Auto Insurance Claims: Do I pay car devaluation fees if my INS not cover?, collision damage waiver, personal insurance company

Question
We had an accident when we rented Hertz rental car. We bought the collision insurance when we booked on-line at RentalCars.com.

The total Hertz  charged was $6,770. The insurance only paid $5,500. (They said they covered all repair fees, but not the devaluation fee %26 adm fee Hertz charged). Do we need pay the gap $1,270? Can we argue with Hertz or Insurance Co.???
Any idea how to avoid or reduce the amount that we have to pay by ourselves???


Thanks so much!!!

Lisa

Answer
In general, your insurance company should pay for any damages for which you become legally liable.  You can definitely argue about the diminished value.  My company specializes in determining just this sort of thing, and very few companies have what it takes to credibly determine diminished value.

I am confused on the insurance involved.  The "collision damage waiver" is normally the "insurance" you purchase from the rental company, and if you purchased that, then I would want to read the agreement before I paid anybody anything.  It seems that damages, including diminished value, would be included unless specifically excluded.

Your personal insurance company should cover anything the collision damage waiver doesn't cover, so long as it is reasonable, and so long as "contractual liability" is not excluded in your policy.  Your insurance company may simply be challenging the validity of the diminished value assessment.

With more information, I could surely provide better insight to your situation.  I hope this helps!

Information is always free at Petty Details, LLC!

JP