Non-Motorcycle insurance question

[Snaggletooth]

I spent a lot of years in the transportation field in safety. Mostly handling drivers training and regulations but did a lot of accident investigators and handling the insurance claims involved from both sides. I have NO experience with my own personal vehicles because I've been fortunate enough that I've never needed to file any kind of claim. But this situation has me scratching my head. I've never run into this before. So for years I've seen a lot of good advice on this site so I thought I'd throw this into the crowd and see what comes back.

 

My good friends here in town have a couple vehicles covered by those Good Hands folks for the last two years. The husband has a "93 Ford Ranger pickup he uses for work. Full coverage. In really nice shape and well maintained. A week ago or so he was involved in an accident. His truck suffered only minor front end damage. Head light, turn signal, trim work, left front fender is scraped and the bumper took the worst of it. It just is pulling a tad to the left but it's still quite driveable. He still drives it every day to go to work. Sadly the vehicle he struck was totaled, a 2011 Sonata I believe it was. But no injuries to that driver.

 

So anyhoo, to get to the point, he took it into his insurer and they did an estimate on it. Much to our surprise they said it was totaled. They wrote him up two offers. Let them total it and KEEP it for a pretty reasonble offer OR he could keep the pickup and and take a slightly lower settlement AND have the title changed to "Salvage" but a still quite reasonable offer. More than enough to make the repairs needed to fix the cosmetic damage and repair or replace the mechanical items needed to make it roadworthy again. Him and his wife discussed it and as how it is a a second vehicle he mostly uses for work they opted to keep it and make repairs. They informed the insurer of their choice.

 

So this morning his wife got a call from the insurer. They said to be expecting a UPS delivering today and they wanted to come and pickup the truck. The insurer says they decided they were going to keep the truck and total it off and wanted the title. The wife was shocked as that was not what had been discussed. That would leave them without the second vehicle and as they both work that would create a bit of a problem. The person that called said they had two weeks to turn the truck over to them.

 

Sorry guys but I call BS on this one. From my experience yes, if they agree to a full settlement offer and don't want the truck, yes, take the money and run. But if they agree as they did to the lower offer and convert the title to salvage they are entitled to keep the truck and do as they please with it.

 

So we we are still waiting to see what the Good Hands folks sent by UPS. No idea what might be in that package yet. As far as we have checked Nebraska will allow a salvaged vehicle to be insured. Maybe not by this insurer. But they aren't the only ones out there.

 

So let the arrows fly guys. Need some advice. Is this the way insurance handle things these days?

[Du-Rron]

Either of these offers in writing?

 

A salvage title can only carry liability insurance in Texas.

[MiCarl]

Insurance (other than health care) is regulated by state law. Any answer from outside Nebraska isn't probably worth much.

 

If the policy was bought through an agent I'd work with my agent on the deal.

 

I'm a bit surprised by the run around. In my experience insurance companies have blanket contracts with salvage yards where the salvage operator pays X% of the NADA value. So long as they're getting X (or more) from the owner I don't know why they'd screw around with the paperwork and transportation. I think it's most likely they got their internal communications screwed up and a few phone calls could straighten it out.

[SilvrT]

Why bother with the insurance co? Just keep driving it and fix it on your own.

 

The UPS package is probably a cheque ... refuse it.

[snyper316]

Well I don't know about Nebraska laws, But most of the time you have to sign the settlement paperwork first before any checks get sent. At least that is the way it works in Missouri. So neither side can renig and say no that wasn't what happened. Unfortunatly this day and age you need an Attorney when messing with these sly dogs. Son had accident last year by no fault of his own but due to his age and inexperience it got blamed on him. The lady in the other car tried to claim injuries and Geico paid her.... I went rounds with them because they traded paint literally and there was a dent in this ladies car but was not from the accident. I seen his car physically and seen her car in pictures neither car had maroon paint. Its whatever tho. I would think they can reject the check and since they want to play dirty hairy I would hit them up for more money...

[djh3]

Pretty sure no insurance company is going to carry anything beyond liability on a title marked salvage. Also absolutely no resale value, but he does have piece of mind of mechanical condition of vehicle. And that mean a lot to me anyways on a daily driver. I could give 2 shakes what it looks like. My old 96 RAM 2500 looks like crap, but I dont worry to much about folks pulling out in front of me or infringing on my space neither.

[Venture n Dixie]

I totaled the same truck (93 Mazda B4000 4L V6) two years ago. Lady not familiar with this town saw a yard sale to her left and went for it. Hit me on front left fender. Didn't look to bad except my wheel/spindle was 90 degrees off. I rented my son in laws truck with "the beautiful phone voice" 1st SF insurance callers blessing. They offered $4000 on it because I itemized everything I'd done on it the past few years. 21 year old truck 300,000 miles. When he called to confirm amount I forgot he hadn't included rental. I called back within 30 seconds but couldn't get an answer. Posted to my online settlement page. Next day check writer guy calls to confirm appointment. I told him amount was incorrect because rental hadn't been included. A month went by and I feared I had been abandoned. No response to calls, email or online claim. I posted another bill for rental at their stated rate of $37 a day. I got a call from the adjuster in a week. He didn't push it very hard. Asked if I'd agree to the $4000+$1000 stated rental would I settle today? I jumped on it knowing he was trying to get out of the last week's rental but glad to get enough for a lower mileage replacement.

