Resolving Your Auto Damage Claim

Most of what you need to know about this subject has already been posted in the Auto Insurance Claims page. We suggest you review that text. Information that we feel is important enough to be repeated here has to do with the Post-Repair Reduction in Resale Value of your damaged vehicle (Diminished Resale). It is usually in your best interests if you have your own Auto Insurance Collision Coverage cover the repairs and/or total loss settlement of your damaged vehicle. We say this for two (2) primary reasons:

1. In the event your vehicle is a Total Loss, your own policy provides you the right to challenge the settlement proposed by your insurance company in a timely and cost effective manner. This procedure is outlined in the Appraisal Clause of your own policy and discussed in further detail in the Auto Insurance Claims page in paragraphs #10 & #11. In most states, your auto insurance premiums can not be increased for claims which do not involve your own negligence, so you don't have to worry about preserving your future auto insurance premium rates.

2. If your vehicle damage is economically reparable, the other insurance company may well pay you for that expense with a draft (or check) which includes "release" verbiage which could compromise your right to pursue a Post-Repair Diminished Resale Claim. Also, if the other insurance company has low limits of coverage available for your Auto Damage Claim, payment for the repair of your damaged vehicle may exhaust those coverage limits leaving nothing left to cover your Post-Repair Diminished Resale Claim.

Regardless of your will be paying to repair your auto damage, you may have to deal with some adjusting techniques that we will Link you to here. Insurance companies in general seem to like saving money by requiring the repair shop to use either used parts or after-market parts (non-factory imitation [non-OEM] parts). While the insurance company does have the right to use LKQ Parts (Like Kind & Quality), there are reasonable limitations to that right. Those limitations are discussed in paragraph #4 of the Auto Insurance Claims page. We suggest you review that text. While you are there, we suggest you take a few minutes to review the entire text of that page.