QuestionQUESTION: I was visiting New York in November. A friend of mine was driving my car and got into an accident. Another vehicle ran into my car. He left the scence and I was driven to it. I was not given the other drivers insurance info instead of her policy number and her name. My insurance informed me that they were not going to pay anything because I was not driving. My car is not drivable so it was impounded. I had to get back home that day to Georgia. I did not have any money to get my car out of storage and to get it fixed. I was told that my car repairs exceed the car value. I was finally contacted by the other driver's insurance and decided to not report damages because I was told that since I was not driving that I couldn't get anything for my loss. Since then I have spoken to lawyers and experts and was told to reopen the claim and push the case because even though I was not driving, the other driver still hit my car and was at fault. I called back her insurance to reopen the claim. The told me that they were going to send an inspector to look at the car. (It is still in New York and I am still in Georgia). The impound called me saying that unless I pay the storage fees that the inspector cannot look at the car. The storage fees are $4000. Way more than what the car is worth. I feel that I shouldn't have to pay that because it is not my fault that the car is there, if I could have gotten the car out back then I wouldnt have anywhere to take it because it is not drivable and I had no money to fix it because the repairs are also more than what the car is worth. I don't know what to do. Please help me. I don't have the money to pay the storage fees. Should I just drop the claim again or is the other insurance responsible for the storage fees?
ANSWER: Tiffany,
Wow, you have a doozie here. First of all, unless your friend was excluded by some type of policy language, then he/she is a permissive user and all of your own coverages should apply. So your insurance should cover this loss if you gave permission for the friend to drive. I would want to see a copy of the specific policy language that eliminates coverage when a permissive user is driving the vehicle.
Second, if you can't pursue your own insurance carrier, then definitely the negligent party's carrier should pick up the bill. Where you will run into a problem is with a nasty little term called "mitigation". Mitigation means to "keep your loss as minimal as possible". Sometimes, an individuals inability to mitigate is a terrible factor. This is where I believe you stand with storage fees. . . you didn't mitigate your loss by taking the proper steps to insure that you were not incurring unreasonable storage charges. Believe me, I understand the dilemma you were in, but a Judge will likely not see it that way.
For example, you stated that you had to get back home to Georgia the day of the accident, right? Why? If your vehicle is totaled out in an accident, then it is probably a priority to get that taken care of. I think most people would see it this way. You just left your car up there and went back home? How long did you wait before you pursued the other driver's insurance? You said that they finally contacted you, and if I were on a jury, I would wonder why you weren't calling the company every day to get paid for your car. You are simply in a lose / lose situation.
In this case, I hate to say it, but the law and statutes you must be familiar with, and the amount of work that would be put into a case like this is not going to be worth it for most attorneys, and the insurance companies know that it will be very difficult for you to put any legal pressure on them without an attorney. Sure there is some potential for a suit due to "unfair claim settlement practices", but it will take money or a lot of knowledge to fight for justice.
If I were you, I would drop the claim, even if you were able to negotiate a payment for the value of your vehicle, you would still be in the hole due to the excessive storage. I am not sure about the law in regard to abandoning a vehicle at a storage facility (I think you can be fined $250.00, and held liable for the costs associated with storage and disposal of the vehicle).
I do not know of any way you can force a person or a company to pay unreasonable storage fees, but the maximum allowed storage charges are $15/day for the first 3 days, and then no more than $17/day from the fourth day on. It is also important whether you authorized the tow, or the police authorized the tow as if the police authorized the tow, then the tow company is likely on a police rotation list and is further regulated by New York code.
I hope this helps.
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QUESTION: I had to go back to Georgia because I did not have anymore money. Like I said, I was just visiting and was staying at a family member's house that was only a one bedroom. I also had both my children with me and a job to go to. I had to borrow money to catch a train back home.I was not given the other driver's insurance information until Feburary when they called me. I decided to drop the claim because many people were telling me that since I was not driving the car then I won't win the case. I do understand that I should have tried to pay the storage fees when they were low but I did not have a dime to my name. I also did not feel the use of paying for the car to be released when there was nowhere to take it to, it wont drive, noway for me to get back to New York, and no funds to get the car fixed. My insurance has told me that they would not pay for anything because I was not driving the car. I know I should have did more research instead of going by what I was being told by family and friends. So I basically should give up on trying to get anything for my loss?
AnswerGiving up is not in my vocabulary, but you have a hard road to hoe. The best explanation I can give you is that the law does not hold other people responsible for your lack of funds. I know that sounds harsh, but that is how it works.
Waiting for information is not acceptable, one must diligently search for and locate information that will help to mitigate damages. It seems that you may have been in an unfortunate situation due to your financial status, which is not the problem of anyone that causes you damage. It is an unfair system. It does not help those who cannot help themselves.
Anything you get for your loss will be spent paying for your lack of ability to mitigate your loss. I am sorry for my opinion, and please take it as that, only an opinion. You could potentially find an attorney that could prove that the negligence / unfair tactics utilized by the negligent party's insurance carrier (by leading you to believe you did not have a claim) are worth the cost of pursuing damages.
JP
