Expert: Ron Cercone - 10/12/2009

Question
QUESTION: In the state of georgia can a insurance company send you a letter stating your care was totaled,send documentation for you to sign, bill of sale , power of attorney. and lein holder information,you sign it , get it notorized and send it back to the company only to get a response that now that say after a new apprasial they are going to the car

ANSWER: Michael,

They are going to ...what? ... the car, fix it or total it?

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: They said that the car was not totaled and they sent me a check on Saturday I have not cashed the check I plan on fighting the insurance company decision I have retained a atty to help me, can they tell me it's totaled then say it is not? I completed all the paper work they sent me and had it notarized.

Answer
Well, your attorney should tell you that they cannot change their mind after they already told you what they would do. This is called "estoppel". However in your case, I think it would be more difficult and too expensive to litigate since they never sent you a check to "seal the deal". You would also have to prove you were damaged by relying on their original statements. For example, if you went out and bought another vehicle thinking yours would be totaled, and now you are stuck with two cars and or two lien payments, then you have real damages. And whether a judge would consider you "damaged", for having to accept payment for a vehicle to be repaired, is questionable.

Your cheapest route is to send a letter to the ceo of the insurer and hope for the best. And a letter from your attorney might also change their minds. You could also try to get the repair cost up. Look for stuff missed in the estimate and possible "open" items that could lead to a supplemental payment by the insurer. If repairs exceed 80%-90% of the cars value, most insurers will total it out.