Liability and/or Coverage Disputes
Taking the most generous view of how insurance companies operate, they receive premium payments from their insureds, and therefore they should take their insureds side in any dispute. How this plays out in practice is that insurance companies will use any excuse to deny responsibility. So if their insured says “the accident wasn’t my fault” they will take that as the 100% truth even if the facts make it clear that is not true or even when there are witnesses who say their insured is at fault.
Even in cases where the insurance company for the at fault driver eventually accepts responsibility, that decision isn’t instantaneous. When there is an accident that is anything other than a straight rear end collision, or one where the insured admits they are 100% responsible, the insurance company for the at fault party is going to complete an investigation.
That investigation will consist of taking a statement from their insured, looking at pictures of the involved vehicle, potentially checking out the scene of the accident, taking any witness statements etc. Even with an extremely proactive adjuster, those things can take weeks to complete. If you aren’t using your own insurance to repair your vehicle, your car will not be getting repaired during that time.
This can lead to you being responsible for additional out of pocket expenses such as those for storage of your car at a body shop and paying for a rental vehicle. While it would be reasonable for an insurance company to pay these damages, since it was their delay that caused you to incur them, they will fight extremely hard to avoid paying them, knowing that it does not make sense to litigate property damage cases. Insurance companies handle thousands of claims a day. If they can save even $20 on each claim that adds up to a significant sum over the course of the year. Insurance companies are aware of this and are always looking for ways to save money, and fighting hard on storage and rental fees is one way they do it.
That isn’t to say that if you go through your own insurance company that the at fault insurance company will be reasonable about your storage and rental fees. But by going through your own insurance company you will be saving potentially weeks of waiting around for the at fault insurance company to make a decision, meaning you have less storage and rental fees for them to argue about.
If you have any questions regarding the damages to your vehicle, reach out to Doherty Injury Law. We are here to help.
