How to deal with insurance company after accident

[ron_1000]

My car met with an accident early January. The doors were slammed and the person who hit our car admitted his fault and confirmed his insurance will take care of expense. This is what happened (Timeline).

1. Mid January: I started looking for collision companies to repair doors.
2. Late January: I got appointment for quote from collision company
3. Late January: I told insurance, that I will need rental car as my cars doors are not getting fully locked. After lot of back and forth they gave me rental car.
4. Collison company told me it will take 2-3 months to repair my car.
5. Mid February: I gave my car for repair to Collision company.
6. Early May: I got my car back & my car's battery was dead. Upon request Collison company gave me a new battery.
7. Now we ran into another issue where my Starter of my car stopped working and I paid close to $1000 to replace the starter.

Mechanic who repaired it told me, there is a good chance that a weak battery caused the Starter to fail. but there is no way to conclusively prove it.

When I gave my car to collision company, it had no issues. But now I am seeing these issues. Insurance is now saying prove that the starter failed due to accident. What are my options and how can I get insurance company to pay for these repairs ?

Is it a good idea to reach out to a lawyer ?

 

[Allen Trent]

My car met with an accident early January. The doors were slammed and the person who hit our car admitted his fault and confirmed his insurance will take care of expense. This is what happened (Timeline).

1. Mid January: I started looking for collision companies to repair doors.
2. Late January: I got appointment for quote from collision company
3. Late January: I told insurance, that I will need rental car as my cars doors are not getting fully locked. After lot of back and forth they gave me rental car.
4. Collison company told me it will take 2-3 months to repair my car.
5. Mid February: I gave my car for repair to Collision company.
6. Early May: I got my car back & my car's battery was dead. Upon request Collison company gave me a new battery.
7. Now we ran into another issue where my Starter of my car stopped working and I paid close to $1000 to replace the starter.

Mechanic who repaired it told me, there is a good chance that a weak battery caused the Starter to fail. but there is no way to conclusively prove it.

When I gave my car to collision company, it had no issues. But now I am seeing these issues. Insurance is now saying prove that the starter failed due to accident. What are my options and how can I get insurance company to pay for these repairs ?

Is it a good idea to reach out to a lawyer ?

I don't think you have any case here for battery or starter as they weren't caused by the accident unless I am missing something.

I think you are trying to say that the collision shop you personally chose caused the battery issue somehow. Not sure how they caused it, but thinking you would have to go after the shop or the shops commercial insurance, not the insurer of the car that hit you....unless you can show the door damage caused a battery & starter issue

 

[ron_1000]

I don't think you have any case here for battery or starter as they weren't caused by the accident unless I am missing something.

I think you are trying to say that the collision shop you personally chose caused the battery issue somehow. Not sure how they caused it, but thinking you would have to go after the shop or the shops commercial insurance, not the insurer of the car that hit you....unless you can show the door damage caused a battery & starter issue

Since the doors were not closed properly, the battery drained and poor battery caused starter to fail as well. This is what mechanic told me could be cause of starter failure.

 

[Allen Trent]

Since the doors were not closed properly, the battery drained and poor battery caused starter to fail as well. This is what mechanic told me could be cause of starter failure.

Seems like if the mechanic or collision shop knew this, they would have disconnected the battery while waiting to repair the vehicle. The car hitting the doors didn't damage the battery or starter, those were damaged long after the accident. That is my novice opinion.

 

[Al3x Lee]

When I gave my car to collision company, it had no issues. But now I am seeing these issues. Insurance is now saying prove that the starter failed due to accident. What are my options and how can I get insurance company to pay for these repairs ?

Is it a good idea to reach out to a lawyer ?

Since the doors were not closed properly, the battery drained and poor battery caused starter to fail as well. This is what mechanic told me could be cause of starter failure.

Have you signed any type of release on the claim?

You do have a point, what you described could cause those components to fail, but the claims adjuster might not know that. Have you told them what the mechanic told you?

What are you looking to accomplish with the lawyer? Go after the $1,000 you're out for the starter?

 

[adjusterjack]

Since the doors were not closed properly, the battery drained and poor battery caused starter to fail as well. This is what mechanic told me could be cause of starter failure.

I'm an auto hobbyist and I've done a lot of work on a lot of cars in the last 50 years. I'll reserve comment until you provide additional information.

Year, make, model, submodel of your car?
How many miles on your car?
How old was the battery that failed?

 

[ron_1000]

I'm an auto hobbyist and I've done a lot of work on a lot of cars in the last 50 years. I'll reserve comment until you provide additional information.

Year, make, model, submodel of your car?
How many miles on your car?
How old was the battery that failed?

2015 Honda accord EXL
66000 Miles
Battery was atleast 5 year old.

But during the last inspeaction done in Dec, everything was upto mark.

 

[ron_1000]

Have you signed any type of release on the claim?

You do have a point, what you described could cause those components to fail, but the claims adjuster might not know that. Have you told them what the mechanic told you?

What are you looking to accomplish with the lawyer? Go after the $1,000 you're out for the starter?

Yes, I have told them what Mechanic told me. But they say until you prove it is directly connected with Accident, we wont pay you.

 

[adjusterjack]

2015 Honda accord EXL
66000 Miles
Battery was atleast 5 year old.

But during the last inspeaction done in Dec, everything was upto mark.

Until it wasn't. Your battery was on borrowed time and wouldn't take much for its end of life to occur.

I thought it unlikely that the weak or dying battery had anything to do with the starter failure so I looked it up and found the following:

2015 honda accord starter recall at DuckDuckGo

So, no, neither the battery nor the starter are going to be paid for by the other driver's insurance company.

See if Honda will reimburse you for the starter based on this Service Bulletin from 2016.

SB-10088442-2280.pdf (nhtsa.gov)

 

[rolfshepard]

When you submit your car to a collision repair company, they conduct a thorough inspection to assess the working condition of all components. They then prepare a detailed report outlining the status of each part. Once you've reviewed and signed this inspection report, they proceed with the necessary repairs. If you haven't received this report, there may be concerns about transparency, and undisclosed issues could be affecting your car.

Having a detailed inspection report is crucial, as it serves as evidence of the working condition of your car components, such as the starter of your car. If everything was reported as functioning correctly, you have a basis to claim those $1000 for any issues that arise which are earlier not present.

If your car insurance company is reputable, it's advisable to contact their customer support. Explain the situation, and if needed, reach out to the representatives who initially discussed the car insurance policy with you. They are likely to assist you, as customer satisfaction is crucial in the insurance industry. Remember, as customers, we contribute to their business, so they will definitely help us.