Auto Insurance Claims: Body Shop vs. Insurance Appraiser Damage Dispute, bmw 3 series, appraisal clause

Question
Hi Webfoot,

I was broadsided on the driver's side by a driver who is uninsured and am going through my own collision and rental coverage for reapirs or total. My vehicle is a 2000 BMW 3 series with 170,000 miles.

The independent appraiser sent by my insurance company spent all of seven minutes (I timed it) looking at my car taking pictures with a ruler next to it.  He subsequently wrote up an estimate for $5400.

The car was then towed to the body shop recommended by my dealer and they recommended the car be totaled, with a repair bill of $14,300.  

The IA has since seen the vehicle a second time, but it's been over a week and he still hasn't sent an estimate to my insurer. He did tell my insurer that he doesn't think it's totaled.  The over a week to get his estimate to my was the case with his initial estimate as well.  In total, over two weeks of delays while waiting for the IA to send an estimate to my insurer has eaten almost two weeks of my 30 day rental time provided by my policy.

Two questions:
1. Do I have any recourse for the delay on my insurer's part since their appraiser seems to take his time in getting the estimates back to the insurer?

2. Besides the appraisal clause in my policy, what is the probable situation when it comes to a disparity this large in repair bills?

Thanks so much for your help!

Answer
Wow,  talking about horrible service from your own insurance company.
It's rare that a mainstream carrier would use an independent appraiser for their own insureds.  Hopefully you're at least getting a discounted rate or something.

The amount of time that an initial estimate and supplement should be handled in to conform to state law will vary from state to state.  In some states, there is no specific statutory language beyond "timely manner" regarding claim handling.  That's where you have to go on case law.  Given the delays here, you may want to contact your insurance commissioner's office.

As far as the disparity, it seems pretty premature to address that issue as you have not seen the appraisers supplement.