QuestionMy girlfriend was driving my car and was in an accident on 07/28 and I filed the claim immediately on 07/29 when I got home from work as I work overnights. Statefarm has sent me a letter and admitted that they are liable for the accident.
Anyways, I had contacted them on August 3rd (Wednesday) to get the vehicle finally towed away from the facility that it is stored at as that's where it has been since the accident. I was trying to make arrangements to get the vehicle sent back to my house but when I had contacted the place where the vehicle is kept they said they needed to hear from statefarm before they could tow to make sure that they were willing to pay the bill. At that time I had to start getting ready for work and then I had to leave in the morning to my sisters wedding, so I had to wait until Monday (Today) to call them back about the issue. The place where it is kept is closed on the weekends. Anyways, I had no time to make the call as I've already had to call statefarm repeatedly. Anyways, to make a long story short they are now saying that they will not pay storage fees since last Wednesday because I didn't have the vehicle towed. I've never been involved in an accident where a vehicle was towed and had no idea of even a storage fee. Statefarm has never mentioned anything about it and never followed up to call me back on the tow. Should they still be liable for those days of storage from Wednesday or no? I just feel like I should have been notified from them
Answer Hello Jeremy,
State Farm's insured driver caused your loss. They are entirely responsible for your damages - including the storage fees.
It is SF's responsibility to arrange to have your vehicle towed. If that means sending you a release to sign, or whatever the arrangements are, it is their job to take care of this - not your's.
While they might respond like this to their own insured, who could possibly have a policy provision to remove his vehicle from storage, they have no contractual relationship with you. It is their responsibility, plain and simple.
If it were me, I would refuse to agree to this. If the adjuster does not cooperate with you, call the number you have for them with your claim number and ask for the name of the adjuster's claims manager. You can speak to him/her, but I would also follow in writing unless the manager agrees to this on the spot.
By the way, not only do they owe you for your vehicle repairs - with OEM factory parts if you ask for them - they also owe you for a rental while your vehicle is unavailable.
For more information on handling claims, I suggest you go to my website and browse my claims advice and claim help articles. That address is http://SolutionsForYourInsuranceClaim.com
Hopes this helps.
Jane Pytel
http://SolutionsForYourInsuranceClaim.com
http://FloridaAutoInsuranceCentral.com
