What should I do? | Huge rental bills and storage fees

by Seth
(Boise)

I was involved in a head on accident almost two years ago that totaled my vehicle. The other driver failed to yield and was cited. I was not. My company (progressive called me immediately to make a settlement).

At the advice of my agent I opted to have her insurance handle it. I made several calls to state farm and they told me they couldn't talk to me until they spoke with the other driver. after two weeks I went out and rented a vehicle this was a business vehicle so I rented a full size suv similar to what I had. After a month not hearing from state farm I hired an attorney.

There was a question as to who owned the vehicle I bought it from my fiancee and never switched the title. About two and a half months after the wreck I returned the rental vehicle cost me about $2400.

The vehicle had been sitting at a storage lot the whole time and they called me to see if anyone was going to get it. I called state farm immediately and two days later they were there and deemed it totaled but left it there. Almost 7 months after the claim state farm made me an offer of 6400 for the vehicle which was fair but offered me about 300 towards rental reimbursement and I was responsible for storage fees which were about 2500 at this point.

My attorney asked me to sign it without reading it. I did read it and fired him on the spot. After he sent a letter to state farm saying he would no longer be representing me state farm sent me a letter with the same offer.

I am out of pocket $4900 in rental and storage fees and 6400 to replace vehicle so I am at 11300 and they want to give me 6400 not to mention 3000 in unpaid medical bills whiplash concussion. What do I do? I talked to an attorney who recommended asking for a lump sum. It's been almost 2 years and I have to recoop some of my loses

Answer:


Hello Seth,

Well, this is clearly a miss handled situation by everyone involved (yes, you too - sorry). Out of everyone, you probably did not know that you had a duty to ensure the vehicle was not creating a bigger loss - please see: Duty to Mitigate Damages

Your lawyer should have told you this and your insurance company (and State Farm).

At any rate. What do you do now?

Contact a new lawyer and see what they can do. Also, contact the department of insurance and file a complaint against State Farm for the handling of the property damage / rental.

You can try to seek reimbursement for this

This is not an easy thing, and you are probably going to suffer a loss here, but you will be able to do some damage control.

I hope this helps.


Good Luck,
Auto Insurance Claim Advice