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Thu 28 Oct, 2004 04:45 am
Should an insurance company contact the owner or primary policy holder before repairing a car?
My 18 yr old daughter is in Oklahoma. I am in Illinois. She was involved in an accident in Oklahoma and called the insurance company. They had her take the car to a body shop for "estimates". They gave her a rental. I figured the car would be totaled. The next day the body shop called her and told her the insurance said to fix the car. Not knowing she had a choice and that I had not been contacted by them she just said OK. This was a Friday. I found out over the weekend what had happened from my daughter. The body shop or insurance co. never called me (the owner) or my husband (the primary policy holder) at any point.
I tried to stop them from repairing but was told on Monday morning the car was almost done (even though the body shop was closed all weekend?). I heard this from both the body shop and insurance since we had called and left voicemails for both of them over the weekend. They said it was too late to stop now and I had no options. It is now Thursday and somehow the car still isn't done.
I have been told the car was 250$ (by their figures) away from being totaled and now they have found more damage which does total the car but since they have started repairs it is too late. On top of that I now have to pay them 500$ to get the car back.
I would have never repaired this car. The original "estimate" on it would have paid the loan off.
I know what they have done is underhanded and dirty but is it legal?
I have told the insurance company to just pretend they handled this correctly, write me the check for the totaled car, and we can all be on our way. They have not replied.
By the way...this is Farmers insurance company with whom I have had everything I own insured by them for 24 years. This is not some fly by night company.
I'm not a lawyer, but if you are the owner of the car I can tell you that there's nothing legal about this. I had an insurance company try to scam me once, so all I did is call them and tell them that I know what they did was not lagal and I was calling my lawyer as soon as I hang up with them. I did this and got a call back in less than 5 minutes from the insurance company telling me they now saw their mistake and everything went nice and smooth after that.
Tell them the same thing I told my insurance company and I believe you'll be all set.
I feel your frustrsation. Don't let them get away with it. If they don't do anything after you threaten to call a lawyer, then call a lawyer and after they lose, they will also be required to pay for your lawyer. They know this, so just the threat of calling a lawyer usually puts them in line. As the comercial says "Tell them you mean business".
Good luck to you and let us know how it goes.
I'm not sure. Is your daughter legally an adult in Oklahoma or Illnois.
If so, perhaps her permission was sufficient. Did she sign anything?
Call your claims adjuster, explain what you explained to us and provide as much documentation as you can. If you don't get satisfaction at that level, ask to speak to a supervisor. If you don't get satisfaction there, start making noises about suing.
Thanks!
Noddy24 wrote:I'm not sure. Is your daughter legally an adult in Oklahoma or Illnois.
If so, perhaps her permission was sufficient. Did she sign anything?
Erica is 18 which makes her legal for most things I guess. She signed a form on 10/21 at the body shop she thought was for the estimate. The body shop made a note on the form the "customer ok'd repairs" the day after on 10/22. She did not sign anything on that day.
I honestly don't think they are suppose to do anything without contacting the owner of the car. Did you call the insurance company back? I would nip this in the bud now. I would take action in the same steps Jespah explained and I wouldn't wait any longer.
Does your daughter have a copy of what she signed? Most repair shops will provide a copy and then it can be compared to what they have at the shop, e. g. if the shop added anything to the repair order.
Keep in mind that the insurance company knows your daughter is only 18 and are usually safe to assume that she doesn't know what her choices are in these matters, so it's easier for them to deal with her since it's harder to take advantage of an older adult. If I was in that situation and the car was in my name, I'd be mad as hell and wouldn't allow it. If you want anything to happen here, you have to get on it now.
As Jespah said before, you need to get all the paperwork together. I'd also tell your daughter not to sign anything else.
Depending on the jurisdiction, if the car was originally thought to be repairable, you would not have had the option of cashing out at that $. There is normally a deduction for cashing out instead of repairing. The $500.00 is the deductible you'd have to pay in any case.
Call the insurance company. Ask to speak to the manager of the physical damage group. Get that person to pull the file and review it with you - clarify that you are the vehicle owner and that you were not consulted by the insurance company. That'll get someone's eyes to bug out.
You might have a bit of a problem, depending on where your policy says the car is being driven - and who the primary driver is. A lot of insurers would have a problem with a car owned by one person, insured by a second person, driven by a third, in an area away from the owner and policyholder. Make sure you have everything in that regard clear in your head before you call anyone.
Is it an agent or broker-handled policy? If there is a broker involved - talk to the broker as well.
Yup and don't waste any time.
This sounds to me like the body shop is scamming you, not Farmers. I just processed a total claim with them, and they didn't rush it at all. In fact, because of a variety of things that happened, we didn't finalize the claim for over two months, while they had the car in their possession.
I agree, cjhsa. I think it's the body shop at fault.
Thanks everyone for your support! I looked up the CEO of Farmers this morning and sent him an email. They had someone on the phone with me within 2 hours who said he would look into the matter, it may take him a couple of days but he would be sure to get back to me on Monday no matter what. Hopefully this will get resolved somehow. They still don't seem to want to back down but maybe they will at least offer me some kind of compromise. I too believe the body shop had a lot do to with what happened but it was still the insurance company's responsiblilty to notify me in the first place so "I" could deal with the body shop.
Thanks again everyone. I will let you know how it turns out.
You looked up the CEO and sent him an e-mail?! Gawd, ain't the internet a wonderful thing!!!
That's great. It's good that you have things on the go. You're right in saying that it is the insurance company who is responsible for contacting you and not the body shop. Don't let this go either and don't let them brush this off. If where you live you don't have a choice in whether you get the car fixed or take cash, then you just may be stuck with getting the car fixed. As Beth said also, the $500 is probably your deductable and there's nothing that can be done about that either. Either way, nothing should have happened without your consent.
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