Join Date: Apr 2006
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Re: My Boat was Hit Bad
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG! "
CK, I'm thinking of suing my school system, because they failed to mention "The world is not a fair place" back when I was in grade school. Runs contrary to the whole Superman-Metropolis-mom and apple pie thing, but there it is.
You DID contact your state insurance commission, right? Because they should have told you that the other guy's insurer typically has 30 days in which to respond to your formal claim, and if they fail to respond within that time period--they lose the right to appeal or contest the damage amount.
That will vary with state law but 30 days is typical. And you have to prove when they were first contacted. Many insurers will play the game of waiting 29 days and then sending out a letter, stalling as long as they can to avoid a payout.
And sometimes that can be a good thing for you, because IF you know the local laws, sometimes the insurer slips up on the timing and simply has to pay you without question as a result.
Your attorney will be familiar with all this, but it helps if someone clues you in to how the game is played. If you've gotten repair estimates, he should also be able to make a good guess as to questions of repairing or totalling, and who gets to make that decision how.
"doing the glass work yourself" that can be a very bad idea when dealing with insurers. They typically pay only for "professional" repairs and parts. So if a shop puts in 30 hours of labor and bills for it, they pay. But if you put in the same 30 hours? You get nothing. If they're paying estimated costs, based on someone's estimate, that's something else again. But the devil is indeed in the details, and there's a reason great whites won't touch insurers.
Last edited by hellosailor; 08-04-2012 at 10:47 AM.