Just had a very minor accident, Rav4 hit my R/R wheel and tire. Advice on what to lol for?

You had to pay for it????

 

After having my insurance harass the other drivers insurance I was told to just get it fixed out of my pocket and I would be reimbursed. I had it fixed inside of 24 hours and the other insurance still tried to fight me on it but still ended up paying me back in full and then some.

 

(like an hour before your post, I ordered another GoPro to leave in the truck, before I'd just mount mine sometimes, always forget to, doh!)

Yours does front and back, been better purchase

 

Cool, glad you got it strait. But what about the wheel and tire? PVD finish on my wheel is scuffed up, wheel probably bent, brand new tire took an impact, I'm worried about possible damaged bands. They didn't cover at least new wheel and tire too?

 

This cam has been great so far, have only had it for a year. Other cams I’ve used that were cheaper haven’t been so great. I would say GoPros have a much higher video quality but I like dash cams because I never have to activate or even touch them

 

You can set GoPro to start recording on power up. But still only one direction yours does front and back. Lol, I'll find an excuse to give to the old lady to justify buying one of those, just might take a month or so after buying another GoPro

 

I decided it wasn’t worth it, in my case it was mostly paint scratches. Had a tire shop inspect the wheel for microfractures and they found nothing. It was already enough of a hassle dealing with their insurance and now the wheel has battle scars.




As for the body, I was already in the process of replacing all 4 corners (front fenders, bedsides) with fiberglass and I made them pay me for the bedside. Luckily I had not installed any of them yet.

 

Speaking from a Tacoma guy stand point, that's fine if you are OK with it. Speaking from the stand point of a licensed insurance agent and adjuster, they owe you the cost to make it right. Wheel, tire, scratches dents, etc. Any part that was touched they owe you for. In insurance, basically a claim is settled when you were put back in the same place you were before the incident.

Who was the other insurance company, from the way they treated the claim, guessing either Geiko or USAA.

 

Other insurance was Allstate. I fully agree with you that they are required to make things right. Unfortunately what I found is that no one I dealt with cared. I spoke with the “adjuster” who was supposed to assign a “field adjuster”. After the adjuster lied her way through things and canceled the field adjuster I dealt with Allstate’s complaint department, who in the end ignored me as well. I then had to deal with Allstate’s photo claim department who in turn redirected me back to the original adjuster. In their eyes the only way to fix my truck was to have a shop work on it and I send Allstate the bill.

I told the adjuster I did the bodywork myself and she about had an aneurism, so I decided to take what I could and call it good. I’m honestly pleasantly surprised I had 1/4 of my fiberglass order paid for.

I basically left it with them that if I find any more issues I’ll send them the bill, if they have a problem with it they can deal with my insurance.

 

Man, from what you described, nothing about your claim was handled correctly. Sounds kind of like your just happy to be over with it. But if you want to pursue it further, don't get your insurance company involved yet.

To pursue further, first step is contact your insurance agent, ask HIM to call the other company, you do not want to call your insurance company directly in a case like this.

If that does not produce any progress, contact your states department of insurance.


If you call your insurance company directly, a claim on your insurance will be opened. Even if it's not your fault, and they pay nothing, that claim being opened will be reported on your CLUE report. CLUE is the insurance equivalent to your credit report trying to get a loan. Your agent can usually take care of issues like this without you getting a negative CLUE hit.

All that said, I'm still clenching my teeth to follow my own advice and handle a claim like I tell everyone is the best way to get results. So I get it, when your on the other side. First thing Monday, I'm going to ask someone at my office to deal with my claim, I'm too personally involved I think.

 

Update...

By far the most memorable quotes in my entire insurance career... Read the rest afterwards if you care.

JB:"I don't care about a rental car, I don't care about deductibles, all I care about is my truck being fixed and not having a negative claim on my policy"

CR:"I completely understand, I love my car to! I just put 22's on it, cost me about a buck 75 (side note, for those who don't speak ghetto car speak, a buck 75 is $1750 for 4 tires and wheels) hold on... I see there are updates to the file."
JB:"No problem at all take your time."
CR:"Thanks"

... About a minute on hold...

CR:"I reviewed the pictures and and accident report that was submitted and..."

I cut her off

JB:"Ya those are almost a buck each!"

--------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the the update, the long boring version...

I am insured by the same company as the lady who hit me, which I also used to work for. I did what I said I handed this over to another agent to deal with. The claim was not filed on my policy. The claim was filed on the other persons policy. I didn't want a negative CLUE hit. After multiple calls everyday from the insurance company to the other party, they will not respond. Which I find completely unbelievable. I have neve run into a situation where a person who is at fault or not at fault, that has major damage to their almost brand new car ever not make a claim or at least deny liability and try to file fraudulent claim for repairs. ????

What do you do? Park it in the garage and pay car notes???


Anyways, yesterday, and I know it's the law, they set a 14 day time limit, if the other party (since it is a claim on their policy) does not respond, they will forward to mediator for liability determination.

I admit, I was livid!

Previously, I've been trying to follow protocol and just let it be. All previous calls were to the 800 claims number... Usual answers...

