Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Yeah after talking to some people this has happened to, they told me they couldn't deny the work because of the accident report.

Unfortunately I was pretty upset when the guy told me that. So I forgot to get the quote and ended up leaving. It's been a mission trying to contact my adjuster. I called all day and left 2 messages and no call back. We'll see tomorrow goes, I'm running out of patience.

Bladecutter

Do you have full coverage on your insurance policy, or only liability coverage?
If you have full coverage, this is where you look up the process of filing a claim through your insurance company, having the car repaired as expensively as possible, and then your insurance company gets all of the money they pay out back from the girl's parent's insurance company.

You win, they lose, and all is good.

Forget about your insurance agent that filled out the policy.
Go to the website of your insurance company, look up the claims process, and get it started. The agent that sells you the policy is only a delay in getting things going.

BC.

girth

iTrader: (1)

Just wanted to chip in my two cents here for what they're worth. I went through, what looks like now, nearly an identical situation as yours recently.... although my car was totaled.

Like what others have said, collision insurance would be your saving grace. If you don't have that, however, you'd be a lucky SOB if their insurance paid for your damages at all from the information you provided. There's a ton of loopholes and technicalities that will come in play here. Though you may think that police report is your shining fist of justice, all it really does is establish fault and not liability for the damage. It might take you to the next step of the process, but don't be looking for a check tomorrow. Expect the insurance company to look for any discrepancies or inconsistencies in the police report as well. They will use that as ammo to clear fault.

I wouldn't expect any cooperation from the other party's insurer, either. State laws vary, but in mine, there's no real law stating the length of time they have to resolve a claim. This is, of course, because they aren't required by law to act in "good faith" to you because you don't pay them premiums. That means expect a lot of ambiguity and non-responses. If the company is liable, though, they are required to settle with you.

This is a weird one Ken. If the girl lives in the household, they won't be able to deem the car stolen unless she was explicitly to be excluded on the policy, or there needs to be proof of clear defined "non-use" situations that she broke. If she was an exclusion on the policy, then there would be no ambiguity here for liability. Of course, if she wasn't living there and still had no consent, they would have to investigate how she got the keys to begin with. Someone might not be telling the truth. I'm sure it happens, but more often than not I'd bet they get handed the keys. But living in the same household and using the car without knowledge to the owner isn't a basis for it being stolen, I believe.

What also sucks is, if I lend my friend my vehicle "regularly" with consent, and he's not on the policy nor in the household, that's also grounds for denial. The keyword there is regularly, so if the insurance company comes at you with something similar to "she wasn't living there but using the vehicle regularly" I would challenge that assertion cause it'd be damn hard to prove.

My guess is she's living there, using the vehicle all the time, but the insurance company didn't know about it. Whether it was intentional or not, that's a grounds for denial. In my opinion, it seems like a pretty common and insidious loophole, but I'm sure the insurance companies don't care because they don't have to pay out. The only person it screws here is the victim.

It took the insurance company 3 months to come back with my denial. I got stuck with a totaled car, towing fees, rental fees, etc and I was 100% the victim, 0% at fault. The person that hit me didn't have consent from the original owner, but he had consent from a person that had consent from the owner... yeah, I know . Of course, you can take the liable person to court, but in these situations keep in mind the phrase "you can't get blood from a stone". That, and negotiating a payout is a whole 'nother story.

I'm going to try and end this cause it's a wall of text, but here's a list of things you can try to do. All of these eventually failed me but maybe you'll have more luck than I:

• Try to do your own investigations and track down to see if she's on any other insurance policies. Call your own insurance and ask them to search, along with some of the more popular ones. Many of them have access to large databases of relevant information, past and present, like LexisNexis and CLUE. If you get a lead, you could open a claim here.
  
• Similarly, call your state's Department of Transportation and explain the situation, and request insurance information for the person.
  
• Call your local Police Department or call the officer that was on the scene. In my case, the officer could care less despite knowing the kid was uninsured, but you may have a more sympathetic officer. If she doesn't have insurance, it's a crime.
  
• File a formal complaint with your States insurance Commission. Wait to see if they come back with a denial before you did this, though. Chances are if the insurance company drags their feet and comes back with a denial, they've done their research and the Commission won't do anything, but it's worth the effort.
  
• Call your local state representative. Seriously. One time I did this as a last ditch effort after the electric company refused to turn the electric on for a week despite fixing what they said was a hazard, and I had a truck there in 2 hours to switch it on. Some of these guys are good eggs.
  
• Write the girl a letter, or give her a call, explaining the damages and any solutions and compromises to fix the situation. Reasonable people will answer and/or take this avenue, because if you need to file small claims and they can't pay, you can garnish wages and suspend her license until she becomes solvent with you. I have a sample of mine if you need a help getting started.

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Hey girth, thanks for the advice I appreciate it man.

That's a pretty bad situation you went through, and it's a bs loop hole they have, sorry you went through that.

Today I finally got into contact with the adjuster, and they told me "The problem with the claim is that the person who hit you isn't on the insurance policy." Immediately, I said okay but I have a accident report. She halted for a moment, and said okay send me a copy of that. She proceeded to inform me that I need to send some paper work that I'll be receiving in the mail. From what it seems like, the accident report should back me up, at least I hope so. For now I'm just going to cooperate with them and be patient. I'll be going next week again to get the quote, I'll see where we go from there. Hopefully I don't have to go through extreme measures to deal with this...

