Posts Tagged ‘damages’
Auto Insurance Claims : Insurance fraud?
My wife had an accident earlier this year. She was exiting through the exit in which the gate is broken, so it is always open. As she was coming out there was a truck blocking her view as the truck was almost in front of her. Behind that truck was a big Houston Metro bus, blocking even more the view. Well my wife felt compelled to go because she felt "in the way"..She drove Very carefully before proceeding to make the left turn when all of a sudden, a car hit her on the side (t-boned her).
The other car suffer minimal damage to the front, and would still turn on and drive. My wife’s car had the whole driver side beaten up and the right front tire was pushed inside and we could not push the car. The other girl was most likely speeding due to the tremendous impact and damage that my wife’s car sustained.
Okay, so both parties had no insurance. So we came to an agreement that my father in law would pay for the damages (because he thought his daughter was at fault) but these body shop repairs were to be at a place of our choosing.
The lady’s mother came to the scene and made the agreement by making my in-law sign a piece of paper (not notarized). Okay so the following week she is bitching that her daughter needs the car to go to work and school. Hello, so does my wife! And I had to take my wife to the hospital because the following day she was feeling bad. Anyway. The other lady took the car out of the shop and choose to do her own thing.
And then she was saying her car was un-repairable, or that it would cost 0 to fix?! When her car sustain only minimal front damage. Can you believe that?! My wife’s car cost 0 to fix, but only the mechanical…the body shop damage will run in the 1,000+
The lady’s daughter had 2 kids in the backseat when the accident happened. They were playing fine, jumping and climbing (we were with them for a few hours)…and the following days we get a call from this lady saying her grandson’s arm might be broken?! Don;t you think a lil 5-7 year old boy would be screaming in pain if his arm was broken?
Now she filed an insurance claim and the insurance company is wanting to talk to us about the claim. The thing is, the lady got car insurance AFTER the car wreck. And besides not wanting to get the cops involved at first, I also do not want to go along with this fraud because I have no idea what she is trying to do. She has called and told my in law that her lawyer wants to talk to us. I don’t know if this is true or just trying to threaten us….
What could be some of the possible consequences? Is she bluffing? Could the cops get involved, could she take us to court even though it was her daughter who hit my wife?
btw: this happened in Tx. and I did get photographs of the accident recording the damages to both cars.
skydan – no her dad would not pay for her insurance. It is only in the case of an emergency that he was willing to help. We were getting ripped off by the insurance company and it just seemed easy to stop paying for it.
The way I see it, you get insurance to cover you in case of an accident. You don’t get in a car wreck with no insurance, then go get insurance and expect them to cover the costs. At the time of the accident the cars were not insured, so why would the insurance agency put up with the costs?
An independently run auto body repair shop wont pay for accidental damages they caused, what should I do?
Revised question
An independently run auto body repair shop wont pay for accidental damages they caused, what should I do?
I went to get a quote to get some things fixed on my car at an auto repair shop. Before going there, I did not know anything about his reputation. No work was performed and nothing was signed. While there, when showing the manager what I wanted fixed, through a freak accident, a nut flew off a hand buffing tool. This worker was using it about 10 feet away which hit my car leaving a noticeable 1/8" deep dent, breaking through the paint, and exposing the raw metal underneath.
See 4 photos if you want:
http://s844.photobucket.com/albums/ab10/incatradr/CarDents/
The owner wants to fix the damage on the quarter panel instead of cashing me out. I received 6 estimates from other shops to fix this, who quoted 0-600 to fix it, most around 0. I later learned that the shop that did the damage is the cheapest (lowest priced) shop around. They gave me varying answers on the paint warranty, first 2 years, then 1 year. Other shops said the price low-ballers use lower quality paint that won’t last. Other shops said when you get your car repainted, you can go the cheap way, such as if you want it to look nice enough to resell it, or the more expensive way such as if you plan on keeping it longer term. I don’t trust this shop who did the damage and also worry if the paint won’t match the other part of the car. To suggest that I should simply have him “fix” it is an unwise response because he has proven himself untrustworthy. Furthermore, even if there was a warranty, with the way he operates he might not be around when its time to do warranty repairs. Even if he is, he is not the type of person who acts responsible for his actions. When I insisted he cash me out for 0, which is far less than any of the other shops quoted he still refused. He tried to say its only worth of damage. He tried to tell me its the guys fault who was using the tool that hit my car, because he’s a contractor. I call BS. All his employees were wearing similar uniforms. I told the owner my relationship was with his shop, not one of his employees and he needs to take responsibility for his workers. I told him it would be far cheaper for him to settle than this becoming a legal matter. He tried to blow me off, took my number and said the "contractor" who did the damage would call me. Of course he never did. I didn’t see a business license posted, as I believe required by law.
What should I do? Call the police? I know its a civil matter, but would they come? Would it scare him into submission? Would the police come in order to force him to produce his ID to me? Take him to small claims court in Houston TX? Post on Craigslist where he advertises to warn others until he settles with me? Go to his shop and refuse to leave until he pays me off? Other options? Filing with the BBB is worthless as all they would do is forward my complaint to him.
Im moving later this week about 4 hours away, so to return to Houston for court would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming. How do I get him to make this easy for both of us??
Revised
First 2 answers are terrible.
Racer22: MY insurance company isn’t responsible for this as it was 0% my fault. Besides, my deductible is over 0 so it wouldn’t apply anyway.
HowardL: I WAS the one who offered the 0 number for him to settle to pay me and he refused. All he wants to do is "fix" it and ONLY at his shop. Like I said, I received several quotes that ranged from 0-700, so your suggestion it can be done for less than 0 in a QUALITY manner is wrong.
I need to get some answers from people with better reading comprehension skills please.
If a doctor you meet at a bar stabs or shoots you, then he offers to fix it, should you go for that? It would be insane to accept.
By the same token, you shouldnt have to go to the same repair "doctor" who caused your damage, as there is inherent bias.