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Insurance is telling me they refuse to pay unless I sign a release


fungames43232
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That's fishy. The release is to cover SafeAuto from future payouts on this claim. What that has to do with the underinsured is beyond my comprehension.

 

Future medical bulls bills, hidden damage to the vehicle beyond what their estimates are etc.

Edited by Strictly Street
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There is not much money in play here. The difference is $2800.

See, that is the real problem here - insurance companies have in-house counsel. They're getting paid whether they're fighting you, or sitting on their thumbs. You're stuck with either finding an attorney who will do this for X% contingency, or for an up-front price you can live with.

Attorneys will charge $50-$600/hour. You don't need the world's largest law firm to handle this, so a one-man shop charging closer to the $50/hr mark is probably fine, but that still only gives you 20 or so billable hours before it's almost not worth it...

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Based on that interaction with State Farm your only choice is take the $7500 and stfu or get a lawyer and pursue the $7500 plus the $2800 plus lawyer fees. I'm willing to bet after working with an Insurance companies in house console that you'll have less than $7500 if you fight it too hard and that is what State Farm is banking on you figuring out and saying forget it and accepting the $7500

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I'm no expert, but I did google up this from the Ohio Bar:

https://www.ohiobar.org/forpublic/resources/lawyoucanuse/pages/lawyoucanuse-689.aspx

 

Sounds like your insurance company can pay the difference and make a claim against the other company or individual. IF you had UM (uninsured motorist). Results will vary, as always...

 

edit: so I went back and looked, you had uninsured but not underinsured. Sounds like that is a grey area and costs extra with some companies.

Edited by ReconRat
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I like the idea of the state insurance commission.  I know insurance companies are required to pay within two years.  Does anyone know if that holds true even if a release form is not signed?

 

I'm thinking that it would be especially true if you didn't sign. You can't be the only one to ever have this trouble. Some lawyer out there is waiting to talk to you.

 

I'm kinda surprised your insurance company isn't working with you on this one. They have lawyers on staff just for this very thing.

 

Furthermore you should include the cost of legal services in the suit and don't forget to pay yourself for the trouble of having to sue in the first place by keeping record of how many hours it took you to on the phone etc. Money damages must be proved, write it down.

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This thread has me nervous about dealing with the insurance company tomorrow, after my wife put our Pilot on it's side in a show bank this evening.

 

When we last had to deal with an insurance company, a little over 5 years ago, me had to use our insurance company and they went after the at fault party's insurance.  Their insurance company didn't want to fix it, then her insurance company at the time (State Farm) fixed it with the same estimate.  We later got a check back for her deductible.

 

The thing that ticks me off is that nobody got cited.  The truck rear ended her, and pushed her into another car!  Then our insurance went up, a year or so after I added her to my current policy.  Then today, she gets cited for a single vehicle accident.  Ugh...

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There needs to be serious rewriting of accident laws. When I wrecked my VFR avoiding an ambulance with no sirens, but lights on blowing through a red light, the cause of the accident was i let of the throttle in the middle of a gravel patch, that was about my only option because if I would have kept on the throttle I would have ended up literately in the ambulance, like probably going to the morgue in the ambulance but also I'd be dead from going through the side of it.

 

 

Anyway the cop that showed up tried to give me a ticket for failure to control vehicle, I said and I quote, "hey fuckhead do you see all the gravel in the road, if you give me that ticket I'm going to take a picture of that gravel and sue the living shit out of your shitty" At that point he walked away and drove off. Not to mention the city EMT's kept touching me after I told them to stop. Man I could have had the lawsuit of a lifetime. Of course I'd of been a marked man every time traveling through, but hey, I should have sued anyway. God I hate Bath, Ohio and all the stupid pigs that work there thinking they're such badasses patrolling the streets of one of the richest towns in Ohio because they have nothing to do besides harass people on bikes and cars with loud exhausts. Yet the pigs and emts and firepeople all ride around on harleys that can shatter glass but oh well such the double standard. But really, there needs to be a re-write of accident laws.

 

There was no need to threaten me with a 6 point ticket because I was avoiding hitting an ambulance and went down then turn into chicken shit when I said I would sue them.

 

Oh and the reason I said that was because a few days prior there was a front page article in the little Bath Ohio newspaper about gravel in the roads and how it's a danger to motorcycles. So they knew it was a problem..

 

 

k rant over.

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Fungames what insurance company do you have so I can know to stay clear of them? I just looked at my policy after reading this, and it is defined as "Uninsured/Underinsured" motorist coverage. WTF is the difference if someone causes an accident and they have no, or not enough insurance coverage? Sounds like a shitty loophole designed for them to not pay out. "Ah, he has some insurance...so we can't pay. We only pay if they have NO insurance....lololololloolol."

 

For as long as I've been paying for auto insurance, I can never remember Uninsured and Underinsured being 2 different coverages I could choose from?