In the mean while, thankfully, the damage doesn't affect me being able to drive around at all. On the bright side, got an early Christmas gift from the parents, 2 new pirelli tires for the rear.

And I should be doing my first auto x event next coming weekend.

girth

iTrader: (1)

Okay, well good luck sir.

All the police report does is establish who was at fault in the accident. Just because the girl can be deemed 100% at fault doesn't mean that there is insurance coverage to repair your damages. Keep that in mind. The police report siding with you is a great thing to have, but if she's not on the policy and they find out she's been regularly using the vehicle, they won't pay.

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Hey guys I wanted to update everyone! Finally after about 4 months...

I thought that the insurance was going to reject my claim, I was having soo many issues with this insurance company... I called about 2 weeks straight without hearing from my adjuster, and then she contacted me telling me the accident report still hadn't gone through about 2 and half months after the accident and if they made a decision at that time they would reject the claim. I thought she was lying about the situation, but then after calling the police department they told me the accident report was still not the system... I had almost given up, then all of a sudden today I received a $900 check in the mail.

So what do you think is my best option guys?

Ideally the bumpers Shine offer look really nice and I've read a lot of good things about them. Getting an authentic bumper really is out of the question.... $$$ :/

Or I could stay with the OEM bumper, which I don't really want to... But I could if I can't get what I want for the money I have to work with.

LifeAfterRx8

iTrader: (17)

You can pickup a used Mazdaspeed front bumper if you look around for about $1000ish.

I think I paid $1,000 and picked it up myself (8 hour drive)

It's worth going authentic. My front bumper fits perfect, no gaps near the sidemarkers, no uneven lines, it's well worth, just search around, you already waited this long.

ken-x8

Yikes! I hope that department does better if someone calls in a robbery in progress!

Ken

Bladecutter

Who sent you the check?
Was it the insurance company, or the family of the girl who hit you?
Is it enough to actually repair your car?

If it isn't enough, what I would do is file a small claims court, subpoena the officer that responded to the scene, the insurance company of the car that the girl hit you with, and of course her and her family.

The check that you were sent is your proof of liability, and the officer is your witness as to when and how the accident occurred. You can then have the judge ask the officer why he neglected to properly file an accident report (I wonder if the girl and her family got to him?) in a timely manner.

Then, you can get the true amount of money you need out of the insurance company. Open and shut case.

BC.

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

I personally don't think it would be worth it for me... I wouldn't want to spend more than the money I got on the bumper. When I can get a new shine bumper and have it painted with what they gave me.

The insurance company sent the check, it's just a couple dollars short of $900. The adjuster actually told me the girl did not respond to any of her phone calls at all, she wasn't willing to co-operate... After all she wasn't on the insurance policy and was using her moms car.

I thought about rejecting this amount considering it was their first offer, and I haven't really gotten any quotes for the repair. But I think it is enough to cover the costs...

What do you think? I have to replace my front bumper completely because I have busted tabs on the bumper so it won't hold in place. And one of my clear corners was completely shattered. That's pretty much all the damage, the fender has the smallest scrape which is pretty much non visible, I don't think it would be worth painting it nor will I bother... Think $900 is enough? Should I try to go for more... I could also go to shops and ask for quotes and see exactly how much it would be.

If I buy a shine feed bumper, it would be $625, and I have $275 left over to paint it. Fitment should be good... And well I don't mind spending $60-70 of my own money to buy new clear corners, since after all I would be going with an aftermarket bumper which is probably more expensive than a used OEM one.

Bladecutter

Go to your Mazda dealer, and get them to give you a full quote for how much it would cost to repair your car to the condition that it was in before the accident, using OEM parts and paint matching.

Then send that to the insurance company.

BC.

RideAwry

How would you spend more than you got? Small claims court is no lawyers, a set small amount to file your claim(usually $25-50), and if you win then the losing side has to pay the amount you filed for as well as the fee to file.

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

That was in response to lifeafterrx8 about getting a authentic mazdaspeed bumper... I would be spending more than I have if I got a bumper for $1000 or more...

Besides there is no point is going to court anymore, the insurance company has paid. Now what I'm going to do it get some quotes, if comes out to more than what I have I'm going to tell them that what they sent me is not enough, so I'll be denying their first offer if that happens.

RideAwry

Ah, well hopefully it all continues to work out in your favor then.

LifeAfterRx8

iTrader: (17)

It's going to cost you at least $300 for fitment and it will still never look perfect.
In pictures a lot of replicas look decent but when you see them in person, you can really see the imperfections and if you're okay with that then by all means get one.

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

Just wanted to update this thread, I ended up buying a Shine feed bumper. I recommend Shine to anyone who is looking for quality work, Ken from Shine was very helpful and easy to work with.

The bumper, clear corners, and paint ended up being just barely over $900, I only went over my budget about $80.

Fitment on the bumper is spot on. It barely needed any fitment work, and to be honest I was very impressed with the fitment...

Some pics of the final product.