The other day I was hit by another driver. I filed a claim with their insurance. They accepted liability. Recently the insurance told me that I am responsible for paying the storage fees for my vehicle and that they will not tow my car to one of their total loss warehouses because the value of my car is highter than their insured's limit. They also refuse to write me a check because they can only "partially pay" me out. They are urging me to contact my insurance to pick up this claim because they can pay me in full. Is there any truth to this? Am I responsible for these storage fees and can they not pay me the max amount because the damages exceeded the coverage?
Storage fees on a total loss car claim
byu/K-Shino inInsurance
Posted by K-Shino
8 Comments
Yes. There’s only so much money available on the policy and there’s not even enough to totally compensate you for the value of your car, much less the storage fees.
I suggest you file a claim with your carrier if you have collision coverage.
>Am I responsible for these storage fees
Yes
>can they not pay me the max amount because the damages exceeded the coverage
Also yes. Like you know how on your insurance there is a max limit yours will pay out before you are held personally responsible? Yeah, everyone else’s insurance works the same way and some states have extremely low property damage requirements. Like California of all places in only $5k.
Yup. If the car is a total loss and the value exceeds the other person’s policy limit, you are responsible for the additional costs. Their insurance will NOT pay above the policy limit. Period. Your alternatives are to skip insurance and sue the other driver, and hope they have the money/assets for you to collect. Or, even simpler, run the claim through your insurance policy, if you have collision/comprehensive coverage.
Move the car. Make the call – TODAY. The salvage yards are typically very secure (if you’re worrying about anything being taken out of the car) and it gives you zero leverage to have the car sitting where it is now. Also Copart & IAA usually give insurers 60 or so days of ‘free’ storage (or as much as the insurer has negotiated) to give you all time to settle the total loss.
Do you know how much the daily storage fees are where the car is sitting now? I don’t know where you are geographically but I’m going to guess you’ll be surprised how much they charge.
Let’s pretend insurance didn’t exist & you were working directly with the at fault driver to settle your claim. Would you expect them to pay for $35 to $60 in daily storage charges while you negotiated the ACV of your car? A few days is reasonable (2-4) for the car to sit there, after that it’s unreasonable to expect them to pay to have the car sit there.
The duty is on you to mitigate your damages (that is, take reasonable actions to minimize the damages caused by the other party’s negligence).
Edit – I just saw the adverse insurance carrier has advised their liability coverage might not be enough to pay your claim and they can’t take on the responsibility to move the car to a salvage yard.
You have two options – tow the car, at your expense, to your house (where you can store it for free), or contact your insurer to open a collision claim (assuming you have collision coverage) and let them handle it (they’ll move it to a salvage yard).
Based on what the other adjuster told you it seems their liability coverage is likely much less than the amount of your claim. Meaning the most they can pay you is the amount of their insured’s liability limit (which can be as low as $5k depending on what state you’re in).
this is why you never refuse uninsured/underinsured motorist on your policy.. I know it’s tempting to drop it for cheaper rates, but one time having something like this happen will make up for years worth of cheaper rates
Property damage liability has coverage limits. Other insurance has no control over what kind of coverage their policy holder buys. If that person bought $5K coverage, then their carrier can only pay out $5K. That’s why they are asking you to go through your coverage. Your insurance will send the bill to the other carrier.
The value of the car is more than the policy limit. They are telling you to look elsewhere for the remainder of what is owed.