Auto Insurance Claims: car rental re imbursements, full coverage insurance, personal injury attorney

Question
QUESTION: I purchase a vw jetta march 3, 2008, and i has full coverage insurance with lincoln general.  On March 8th, my best friend needed to get to work and I allowed her to use my vehicle.  On her way she was hit by a large coach bus who was found to be at fault.  I called my insurance co and informed them of the accident, coincidentally, the coach co. also is insured with lincoln general.  My best friend had loaned me the money for the down payment and immediately contacted a personal injury attorney. Needless to say there was a dispute whether she was an insured driver.  I saw that they were trying not to pay for the accident.  During arbitration the coach co. was found liable for the property damage and medical bills.  This has be 1 year.  I had made multiple attempts to contact the coach co. ins and did not recieve a response for about 6 mo.  I informed the adjuster of my car rental reciepts and was requesting reimbursement. My car rentals were for about 7mo.  The car was just payed off and i was given a reimbursement for the 2500 i put down on the car(that was ok) My concern was the reimbursement for the car rentals adn the lack of communication from the coach co.  They told me yesterday they would only pay 30 days of my rentals!  How can that be so.  I have a disabled child and transportation was imperative.  If they had a "cap" on the rental expenses then why wasn't i informed. I am not satified with the offer nor do I want accept 30 days reimbursement as opposed to 7mos.  Help! What should I do?

ANSWER: Hi Sonya,

You had an obligation to mitigate your damages. That means to minimize. You should have turned the claim over to your own insurance policy who would have handled everything and paid the claim within 30 days. That is whey the bus company is saying they will only pay for 30 days. If you decided to waite for the bus company to get their act together it is considered to be your responsibility. You can try to push for more but you will likely on get any more if you file suit against the bus company.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Richard,

I had contacted and explained to my adjuster....however, I did not have rental car coverage on my policy and was encouraged to continue trying to contact the coach co.  To no avail, no calls were returned until about 2months ago, informing me of minimizing my damages...what do I do from here?

Answer
Hi Sonya,

You should call your insurance company again. Most policies cover a temporary replacement vehicle (rental car). You do not need to have rental car coverage on your policy to have coverage for a temporary replacement vehicle. You should pull out a copy of your policy before you call your company. Ask to speak to a claim supervisor. Ask them to point out to you in your policy where it says there is no coverage for a rental car or temporary replacement vehicle. It is possible they were wrong.

If your policy does exclude coverage for a temporary replacement vehicle, then the only thing you can do is to file a law suit against the bus company. Tell your story to the judge and hopefully he will award you the full amount.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh