QuestionI was recently involved in an accident where I was sideswiped into a median
causing my car to flip on its side totaling it. This occurred on Saturday,
August 7th 2010. Safeco did not claim liability till 27 days later on Friday,
September 23rd 2010. They issued me an offer for my vehicle the same day,
but the offer was riddled with errors (they didn't put the millage, so it
evaluated my car at 99k when it only had 88k, they wrote down it was a 5-
speed when it was a 6-speed (and even on the CCC One report, the VIM
readout said it was a 6-speed), and missed quite a few features). I notified
them of the issues and provided a photo of the odometer reading and was
given a corrected offer on Monday, September 6th.
Now we are arguing over loss of use. I had to pay for the towing on my own
vehicle @ $1200, which pretty much wiped me clean of any spare cash I had
on hand (took my bank account down to $20). I also sustained an ankle injury
due to the accident which did not enable me to drive for approximately a
week after the accident.
I did my research locating four of the major rental car companies closest my
residence, and plugging in 27 days, got the cost of renting the cheapest car
to come out to $827.83 (or $30.66 a day). I believed I was being fairly
reasonable due to the fact that my vehicle totaled was a Hyundai Tiburon GT,
a performance sports coupe, and I chose to use the cheapest rental car (a
Chevy Aveo) provided for my loss of use demand.
The adjuster shot back that she would only pay $16.84 a day for each day (a
grand totale of $454.86) as if I had requested for a rental car (I don't see why
I would have, I couldn't afford the farming rental car after the tow bill) they
would have referred me to their rental car company where they could get a
discounted rate. She also claimed that she did not have to include tax as I
never got into the rental and did not incur this cost.
I have attached the email exchange between the adjuster and I (with names
changed) for reference on the full argument and my research breakdown. I
believe I am entitled to at least $827.83 (actually, even more then that due to
the fact that rate is determined with a Chevy Aveo and not a comparable car),
but am not sure how to respond back to the adjuster to further argue?
--------------------------------
September 9th, 8:41 AM - Interm Adjuster's first offer
> Mr. Charles:
>
> I am responding on behalf of Adjuster On Vacation, who is out of the
office. In review
> with your email with Total Loss Adjuster appears you wanted to be
compensated for a
> rental vehicle.
>
> You noted that you were forced to use public transportation to get around.
> If you had receipts we can reimburse you. If not I am able to pay for 2
> weeks at $25 a day which equates to $350.00.
>
> Please let me know how you wish to proceed.
>
> Sincerely,
> Interm Adjuster
--------------------------------
September 9th, 11:27AM - My Reply
Dear Interm Adjuster,
Unfortunately, your offer can not be accepted. Case law dictates that quite a
few things about Loss of Use and rental cars:
1) I am entitled to a rental vehicle of similar size and quality as my own
vehicle.
2) I am entitled for a rental period between when my vehicle was in an
accident till a day or two after I receive a good faith offer for my vehicle.
3) I am entitled to the cash for the cost of a rental vehicle if I do not rent a
vehicle, regardless of whether I use public transit or have a friends/family
ferry my everywhere.
http://www.settlementcentral.com/page0458.htm
I will assume that you did not see the research I provided Total Loss Adjuster
to come to my required amount; I have put it at the bottom of this email. To
become whole for the loss of the use of my vehicle, I require $827.83 and no
less.
I do believe I am being very reasonable here. I can argue that I should receive
more for both point one and two above.
For my research, I chose the cheapest vehicle each company provided (in
most cases a Chevy Aveo). The cheapest I could get was $30.66 per day. My
totaled vehicle was a Hyundai Tiburon GT, a performance sports coupe. A
Chevy Aveo is NOT equivalent to a sports coupe. If I moved to a more
comparable car, the value would be considerably higher (example: at Budget
Rent-A-Car (the cheapest of the local rental car providers), the rental cost of
a Pontiac G6 Base, a car more comparable to a Tiburon GT, would be
$970.87).
On point two, I used the duration of 27 days as my calculation. This was the
range of time from the accident till I received confirmation of Safeco liability
and the first offer for my vehicle. The issue here is that I can argue that the
offer I received on Friday, September 3rd was not a good faith offer due to
the multitude of issues with the offer. The offering was missing the odometer
reading, putting the miles at 99k when the car only had 88k. In addition,
even though the VIN read out clear stated the vehicle was a 6-speed manual
2.7L V6, the report stated that the vehicle was a 5-speed manual 2.7L V6.
Furthermore, the report was missing features that my car was equipped with
(Alarm, Keyless Entry, ect). This made the initial offering quite incorrect, and
arguable not in good faith. The corrected offering was given to me on
Monday, September 6th. According to the letter I received from Lance, I had
three days to return a rental vehicle if I was in one. If I add that three days
ontop of the corrected offer date, I would have to return my rental car by
September 9th, netting a full duration of 33 days. Assuming the Pontiac G6
from Budget above, that would result in a cost of $972.39.
Once again, I require $827.83 for my Loss of Use to be made whole. If you
are unable to issue that amount, please pass this to a superior who will be
able to issue that amount.
Thank you,
Charlie
Rental Cost Research Provided to Total Loss Adjuster:
Unfortunately, due to the steep tow bill I had to pay for my vehicle, I was
unable to acquire a rental car. (That bill pretty much wiped me clean of all my
spare cash on hand ><). Due to that fact, I have been forced to use public
transit for all my transportation needs since the accident.
In order to come up with a fair Loss of Use value, I located four of the nearest
major car rental companies to my house (Bellevue, WA, 98004). This resulted
in one Avis location, two Enterprise Rent-A-Car locations, and one Budget
Rent-A-Car location.
I went to all three companies websites above to generate a quote on how
much it would cost to rent a vehicle for the amount of time I was out of my
car till the first total loss offer.
I inputted these values into the three websites.
Pickup Time: Saturday, 9/11/2010 3:00PM
Dropoff Time: Friday, 10/08/2010 1:00PM
These dates were selected to approximately match the day of the week and
time of the accident (Saturday, August 7th @ 3:00PM) and when I received the
first total loss offer (Friday, September 3rd @ 1:00PM). The amount of days
between the selected range above and the time between accident and first
offer are both 27 days.
For Enterprise Rent-A-Car, an additional age bracket field was required,
which I indicated my bracket was 21-25 (I am 23).
I chose to use Budget Rent-A-Car's quote for the Loss of Use value as it was
the cheapest of the four quotes I received.
Bellow are the results for all four locations. The cheapest vehicle was selected
with no additional options for all locations.
Avis
Bellevue Hilton Hotel, Bellevue, SE4
300 112th Ave SE
Bellevue, WA 98004
Rate: $875.51
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
BELLEVUE WEST
12200 NE 12TH ST
BELLEVUE, WA 98005
Rate: $1,015.09
BELLEVUE EAST
2299 140TH AVE NE
BELLEVUE, WA 98005
Rate: $1,015.09
Budget Rent-A-Car
13238 NE 20TH STREET SUITE 300 - SE6
BELLEVUE, WA 98005
Rate: $827.83
--------------------------------
September 9th, 8:41 AM - Interm Adjuster's Reply
Mr. Charles:
I reviewed your website and I see no case law in regards to this your issues for
a rental vehicle. I reviewed the file and it appears the adjuster was never
contacted explaining your need for a rental vehicle, it appears that when you
spoke with Adjuster On Vacation you stated you were not in a rental and you
could not drive.
If you had called in we would have explained to you that we could not
authorize one at that time as we were still investigating the claim. However
we would have referred you to Enterprise which gives us a discounted rate.
The price for a Chevy Aveo is $16.84 which is offered to us by Enterprise.
Since we would have been able to offer a lower rate than what you found if
you had informed us the need for a rental we believe offering you $16.84 a
day for 27 days is fair. Which is a total of $454.68. We are not including any
tax as you never got into a rental and did not incur this cost.
I have issued payment for this amount. Please let me know if you have any
questions or concerns
AnswerHi Charles,
Although you question and explanation were quite lengthy, I will try to be as brief as possible.
Assuming that Safeco is the insurance company of the person who cut you off, you are entitled to either of the following 2 items:
1) payment for the actual cost of renting a car - this would include the rental cost plus sales tax (only if you actually rented a car.)
2) a payment for the loss of use of your car (instead of rental payment) loss of use is generally paid at a rate that is a bit lower than the rental cost since the rental cost includes fixed expenses, overhead & profit to the rental car operator. You do not incure these same expenses so you are not entitled to the same amount. However, loss of use payments generally will fall between $15.00 to $20.00 per day.
If you did not actually rent a car and the insurance company is offering you $16.88 per day, you should take it and be done. If you did rent a car, they should pay the actual amount of the reasonable expense you incured. If you did rent a car and they claim they could have gotten it cheaper, it does not matter because they did not inform you of this until after the fact. They owe what you paid for a rental car.
I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh
