*update* insurance company will not pay,,,,,,because kid said he didn't do it

[muffyn]

I know you guys love drama posts... so I thought I'd add one.
one that has our heads scratching.

so, Daughter's hubby came with a son, who is now 16 yrs old ( they married 4 yrs ago). lets call son "Bob".
Bob has been driving to school since March. well one day he had problems with his truck, so son-in-law let him drive their corvette to school.

( now I knew right away,,,, letting a 16 yr old take a vette to school??)

so of course some other kid (lets call him Dave) decided,, well I don't know what the actual happenings were since none of us were there,, but it ended with Dave doing a burn out in front of the vette & spraying the whole thing with mud & rocks, damaging the car ( yup a REAL MESS).

soooo police report etc. S-I-L talks to Dave, & Dave's mom, who S-i-L knew somewhat.. DAve's mom says well how sorry they all are, Dave will pay S-i-L for damages, S-i-l says,, uh no, he is not taking payments for 2 years to get his car fixed, tells mom to have Dave pay HER back.
Dave's mom was supposed to meet with S-i-L, but didnt show & since then they do not answer calls.

so S-i-L contacts his insurance agent,,, pays the $500 deductable , & insurance company "ABC" was going after Dave's insurance compay "XYZ" for reimbursement.

now also S-i-L has a text from Dave that he admits to damaging the car. plus the police report.

today XYZ calls S-i-L & tells him they are NOT paying the claim since Dave says he didn't do it!

huh?

XYZ said he did not tak to the police OR look at any report, the officer was left a message & he never called back to XYZ so XYZ tossed out any of those facts.

XYZ said Dave told him he didn't damage car...... so they are believeing a 16 yr old kid, & not even listening to any other evidence ( XYZ never talked to Bob, S-i-L or anyone else on the scene)

......

so S-i-L is waiting for a call back from officer & ABC, & told XYZ he will be taking Dave to court..

(hey maybe he'll get called to do judge judy...... hey it could happen )

sooooo anyone else get some stupid ruling like this one???

 

[Sadie22]

SIL needs to let his insurance company handle the matter. They will go after the other insurance company. That's what he's paying them to do. SIL should not be threatening other party with a lawsuit or anything else. SIL needs to tell XYZ to deal with ABC agent, whose name and number are ....SIL's insurance company will go after the other insurance company for reimbursement of the funds SIL's insurance company has to expend to effect repairs.

 

[Lynne M]

Absolutely right. She needs to step away and let her insurance company sort it out. They deal with just this situation all the time, they've got processes in place to handle it.

She's already gotten her money from her insurance company, right? Then it's up to her insurance company to get reimbursement from XYZ.

 

[larryz]

There's not enough drama here, so let's inject some. How did "Dave" get the keys to the 'vette? He's not even family, right?

Sound to me like "Bob" has quite a bit of culpability here as well... Dave was technically not an authorized driver (SIL did not give keys to Dave, who did not have SIL's permission to drive, and Bob's under the age of majority to authorize Dave to drive).

ABC might just as well have refused the claim just like XYZ on those grounds alone...

 

[Magic Mom]

There's not enough drama here, so let's inject some. How did "Dave" get the keys to the 'vette? He's not even family, right?

Sound to me like "Bob" has quite a bit of culpability here as well... Dave was technically not an authorized driver (SIL did not give keys to Dave, who did not have SIL's permission to drive, and Bob's under the age of majority to authorize Dave to drive).

ABC might just as well have refused the claim just like XYZ on those grounds alone...

Drive didn't drive the Corvette, he sprayed it with rocks with his own car.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You can get a copy of the police report. I would start there & see what it says. That will determine how you proceed.

 

[cluvsdisney]

You can get a copy of the police report. I would start there & see what it says. That will determine how you proceed.

I agree. XYZ is of course going to deny the claim but if the police report puts fault with Dave, your SILs insurance company should be able to get reimbursed.

 

[trip]

What did the police charge Dave with? For peeling out?

 

[HonestAbe]

Drive didn't drive the Corvette, he sprayed it with rocks with his own car.

That's the way I read it too. Dave was in his own car and sprayed Bob's daddy's vette causing damage to the front end.

Turn it and the evidence over to insurance and let them handle it. You should get paid back for your deductible too once the insurance handles the situation. Just because the SIL knew Dave's mom a little doesnt mean anything other than it's helped gather evidence in favor of the claim going your way

 

[allison443]

That's the way I read it too. Dave was in his own car and sprayed Bob's daddy's vette causing damage to the front end.

Turn it and the evidence over to insurance and let them handle it. You should get paid back for your deductible too once the insurance handles the situation. Just because the SIL knew Dave's mom a little doesnt mean anything other than it's helped gather evidence in favor of the claim going your way

According to the OP, son in law already turned it into his insurance, paid the $500 deductible, and presumably got the damage repaired. He wants to get reimbursement of his $500 deductible by his insurance company going after Dave's insurance company. Dave's insurance company is refusing to pay the damages, including the $500 that son-in-law paid out of pocket.

OP, insurance companies aren't making legal decisions or rulings. They make business decisions and the remedy is to go to court. Son in law could easily take Dave to small claims court to get his $500 back. He should try to get evidence of the text Dave sent (maybe from the phone company?).
What does the police report say, that Dave made an admission that he did it?

