hey, i got into a pretty serious accident where another car hit me and ended up crashing into a building. today, i received this response:
“I have accepted the liability, however, based on the unknown amount of the property damage to both parties we are unable to handle the property damage at this time. Once, we have received the estimate of damages for the building that was damaged and for your vehicle, we will then be in a position to move forward with property damage payments. You may wish to go through your insurance carrier, and they will subrogate State Farm when their handling is complete.
Additionally, if I hear back from the Holistic Community Outreach center on an estimate of their damages, and it is not as high as expected we may be able to move forward at that time. I will handle the injury portion with your attorney, since we received a letter of representation. If you have further questions, please let me know.
thank you”
what does this mean? are they saying if the building repair costs more than my car’s damage, they won’t cover my car? my car is technically drivable, but i’m pretty sure it’ll be considered a total loss. i only have liability coverage on my old car, so i can’t claim repairs from my insurance. any suggestions on what to do?
they’re saying there’s a chance that their policy limit won’t be enough to cover both the building and your car. they’re waiting to see the damage estimates before making any payments. if you had collision insurance, it might help to claim with your insurer, but with liability only, it’s tough. most insurance companies won’t pay more than the policy limit, so there’s a chance you could end up getting less than what your car’s repairs or total would cost. i’m sorry you’re dealing with this, especially with injuries involved. it’s exactly why we get insurance—to handle stuff like this.
looks like you’re dealing with a limit issue. if the person at fault only has the minimum coverage, that’s all their insurance will pay for. for example, some states like california have a $5,000 limit per accident that has to be split among everyone involved. if the total damage is $100,000 and your part is $10,000, you’d only get a small share—like 10% of $5,000, or about $500.
Ollie said: @Avi
i get that, but they haven’t asked for any pictures of my car’s damage or sent anyone to assess it. how will they know the repair costs?
you could ask them for an estimate even though you only have liability. sometimes they’ll estimate the damages to get a baseline. it’s unlikely they’ll pay for everything, but at least you’ll have a starting point for the claim.
Ollie said: @Zayden
so i’m just wondering, if their insurance doesn’t cover the full amount of my damages, would i have to take legal action to get it paid?
you could try, but as they say, ‘you can’t get blood from a stone.’ someone with low liability coverage likely doesn’t have the assets to cover this out of pocket. i’m sorry, i know this is frustrating.
Ollie said: @Avi
so since i only have liability, how do i go about getting my car either repaired or at least getting what it’s worth?
if you only have liability, then there’s no point reporting it to your insurance—they won’t cover it. if you had collision, they’d fix your car, have you pay a deductible, and eventually try to get that deductible back from the other party’s insurer.
they’re saying the person who hit you has property damage limits that might not cover both the building and your vehicle. so they’re waiting for an estimate on the building repair before deciding what they can pay you. it’s probably going to take some time.
it looks like the other driver’s insurance is responsible for the building and your car, but they may have a lower policy limit. california, for example, allows policies as low as $5,000. if the damages are more than the limit, they’ll split payments to each party by percentage. since you mentioned you only have liability, you can’t claim this through your insurance. for now, you’ll need to wait it out.