I need advice

[palidin40]

I've had the same State Farm insurance rep for 14 years. When I called her, she told me before I file a claim to see how much the damage was. If under the deductible not to claim since they wouldn't pay anyway. Since the damage is below my deductible I won't be filing a claim. The area it happened in had no other businesses around so no cameras. When I go pick up the camper, I think I will talk to the new owners. Maybe they will do something but I wont hold my breath.

[ColoradoRick]

Originally Posted by palidin40

I've had the same State Farm insurance rep for 14 years. When I called her, she told me before I file a claim to see how much the damage was. If under the deductible not to claim since they wouldn't pay anyway. Since the damage is below my deductible I won't be filing a claim. The area it happened in had no other businesses around so no cameras. When I go pick up the camper, I think I will talk to the new owners. Maybe they will do something but I wont hold my breath.

USAA was the same with me when I backed my last truck (Tacoma) into a fire hydrant at work. (I couldn't see it.) The repair estimate was only a hundred over my deductible so I was going to just pay for it all myself. But once they got underneath the truck, they saw another part was also a little bent so that pushed the repair bill well over $3,000...so I ended up using my insurance.

[hondo]

Not trying to stir the pot but if someone hit a vehicle in a Walmart or similar business would the store be responsible for the damage?

[doc73]

Typically they say no.. Like when you see the signs saying that a loose cart hitting your car is your problem not theirs. Not sure how they "protect" themselves but hey, you can suit anyone if you want for the most part. Unless there was serious injury or something off the wall I would bet your insurance would rather just eat the cost of a hit and run than taking on fighting for money in court.

[JustB_Rad]

Originally Posted by hondo

Not trying to stir the pot but if someone hit a vehicle in a Walmart or similar business would the store be responsible for the damage?

What if a Walmart employee drives the carts into your vehicle?

[indybp57]

Unless you can prove negligence on the part of the dealer I would say you're out of luck. No different than getting it hit while parked at a shopping center - where its "ok to leave it there " in a legit parking spot.

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by spock123

I guarantee that most people will get more than one estimate and the insurance pays for the high one and you take it to the low estimate to get it fixed


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Most insurance companies work directly with the repair facility and pay them directly. You wouldn't be able to claim an estimate from one place and them claim elsewhere unless you took a cash settlement. From my experience, the cash settlement will be only a portion of what the insurance company's adjuster figures the repair estimate to be. The only way you'd be able to have them pay the higher estimate is if you actually had that facility do the repair, and that facility then submitted the bill directly to the insurance company.

Originally Posted by doc73

Typically they say no.. Like when you see the signs saying that a loose cart hitting your car is your problem not theirs. Not sure how they "protect" themselves but hey, you can suit anyone if you want for the most part. Unless there was serious injury or something off the wall I would bet your insurance would rather just eat the cost of a hit and run than taking on fighting for money in court.

Having built systems for several insurance companies over the years, including one specifically for recovering of funds, I can say that they really wouldn't 'just eat' the cost. However, they do also want to keep it out of the courts. Typically, you'd see them employing some basic strong arm tactics (phone calls, letters, collection agencies, that kind of stuff). If that doesn't work, then they have to decide if the value of the claim warrants the court costs of taking it to court. For the most part, if they think they have a case and the value is greater than their estimated court costs, they'll go to court.



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[doc73]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

Most insurance companies work directly with the repair facility and pay them directly. You wouldn't be able to claim an estimate from one place and them claim elsewhere unless you took a cash settlement. From my experience, the cash settlement will be only a portion of what the insurance company's adjuster figures the repair estimate to be. The only way you'd be able to have them pay the higher estimate is if you actually had that facility do the repair, and that facility then submitted the bill directly to the insurance company.




Having built systems for several insurance companies over the years, including one specifically for recovering of funds, I can say that they really wouldn't 'just eat' the cost. However, they do also want to keep it out of the courts. Typically, you'd see them employing some basic strong arm tactics (phone calls, letters, collection agencies, that kind of stuff). If that doesn't work, then they have to decide if the value of the claim warrants the court costs of taking it to court. For the most part, if they think they have a case and the value is greater than their estimated court costs, they'll go to court.



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That is what I meant by "eat the cost." The insurance company is not going to want to spend 50,000 in court to get back $3,000 in damage to your bumper. Get run over by a car in in the hospital for month of rehab... You better believe they'll go to court. Places like shopping centers know this so strong arm probably will do nothing. Now smaller center, more privately owned (like a small strip mall maybe) might be more inclined to work with you to avoid the bad PR or the chance of an insurance claim.