QuestionQUESTION: My parked work van was hit by a drunk driver and it rolled over onto our office lawn. My wife and I own a small property management company and I am the maintenance person. The van carries all of our equipment. The driver's insurance claimed liability and totaled the van. They offered $4600 for the 2002 E250 Ford Econoline. I am sending additional fair market value comps for the adjuster to review. Also, since the van was turned over, all the tools and my equipment were tossed in the van. Many keys have been lost and our business is managing rental properties. We have lost keys to the apartments and laundry. How do we get compensated for the lost keys to the rental units and the tools? Also, we have not been able to take care of business and have lost wages and income. In addition, our office image has deteriorated with the skid marks and debris. Is there any way to go after the driver for our business problems or should we continue to negotiate with the insurance company?
Thank you.
ANSWER: Liability should cover all your damages. Your problem is properly documenting your loss. You have some not so common types of damages. I would suggest becoming familiar with mitigation. That is not a misspelling. It is mitigation with an "m". Your damages should simply be documented and presented to the carrier for the at fault driver.
Costs for getting a locksmith to change out locks, cost for clean up of the skid marks and debris, losses associated with your inability to perform business functions can be recovered, but you must prove that the accident and resulting damages are the sole cause. If you claim that you couldn't take care of business because you couldn't get into your locked cabinet that had tools in it, then you didn't mitigate the damage by getting a replacement lock and key and simply "biting the bullet".
An accident is never fun and it will always cost you money out of pocket, but most of the time if you handle your loss correctly, you can recover your out of pocket expenses from available insurance.
We provide free consultations for individuals and businesses that have claims issues. Look us up on the web. Sometimes, it's just in the petty details!
I hope this helps.
JP
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Hi JP,
I wanted to follow up with the response from Geico. We agreed on the amount for the totaled van and cashed the check. The second check which they said was for the personal property and lost wages was short $1700. I sent them all my receipts and they sent me a check for $2800 which should be for $4500. I have sent several emails with no response. We have not cashed this check. How should we proceed?
Thank you.
David
AnswerYou should tear up the telephone trying to reach someone for an explanation on how they calculated your loss and advise them that you are not accepting their settlement offer as it does not cover the entire amount of your damages.
Sometimes, the trick is getting the right person on the phone. If you have sent several e-mails without a response, then I would arm myself with the documentation of such and then proceed to get a claims manager on the phone to explain to me why I am being ignored. You may have to become a bit aggressive in your telephone manner. Do not leave a message, request that the operator page the claims manager or adjuster, if they refuse, advise them you will hold until the adjuster, supervisor or manager becomes available. Do not give up. In order to proceed properly, you must have an explanation of how they calculated your damages. You need to know what they claim is not covered and why. It has to either be lack of documentation, or policy provisions that are keeping you from getting paid, and the only people that can shed some light on this are the claims people at Geico.
I hope this helps. You can always find us on the web at www.pettydetailsllc.com if AllExperts isn't fast enough for you, I am available directly almost always.
JP
