Loss of Use Claim

[tommyh]

Was in an auto accident. I was not at fault. The insurance for the other party had a hard time getting a statement from the driver. So I waited 2 months before they finally accepted liability. During that time I had to hitch a ride to get to work, take public transportation. My place of work is 50 miles both ways and it was very inconvenient.

I did not rent a car just in case they found me at fault or spilt the fault 50/50.

Now that the other party accepted liability, can I claim for loss of use for that 2 months. If so, how much per day can I get.

After they accepted fault, they immediately offered to rent me a car - budget $25/day - while car is fixed.

 

[djs]

Answers to this question will vary drastically from state to state. I'll give you some general guidelines, but these may or may not apply. Consult your agent for more accurate details.

How much extra did you actually spend because you didn't have use of your car? This sometimes limits what you can claim.

Did you have loss of use coverage on your policy? If you did, why didn't you just use that to cover the rental car while your car was being fixed? If not, you might not be entitled to claim damages while the investigation was underway (check your state).

Given your car was not working, why didn't you file through your policy, get your car fixed and then let the insurance companies work it out? Mitigating damages is a requirement in almost every policy, filing through your carrier would have helped you mitigate the damages.

My guess is you will not get a lot for this loss of use. It will not be a 'per day' type of reimbursement, but if you can show actual expenses caused by the loss of use, those might be covered. These would be expenses you would pay above and beyond your normal expenses. For instance, if you get a ride and you pay for the gas, then that is a normal expense, since if you drove your own car, you would pay for the gas.

I'm not saying you won't get something for the hassle, but, you are asking a question that has probably already been answered by the other party's insurance.

Dan

 

[tommyh]

I live in California

I do not have loss of use coverage (rental car coverage). If I did, I would have used it because in the event that I was at fault my insurance would have paid for it. I was concerned that I might have to pay for it out of pocket if I lost.

It is hard to quantify how much more I spend. In fact it may have cost me less money as I took public transport and got rides. However, it was troublesome and time consuming.

I did not proceed with repairing my car using my own coverage because I felt that i was in the right (even had a third party witness - other party ran a red light) and did not want to increase my insurance premium.

I am just wondering if insurance companies pay for loss of use under such circumstances and if so how much would they pay?

DJS, thank you for the quick response.

 

[jodieB]

If you've followed their rules for resolving your dispute, and you're still not satisfied, your own states insurance department should be able to help you.