I called the direct line to the Team claim office handling my claim.

CR:"Good morning, my name is xxxxx, thank you for calling xxxxx, how can I help you?"

JB:"Yes, I need to speak with the claims rep handling claim #18- (lol, if you deal with claims, you know which company).

CR:"Sure, let me look it up"
CR:"I am the adjuster on that claim, who am I speaking with?"

I gave her my name, she saw I was the person hit and that we both had xx policies. She stated that the other party will not answer their calls and had not filed a claim, so without speaking to the named insured to verify a claim filed by a third party (me) and admit being liable or deny liability, they had to wait the time period out then forward.

Then she saw I was also insured through them.

She suggested an option to file a claim on my policy to get repairs done ASAP, then wait and see what happens. But, you don't have rental car coverage and I give me second... but you will also have to pay a deductible.

----------------------------------------------------

Fill in with the beginning quoted conversation.


------------------------------------------------------

current status...

With both parties, myself and xx recording the phone call, it was agreed based on review of pictures and police report that the other party was at fault. After the time limit for the other party to respond has run out, I will get my deductible back. (deductible is $100, I honestly don't care, only worried about my record)

Now the fun part.....

An adjuster will actually be coming in a few days.

I plan to just go back to my previous notion and drop it off at a friends custom shop and again hand it over and let whatever happens... Happen. No adjuster is going to know wtf they are looking at and ask for shops opinion anyway....


Your welcome for your bedtime story, lol! Nite all!

 

This is better than a movie.

 

It's like watching a crime, drama, and sit-com show, all rolled into one. Maybe it'll have a happy ending...oh wait.

 

I 'thought' it was just me, over obsessing about it being my truck and pointing out oddities on how this was being handled.

But brother, you hit the nail on the head!

So, I had to file under my policy...


Found out today who the registered owner of the RAV4 is... Pretty much explains the delay in response to the requests for statements in regard to the accident.

I'm not mentioning names, but it's a prominent elected official.

Stay tuned!

 

Heh, to the credit of this adjuster I met with today, she actually did a cross reference and a picture came up. She said... Wait "xxxx. Xxxxxxx" hit you? I said no, produced the accident report that stated the name of the driver, she said that's his.... Registered to him...

 

Wow. That makes me even more angry that they won't make it right but make it seems like they are above the law. It would give me more reason to be tempted to send this story to the local news. Most news station has an annoying consumer rights beat reporter that goes harassing businesses on behalf of consumers and the outcome usually is positive when the business is exposed on TV. Pretty sure it'll work in this case if you send a letter to the office of the official requesting her to fix the situation before you have to go public. It's not right that you have file under your insurance and the other driver is sweeping this incident under the rug. You did nothing wrong but are getting punished.

 

That axel bearing is now suspect. That’s slightly tedious job, make them pay for it.

 

I was involved in a similar accident in a 98 Jeep Wrangler last March... I was on the highway driving about 55 mph when a lady in a Kia Sorrento pulled out right in front of me... or rather jumped out about 3 feet into the lane and stopped...

I didn't have time to even hit the brakes... but almost missed her... the cheap plastic 'jug' on the end of the jeep bumper hit her front bumper... the next thing that hit was my front passenger tire. My fender went over her bumper and didn't even get scratched.

It completely demolished her front bumper, grille, hood, and left fender... I drove my Jeep 40 miles home.

My jeep suffered no body damage at all, but I discovered that, besides the wheel being bent, it had a bent axle tube, all 4 front control arms were bent, the frame is twisted, and the track bar and tie rod are warped.

Her insurance company totalled the Jeep... after all, it was 20 years old with 280,000 miles...

They wrote me a check for more money than I ever would have believed that Jeep was worth... and let me keep the Jeep (with a salvage title, of course).

I'm still debating whether I want to fix it or part it out...

-Bear

 

Gotcha! Sounds like it all worked out good for you

 

I will.

It took a bit of explaining as to why I don't want to drop it off at collision shop and let it just be fixed. I explained that with a custom suspension, specialty shops have to be used at each step. It's just going to probably end up dragging this out for good bit, go from one shop to the next. So far the insurance company seems to be accepting this.

The current tentative schedule...

- Today brought it to custom suspension shop. They checked it out and said it would be best to first have a frame shop check the frame and also make sure hangers are aligned before they start.
- called insurance company, got approved for frame check, etc
- Tuesday, off to the frame shop
- After that, back to suspension shop to put together an estimate for insurance company
- after that, it's going to differential shop to check the Axel, bearings, etc
- after that going to the wheel shop to have the tire dismounted and wheel inspection. Insurance paid for the tire already, but wants a shop to see if the wheel can be repaired, so I'm playing the game... Not causing a fuss, but once everything is 'settled' if they don't replace the wheel then I'll cause the fuss.

I guess the 'good' news is, myself, suspension shop and adjuster found no body damage at all. So.... If your needing an excuse to give the little woman to spend the $$$$ to lift your truck, there you go! "But babe, it will keep both me and my truck safe if I am in a accident." Hey, it could work, lol!

So that's where we are at