Also I noticed you said something like "we don't know what really happened since we weren't there" well, son-in-law's son was there!! If I had a corvette, lent it to my 16 year old and it ended up damaged, I sure as heck would know every last detail of how something like this "really happened". If my kid had any culpability in this (not saying your grandson did, but it could be, right?) my $500 deductible would be covered by said kid. (not letting Dave off the hook, maybe in addition or something.)

 

[tvguy]

What did the police charge Dave with? For peeling out?

In California, it would be considered "exhibition of speed" and "wreckless operation of a vehicle".

 

[muffyn]

According to the OP, son in law already turned it into his insurance, paid the $500 deductible, and presumably got the damage repaired. He wants to get reimbursement of his $500 deductible by his insurance company going after Dave's insurance company. Dave's insurance company is refusing to pay the damages, including the $500 that son-in-law paid out of pocket.

THIS

OP, insurance companies aren't making legal decisions or rulings. They make business decisions and the remedy is to go to court. Son in law could easily take Dave to small claims court to get his $500 back. He should try to get evidence of the text Dave sent (maybe from the phone company?).

has it on his phone. he is all apologetic of doing it.

What does the police report say, that Dave made an admission that he did it?

yes

Also I noticed you said something like "we don't know what really happened since we weren't there" well, son-in-law's son was there!! If I had a corvette, lent it to my 16 year old and it ended up damaged, I sure as heck would know every last detail of how something like this "really happened". If my kid had any culpability in this (not saying your grandson did, but it could be, right?) my $500 deductible would be covered by said kid. (not letting Dave off the hook, maybe in addition or something.)

well Bob has his story, they were talking etc & Dave peeled out spraying his car... now "I" feel there had to be some kind of male testosterone flying about... ya got a vette & a truck,, I dunno , but friends back up Bob.
& we have all the admissions from Dave he did it (even talking to his mom)

& YES ABC insurance company was supposed to have taken over the case, as S-i-l has full coverage, & ABC wants their money back. THEY said they would handle all of it. soo that is what 'we' all thought was happening, that is why S-i-l was surprised that XYZ insurance company called him... why on earth would they? ABC was supposed to be talking to them.

so... as it still stands, we are waiting on phone call back from officer, & ABC insurance company to find out what gives.

oh also, XYZ told S-i-L that ABC told them why don't we just call it 50/50 & splt it. why would THEY even say that?

oh, I don't know if Dave was charged with anything.
its not like he went off down the block ( doing exhibition of speed... know that one,, hubby had that charge once)

I'll get back to ya on that one.

ok , so WHEN XYZ told S-i-l that was the end of it, no claim being paid, that is when he told xyz he'd be taking their client to small claims & also filing some kind of complaint with (some kind of insurance body) about how xyz handled it all, by NOT even talking to police or witness etc.

i'll update as I get more answers



note: it happened in school parking lot, no charges were filed.

 

[muffyn]

don't you just hate threads you read that have no resolution?
yup I do too.
just thought I'd add an update.

& there really isn't one.

my daughter says her insurance company is in arbitration now with the other insurance company.

the kid who did the damage denies he did anything, even though we have texts he admitted to doing it, & the police report.

the outcome will be either
yes kid did it
no kid didn't
they were both at 50% fault.

so who knows. they will not take into account any witnesses, since they all know "our" kid, but he knows everyone in the school.....

 

[Colleen27]

Eh, this is what we pay our insurance for... to deal with these headaches so we don't have to. I'll bet it ends up resolved favorably in the end but Dave's insurance probably considers it "just good business" to deny the initial claim and hope no one pursues it further.

And to answer an old question - XYZ contacted your SIL in the hope that he'd agree to something stupid like shared responsibility that would get them off the hook for all or part of the claim. If they contact him again he needs to very simply state that any settlement or agreement has to be reached through his ABC agent and not engage with anyone from XYZ at all.

Good luck to them in getting this resolved eventually. I had a similar situation drag on for over a year, but when the deductible reimbursement check showed up in the mail it was a nice surprise.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I went thru arbitration years ago over an auto accident. Be prepared to wait. I think it was over a year before it was ruled in our favor.

TC

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We had something like that happen several years ago, a girl ran a red light going to the mall and hit us. Police report said she was at fault. When we had to go to court the next month, because she didn't pay the fine, she stood in front of the judge and told the judge she was 8 months preg and in a hurry to get to the mall and her insurance company said she wasn't at fault, the judge straightened her out really quickly that her insurance was wrong.

We ended up only being able to get back $300 of our $500 deductible. We have been hit one other time by someone with the same inaurance and they will NEVER take responsibility, even when it's obvious their insured is at fault.

 

[muffyn]

ok so finally there is an update.
I know how frustrating it is when you read a thread on here & never find out the final story.
so here is what happened.

there finally was meeting with an arbitrator. he took less than 10 minutes to practically laugh at the 'defendents" insurance company. he said it should not have taken so long to pay this claim.

there was way too much evidence against him.

so anyway, the kid who caused the damage has to pay.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Thanks for the update and I am glad it worked out so well for you and did not take too long

 

[horseshowmom]

ok so finally there is an update.
I know how frustrating it is when you read a thread on here & never find out the final story.
so here is what happened.

there finally was meeting with an arbitrator. he took less than 10 minutes to practically laugh at the 'defendents" insurance company. he said it should not have taken so long to pay this claim.

there was way too much evidence against him.

so anyway, the kid who caused the damage has to pay.

It amazes me that his parents (certainly his mother since she admitted it as well) allowed him to try to lie his way out of it when they knew full well that he did it. Pretty pathetic all the way around. Glad to hear the positive resolution!