.

 

[OCR1]

I would certainly hope that someone who is driving a brand new Tesla has uninsured motorist coverage. But I guess you never know. Assuming the OP has it, I can’t for the life of me figure out why they are not using it to cover the $4,500 expense.

 

[Fernand]

Some years ago I dinged a lady's car. It was my fault. I told her I didn't want to run through insurance, but I'd take care of it. Good thing she trusted me. She didn't have a body shop in mind, so we agreed to meet at one I knew the next day. We got them to write an estimate, that came to $1200. I wrote her a check for $1400, and said get the car fixed wherever, or keep the money. Hand shake, end of story.
.

 

[trm2]

I would certainly hope that someone who is driving a brand new Tesla has uninsured motorist coverage. But I guess you never know. Assuming the OP has it, I can’t for the life of me figure out why they are not using it to cover the $4,500 expense.

Oh, I agree, but working in the industry for a couple of decades has certainly taught me that there are a lot of people that simply don’t understand insurance.