Expert: Ron Cercone - 5/22/2009

Question
Hi

I had an accident with my car and when i notified the insurance company, i was asked to complete a motor claims form and attach photographs of the wrecked car and a quotation of the repairs and send to the insurance company.

I did all these while i instructed my mechanic to go ahead with the repairs.  It took the insurance company over a month to revert to me.

I just received an offer from the insurance company and it is half of the amount on the quotation.  In addition, the insurance penalised me for starting work on my car without inspection.  This penalty is 20% of the insurance company's estimate before arriving at the present offer.

I have paid my mechanic for this job and how do i make the insurance company pay me my complete money? I do not accept the insurance company's offer at all.  

Please help.

Answer
Hello Chijioke,

You should have gotten an agreed settlement offer of repair or replacement "before" proceeding with the repairs.

And your shop should have known enough to tell you that they should reach an "agreed cost of repair" with the adjuster before starting repairs.

As to the "20% penalty", I have never seen such a clause in an automobile policy in my 30 years as an adjuster. So make the adjuster show you were that is in the policy.

I suggest you get several more estimates to show that your mechanic did not over charge for the job. Have the shops use your photos and your mechanics estimate as a guide. Then submit those estimates to your adjuster. If he still refuses to pay more, then sue your insurer in small claims court. And consider suing your mechanic for not telling you how insurance works with car repairs. A judge might want to punish them since it took your insurer a month to respond.

If your car was "totaled out", and the value was too low, consider the eBook entitled "TOTAL LOSS AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE CLAIM ADVICE AND HELP - FOR INSUREDS" at UClaim.com http://www.uclaim.com .