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
Jeremy,
Thank you for the question. Please understand that I am no longer a licensed adjuster or an attorney and I cannot and do not provide legal advice. What I will provide you is my personal opinion based upon my knowledge and experience in such matters.
Actually; the insurer doesn't owe you any thing...they didn't cause your damage, their policy holder or insured did…the at-fault party is the one who owes for ALL DAMAGES THAT FLOW FROM THE LOSS.
Now; you have a responsibility to mitigate costs and your obligations are generally based upon: “what a reasonable and prudent person would do in the same situation”.
With that said, if you did everything you could and knew to do, which it appears you did, then the at-fault party owes you for storage and thus State Farm would owe them to pay such charges on their behalf…otherwise the insurer may be in breach of their contract with their policyholder. Because of this, you may need seek recovery from the at-fault party and let them seek recovery from their insurer through whatever means becomes necessary.
If the at-fault party doesn’t step up, then you can either pay it yourself and seek recompense from the at-fault party or… go through your own insurance coverage and let them subrogate to recover.
With that said, understand that now that you have been made aware, you either need to hurry with having the insurer pay the storage and relocate the vehicle or you must consider paying it to mitigate further loss.
I would not conduct communications with the insurer in person or over the phone…I would ask that all communications be in writing only as to avoid any miscommunications or misunderstandings, This will make your claim proceed much quicker and more efficiently without having anything you say misinterpreted and possibly used against you later.
Last word: Obviously the other party’s insurer is not looking out for your best interest and therefore you should not allow the insurer to select your repairer. You chose a repairer based upon referrals of others or one you feel comfortable with.
I hope this helps. If I can assist further let me know.
Barrett
