Originally Posted by
Dellphinus
Why not just ask her to make up the difference? She might be willing to do that rather than go to SC court.
Also, have you turned it in to your homeowners yet? Their lawyers miight be able to whup the auto insurance lawyers.
I talked to my homeowners ins rep today. They were no help. Said all they could offer was ACV less my deductible... which leaves me worse off than before.
Right now it seems that legal costs are prohibitive unless I were to be going after some pain and suffering type approach... which would take a long time to resolve and wouldn't have a lot of truth to it... except for the pain and suffering of dealing with the ins co.
So my plan is to meet personally with the adjuster, have my facts lined up and see if we can negotiate a better deal. Otherwise, I plan to approach the driver to make up the difference. I have nothing to lose at this point. No lawyer wants to take this on for just the property damage.. at least none of the ones I've spoken too (not my BIL).
My other option is SC court. But if all the ins co does is get up and quote coverage from their policy, I'm not sure if that's worth the time, effort and cost. Never done SC before, so I dunno what to expect out of that. I'm gonna explore that option with a lawyer who's had some experience in SC court.
Originally Posted by
jppe
Speedlever-My experience was very similar to yours but eventually I received a very fair offer. The insurance agent in my case was using information he could find over the internet. You can ask for his copies of the comparables where he gets his pricing so at least you'll know what he's working off of. You can come up with your own comparables as well. What I did was suggest instead of a cash payment they find me a suitable replacement that I would agree to...........don't know if that angle will help you.
I plan to go to my LBS tomorrow and see if they can help me establish a list of comparables before I meet with the adjuster. Hopefully they can give me some help.
OOC, what sort of suitable replacement did you come up with?
Originally Posted by
seenoweevil
I agree the OP should submit a detailed invoice from his lbs, but I can't approach the level of confidence you have that the insurance adjuster will immediately begin to work with you. Adjusters are paid to yank you around as long as possible before paying anything. These people are MUCH better at yanking you around than you probably are at intimidating them! My money will be on the adjuster every single time. I'm for submitting the invoice in a friendly yet firm manner by certified mail with a 30 day cutoff, at which time I would turn it over to an attorney. Otherwise they will drag it out, wearing OP down bit by bit, until he finally settles for peanuts, and the adjuster will get an "Attaboy" in December of 2010 when they finally mail the paltry payoff check.
Sadly, all to true it would appear. And thus far, no lawyer wants to tackle this deal just for property damage. So I'm not sure just how much control I have in this deal.