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Insurance pro's - question about State Farm's complex claim unit?
On June 24th a vehicle plowed through my yard doing $7000 damage. State Farm is the insurer. I filed a claim, State Farm "attempted" to reach their insured and has had no response. They will not pay the claim until they can "determine liability" by speaking to the owner of the truck. The damage is documented by way of photos, police reports, witnesses, etc and I don't give two shiits what the owner says. His truck busted up my yard.
My question is - when I filed the claim, I asked State Farm if they would be sending out someone to look at the damage, and if I had to leave the burned out grass, sheared off trees, shrubs, busted up rock planters, etc. as they were. They said no, to get 2 estimates, submit them, & I could pay for the work to be done and they would reimburse me. I went ahead and paid for the work.
Does anyone have knowledge of the complex claim unit and how they work and a time frame for "determining liability".State Farm's feeling shady & I want my money back.
Just to clarify - the damage done to the yard was bad. It looked like the yard blew up and we could not stand looking at dead and dying plants in the yard, sheared off trees, rock planters that looked like they exploded, etc.
State Farm did NOT suggest we pay for it, they said it was an option. What they actually suggested was that we go through our own insurance company which I absolutely refuse to do. The mere fact that I would then have my homeowners rates rise because of a claim made on my insurance, even tho it was not our fault, is out of the question. And yeah, my rates would go up.
A little known secret - all you have to do is make a simple inquiry to an insurance company and you will end up in a national insurance claims database called Choicepoint that uses your questions/claims as an "incident" and jacks up your rates when renewal rolls around or you choose to change companies.
We paid because it looked BAD, and S.F. said it would reimburse us. Now we wonder.
2 Answers
- sensible_manLv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
Never heard of what you claim they did. I have had State Farm for years and in 3 States and they have never asked for damage to be paid by the "injured" party. They have went WAY out of their way for me in cases that no other company would. I would contact the Main office because this sounds like a bad/lazy agent. Most offices have adjusters who have areas that they work in at least once a week to view claims.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
Its very simple- When you buy car insurance you sign something saying you will always cooperate with your carrier. If you do not cooperate with the investigation- they cant protect you (aka pay for damages) and they will deny your claim.
Generally though if there are no coverage issues (such as an unlisted driver etc) insurance will go ahead and just determine liability of the police report. Is there a police report? If not then they absolutely MUST speak with their insd.
If there is a police report and they are still saying they want to wait- unfortunately they have that right. They cannot protect their insured unless their insured helps them by cooperating with the investigation. They may have some sort of coverage issue that requires speaking to them or they may feel its not cut and dry (was there more then one vehicle involved or something? if so its much harder then just one vehicle losing control and hitting someones yard)
I sware insurance companies dont have big meetings to come up with ways to delay paying.. honestly.. wed much rather just be done with it and pay... dragging it out sucks. but sometimes its necessary to fuly investigate. I suggest you call your adjuster (or their manager) and ask exactly why they need to speak with their insured. ask why the police report isnt enough... they are human too and want to make your life easier and will likely have a good answer for you.