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Can you afford to get a lawyer for 2800? yes but  their in house insurance co lawyers will use that up in no time and will only end up with the 7500 anyway.. I think you should take the 7500. and go and BEAT the other 2800. out of their ass.  At least you might fell better

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Fungames what insurance company do you have so I can know to stay clear of them? I just looked at my policy after reading this, and it is defined as "Uninsured/Underinsured" motorist coverage. WTF is the difference if someone causes an accident and they have no, or not enough insurance coverage? Sounds like a shitty loophole designed for them to not pay out. "Ah, he has some insurance...so we can't pay. We only pay if they have NO insurance....lololololloolol."

 

For as long as I've been paying for auto insurance, I can never remember Uninsured and Underinsured being 2 different coverages I could choose from?

I am with State Farm. I have never had an issue with them.  My policy clearly states uninsured.  I just didn't know enough about insurance to get underinsured.  I have had an accident where the other party was uninsured and State Farm took care of everything.

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I am with State Farm. I have never had an issue with them.  My policy clearly states uninsured.  I just didn't know enough about insurance to get underinsured.  I have had an accident where the other party was uninsured and State Farm took care of everything.

 

Ya that sucks. I don't think many of us know all about what we are buying when we purchase insurance. Seems like a way for State Farm to squeeze every penny out of you that they can by separating uninsured/underinsured.

 

I only decided to read through the fine print of my health/life/disability/auto insurance policies after a couple tragic events that happened to close friends and family. Turns out I was pretty underinsured considering the dangerous hobbies I do like racing. And having unprotected sex with hookers.

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Ya that sucks. I don't think many of us know all about what we are buying when we purchase insurance. Seems like a way for State Farm to squeeze every penny out of you that they can by separating uninsured/underinsured.

 

I only decided to read through the fine print of my health/life/disability/auto insurance policies after a couple tragic events that happened to close friends and family. Turns out I was pretty underinsured considering the dangerous hobbies I do like racing. And having unprotected sex with hookers.

No one has been able to touch the price of my state farm premium, not even close.

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One thing I have found in the past, it's best to shop around and compare apples to apples coverage every few years. That, and it's impossible to compare what one person pays versus what someone else pays...too many variables.

 

With that said, I've been with the same insurance agent and Erie Insurance for 8yrs, and their rates for comparable coverage have always been great.

More importantly, the few times I've had to make a claim, they have been fantastic.

 

Three years ago, my car was broken into in my condo parking lot. I had about $250 of personal property stolen. At the time of the claim, I was denied any compensation for items taken from the car. I was told by the adjuster that those items were covered under my home owners policy under a separate deductible. Because the amount I would claim was basically the same as my deductible on our Home Owners policy, I never filed a claim. Last year I was going over all of our insurance information and happened upon "what's included" in our auto policies. Guess what? Erie covers up to $300 in personal property if your vehicle is broken into. One call to my agent, and I had a check for $250 in a little over a week. It was literally a five minute phone call!

 

My agent is awesome!

Edited by BadTrainDriver
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let me ask some friends if they know any younger attorneys in Columbus.

 

legal services do not have to cost an unreasonable amount, but firms carry a TON of overhead.  A sole practitioner with even a year of experience can handle most simple litigation tasks.  If the OP's version of the facts is complete and accurate, I would deem this legally "simple."

 

What I'm saying is that this may cost a thousand dollars to resolve rather than several thousand.  that's largely depended upon finding the right attorney, with enough experience and time to handle it properly.

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One thing I have found in the past, it's best to shop around and compare apples to apples coverage every few years. That, and it's impossible to compare what one person pays versus what someone else pays...too many variables.

 

With that said, I've been with the same insurance agent and Erie Insurance for 8yrs, and their rates for comparable coverage have always been great.

More importantly, the few times I've had to make a claim, they have been fantastic.

 

Three years ago, my car was broken into in my condo parking lot. I had about $250 of personal property stolen. At the time of the claim, I was denied any compensation for items taken from the car. I was told by the adjuster that those items were covered under my home owners policy under a separate deductible. Because the amount I would claim was basically the same as my deductible on our Home Owners policy, I never filed a claim. Last year I was going over all of our insurance information and happened upon "what's included" in our auto policies. Guess what? Erie covers up to $300 in personal property if your vehicle is broken into. One call to my agent, and I had a check for $250 in a little over a week. It was literally a five minute phone call!

 

My agent is awesome!

Well my thoughts on it are, even if you have $0 deduc. do you really want to file a claim for something that was worth $250 bucks new?

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Well my thoughts on it are, even if you have $0 deduc. do you really want to file a claim for something that was worth $250 bucks new?

 

No, I wouldn't.

But in my case, the damage to the car was over $1000, and my deductible was $250. I'm going to file a claim for that, absolutely.

Then, I was reimbursed another $250 for the personal property.

Edited by BadTrainDriver
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No, I wouldn't.

But in my case, the damage to the car was over $1000, and my deductible was $250. I'm going to file a claim for that, absolutely.

Then, I was reimbursed another $250 for the personal property.

I see I see after re reading, that's odd though, I've always been told by my agent that if the car is in the garage it's covered under home owners and if it's outside it's covered under the comprehensive of the car policy. I think I'm going to record that conversation when renewals come due in a couple months

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