Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 4/21/2010

Question
Good Evening

My car was hit in a parking lot while I was in a place of business, the cop actually saw the person who hit my car and stopped them to get their information from them.

To make a long story short, I got the information and made a claim with their insurance company. The car was sent to the body shop and their insurance companies appraiser appraised the damages. However, the dealership said that it "looks to be prior damage and we cannot fix the current issue without fixing prior damage". So the insurance company let me know that they can pay what the damages cost to get it fixed and they won't pay for the other work the dealership will have to do.

I was in an accident a year ago with the vehicle and it was fixed by an autoshop. However, even if their is prior damages, there would not have been ANY damages had they not hit my car.

So my question is, can they refuse to pay for the total repair?

Thanks

Crystal

Answer
Hi Crystal,

If there was prior damage to the same area as the current damage and the prior damage was not properly or completely repaired, then the insurance company paying for the current damage is not responsible for paying for the old repaires.

This will be a vy difficult process. You will need to involve the insurance company and the body shop for the prior damage. Everyone will need to sort out who is responsible for what damage and pay accordingly. You may need to hire an ndependent damage appraiser to assist you in this process.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh