Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 4/19/2010

Question
i was in a accident on 2-1-10 in Washington St. i was traveling down a one lane street
that at the intersection opens into 3 lanes left turn right turn and straight.with a gas
station on the right at the intersection. i was getting into the left turn lane the light
was red so i was slowing down to stop.the light was red and the cars in the right turn
and forward lanes were begining to stack up past the entrance to the gas station. as i
approached the left turn lane  the other car tried to take a left turn against on coming
traffic proceeding through a gap in the cars .they could not see traffic approaching in
the left turn lane. so as the driver proceeded through the gap and reached the left turn
lane i was in when they saw me coming and tried to accelerate into their left turn out of
the gas station . i t-boned them. their ins co (nationwide) said that i was 25% at fault.
they offered me $1000 and wanted to take my car .i research dealers and private owners  
and the lowest price for my car is $4000. they have not given me a rental car .what should i be given for my loss of use

Answer
Hi S. Hughes,

You should be provided a rental car until anb agreement is reached. However they will claim that you caused an unnessary delay in the settlement process and therefore they should not have to pay. They will use the rental car thing to try to strong arm you into taking their offer. This is what insurance companies do in order to pressure people into take less then they are entitled to.

You need to go to www.autotrader.com and locate cars like yours within a 100 mile radius of your zip code. Then print and send that inf to the insurance comapny to try to negotiate a better price. You can alsoire an independent vehicle appraiser to write an appraisal report. You just have to keep trying to negotiate a fair settlement. If all else fails then the only thing you can do is file a law suit against the at-fault driver.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh