Lawyer to fight insurance claim

Our own Uncle Greggy knows a little something about cars and the law....

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If the diminution of value claim is on the owner's insurance policy it may be a problem. If it is against the other driver and fault is established, the diminution of value claim should be solid.

 

Before you hire a lawyer, have the car appraised for it's diminished value. You will need to hire a certified appraiser recognized by the insurance company. I used a great guy in FW who is also a gear head, John Holmes. Vehicle Appraisals | I-VAN Certified Appraiser - Texas

I took his appraisal and asked my insurance company to send to directly to the insurance company of the person who hit me. 10 days later, I had a check. No problem.

Your friend can't use the $25k estimate that that the dealership supposedly was going to pay more for the car as a trade. The amount they were offering for his trade may not closely related to what the car is worth, it is just what what they were willing to pay with the profit he was willing to pay for the new car, financing ,etc.

Good luck to your friend. Hope it goes as easily as it did for me.

 

I actually handle this sort of thing on the defense side for a top 5 insurance carrier in the country. Most DV claims never make it this far, but for collector cars and cars of significant value they occasionally get up the ladder.


If I receive a demand with an expert evaluation (doesn't necessarily have to be someone recognized by the carrier, just an 'expert' in the field must be proven) that has already been filed and service has been perfected on the defendant then I have them paid each and every time unless the demand is completely unsupported, and even then I have yet to see one go to trial or mediation.

By filing and serving the defendant they know you mean business and the case is automatically moved to either their in-house defense counsel or outside defense counsel depending on the company. If it's Geico, they are mainly internal in-house counsel and their guys are usually very young and inexperienced, but they always have bigger fish to deal with as they are kept very busy, too busy for this nonsense. Additionally, you can request legal expenses to the judgment which are sometimes allowed. Regardless, as long as the insurance carrier has been notified (either by their client or you cc'ing them on the service), they must honor the judgment if they have had the opportunity to defend.


With big carriers it's just a matter of pushing the right buttons and filing the right docs which gets the file to the right people with proper monetary authority. Occasionally just drawing up the unfiled complaint moves it along to the right people. Low level people handling every day type losses with 'normal cars' simply haven't the authority, so take baby steps in moving it up the ladder, forward the unfiled complaint with a proper demand, file the demand and perfect service, file a motion for summary judgment, mediation, trial etc.

Rest assured these are definitely not cases they would ever consider defending or even mediating. When one of these cases lands on my desk the first thing I do is wonder how on Earth it ended up here and what co-worker and their superiors made the choice the not pay such an obvious loss (much of the time).


Good luck

 

Then get an appraisal of the vehicle, as repaired, in comparison with a vehicle that has never been damaged and present it to the insurer and see what they say.

 

$50k in damage? That doesnt sound right. I would go for a total loss. That is A LOT of damage for a Turbo S. Maybe on a GT2 or a CGT it's worth repairing. Is that quote already approved by the adjuster?

 

I had someone back into my Gallardo and caused 8k worth of damage. The dimished value was $20 to $25k. He only had $25k coverage so they wrote me a check for the difference so $17k. The funny thing Is I sent them letter from Lamborghini of Dallas and they offered me $10k. I asked where they came up with that and she said it was their offer. Lol. I told her they could pound sand and she called me back saying they would send the $17k.
I spoke with my insurance company and they told me the only thing I could do is file for the difference with them. They said I had I think 2 years (from what I remember) from the accident to file it.

Doug

 

If you need any help with the diminished value claim, I am an Accredited Senior Appraiser with 10 years experience..I do exotic cars all the time. Give me a call and I can go over numbers with you.

 

How much do you charge for an appraisal?

 

Frame damage? To the cabriolet frame or the car frame? If it is the car frame, then that is a total loss.If it was the cabriolet top, still no way it is $50k on a car that was about to be traded so it was not even brand new. Even with body damage. And replacing the door and either qtr panel entirely. Something does not pass the sniff text. The ratio of the claim value to the car value is so out of whack anyone would try to fix it.. I have had to fight insurance companies from the other side of the fence. They wanted to total one of my cars because the damage was 40% of acv. I had to prove with pictures and service the condition of the car was in superb condition and they ended repairing it.

 

PM Sent

 

Well, apparently i cannot do PM's yet...my office number is 239-243-9163 if you want to discuss.