Question for insurance savvy folks-

[Willy Lee]

A few weeks back we were driving through Paducah KY when an axle fell of the semi in front of us... 80 lbs of hurling metal ended up under our toyota truck. Broke the drive line, 3 cross members, transmission and gas tank. We wanted the car totaled- especially after Toyota said getting the parts would take 3 weeks because "those things just don't break in an accident". Our wonderful insurance company, State Farm, decided to repair the truck. We got it back on Monday.

The rotors are trashed. State farm says this had nothing to do with the accident, even though the brakes were completely replaced by Toyota less than 1 year ago. Even more troubling is the fact the the gear shift (its an automatic) moves freely from reverse to neutral to drive etc. Usually you need to pull it forward a tad to engage the next gear.

We have argued that the truck HAD a blue book value of over 12k before the accident. Our local toyota dealer, after hearing about the repairs, said he would give us 4k as a trade in value. We feel state farm should pay us the difference. If we were ever to try to sell this vehicle, anyone who checked carfax would see it has been wrecked. It has absolutely suffered a loss of value.

The kicker- when we made this argument to state farm, they responded with "just don't sell it to a private party. You need to trade it in, because car dealers don't check carfax"!!!

:wtf:

Do we have the legal grounds to demand compensation for this?

Thanks- WL

[SoCalDem]

1. What about suing the semi owner for the additional damage?

We had a mudflap with a metal edge fly off a truck in front of ut.. Cracked out windshield..I copied the license plate and name on the truck. They sent us a check for replacing the windshield.

[Willy Lee]

3. We tried dealing with the trucking co for 2 weeks before turning it over

to state farm. The trucking co wouldn't even turn it in to THEIR insurance company. They did get us a rental car for the interim and had agreed to pay the damages, but we they were not going to pay for any loss of value. They said the truck would be as good as new.

[Debi]

5. Demand their insurance carrier's name

and turn it in yourself. They can't hide that information from you.

[Debi]

2. Why didn't the other insurance company pay for the damages?

and then State Farm pick up what wasn't paid for?

Get several estimates to get your vehicle back to where it was before the accident and write to both insurance companies.

[plcdude]

4. I think you should

get a lawyer because the trucking company is extremely liable they owe you a new truck and punitive damages. You could have been killed what are you thinking here.