Moral of this story? My brother was an adjuster. They are spread way too thin. Their #1 mission as defined by the company is to settle claims as fast as possible because the longer it's open the more it costs. Chiropractors are their worst nightmares because they sign you up for life. I'm not saying to milk it but don't let their fast moving "You need to jump through our hoop now" tactic make him do something he'll regret. Be sure before you sign. Are you saying you were an adjuster?

[Hummingbird]

how do you spell lawyer ? and how much money is involved ? who's trying to do it to whom ? and lastly, how much grief is the truck worth ?

[baylensman]

Had a similar event here in FL. A friend was in an accident, his fault. Damage was L/H outer rear bed panel, tire, wheel, and tailight around $1000 in damage but they "totaled" it. The first offer from the insurance CO was ludicrous $2400. Called BS on the adjuster and said if you can find a similar vehicle with in 500 miles i'll take the offer, he then proceed to highlight the upgrades ( chrome step bumper painted to match cap, lap top power ports etc etc.) Well they called back the next day with a much better offer, $4800 but wanted the truck immediately.

 

Well unknown to them I'm in the auto business and in our area almost every "totaled" car goes through a local clearance yard. The yard then re auctions these vehicles to other salvers or to used car dealers, my friends truck already had offers for over what the insurance Co offered from two different used car dealers, they planned to "wash" the title and resell the truck for almost double what he was given it was on a dealer lot about 60 miles south of here 30 days later with a $9500 sign in the window.

 

Florida now has "Rebuilt" and "salvage" titles, I bought an SUV for my girlfriend that way paid about $3k less than a similar "used" SUV at the dealer.

 

The other reason for such a quick pay off and pick up is to remove an "At fault" vehicle removed from circulation quickly and either get it stripped or rebuilt, in case of litigation.

[CaseyJ955]

how do you spell lawyer ? and how much money is involved ? who's trying to do it to whom ? and lastly, how much grief is the truck worth ?

 

It's hard to even get full coverage on older vehicles in some states, there are special insurance companies for customs and hotrods but aside from that they cant force him to turn over the truck unless he signed it away to them.

 

Never ever sign something you dont understand without sliding it in front of your lawayer, if they are insisting and cant be reasoned with then his lawyer needs to take over from here.

[Snaggletooth]

Ok. Thanks for the replies.

 

First ,yes they had written estimates already for BOTH ways. The insurance company keeping it as a totaled out vehicle and the option of keeping it themselves and changing the title to salvage. They had already stated clearly after the inspection they intended to keep the vehicle themselves. But no signed releases.

 

And yep, they are aware of the limitations on a Salvage title here in Nebraska. As it's second vehicle for them with only limited use it's not a big concern. He's like me. He only keeps full coverage on the '93 because of the risk of damage in this neighborhood. Careless drivers, vandalism, theft, and the God awful trees on the block where we park. We both buy used vehicles, maintain them and drive them to the grave.

 

As Venture n Dixie put it, it's a pressure tactic. Rush people to sign off without knowing their options. And to answer your question, no, I'm not an adjuster. My background was as Director of Safety working with trucking companies, insurance reps and adjusters, and all levels of LEO's on accident investigations. Pretty familiar with the games some insurance companies play to close a file. That's what caught my attention when they got that phone call saying they wanted to pick his truck up ASAP. They had NOT signed anything, only stated they wanted to keep the vehicle themselves. That was out of the ordinary in my experience.

 

Hummingbird, LOL. I have several spellings for "lawyer". But this a G rated site. Not much money involved, it a '93 Ranger pickup not matter how ya look at it. Not worth dragging a lawyer into it.

 

I thinks baylensman hit it on the head. "The other reason for such a quick pay off and pick up is to remove an "At fault" vehicle removed from circulation quickly and either get it stripped or rebuilt, in case of litigation." BUT there had been No signed agreement OR payoff at that point. That's a cover your A$$ move on their end.

 

Strangely enough that important UPS package they received last evening did not really have any important info in it. So that looks like the insurer was doing another rush tactic to get them to do what the insurance company wanted. They did make some calls last night and explaining AGAIN they wanted to keep the vehicle.

 

BUT today they did receive another UPS package. That included a check for a bit more money than the original offer for them to keep the pickup. Still kind of odd as they haven't signed any type of release at this point.

 

But they are comfortable with the offer and able to keep their truck. So let the repairs begin.

 

Thanks for your input guys. Was able to offer some info to a couple of good friends who were on unfamiliar ground.

Edited April 13, 2017 by Snaggletooth

[Hummingbird]

@Snaggletooth - glad it worked out for ya

I just don't understand if they paid the repair bill why did they have to "force" the salvage title thing ? Were the repair costs more than they were willing to give for the entire truck ? If so then it makes sense -