Car Insurance/Accident/Dead car issue...

[Kate and Pete]

I'm hoping someone here can help me!

Aug. 8th, I was rear-ended in an accident with a motorcycle. (Although, rear-ended isn't exactly right, because his WHOLE ENTIRE bike slid under my car!! ) The biker flew over my car and landed in front of it. He was wearing a helmet and only suffered a few scrapes. He hit my car at 45mph, no sign of him braking.

Fine - so, time to deal with insurance. He called his insurance, as did I, and the claim process was easy (Progressive). The check engine light came on after the accident, which both the autobody place they recommended to me and the adjuster knew. When they go the car, the light wasn't on (OF COURSE!!), so, I guess, they didn't do anything to pursue that. The bodywork on my car was fixed and looked fine when I went to get my car. On the way home (10 miles away from the shop), my car broke down. Back to the body shop. Apparently, there was NO oil in my car, and I seized the engine.

So, now I take it to MY mechanic, who said the loss of oil was most likely caused my the accident (since he can tell I wasn't burning it and there are no leaks).

Progressive is saying "most likely caused" by the accident isn't enough - they need a "clear link." Unless my oil was drained during the night and stolen, the only explanation would be....wait for it....the accident. But, Progressive doesn't want to pay.

So, what's my next step? Do I contact my insurance to help me? A lawyer? Give up?

 

[Friendly Frog]

I am actually wondering about your mechanic. I would think that he should be able to tell if you had damage to the car that would cause it to lose oil. I would ask him more questions about finding out where the oil leaked from.

Were any photos taken of the accident that might show oil on the pavement?

 

[mpls_mm]

Progressive does also cover the work the shop does or doesn't do. thats why they have "preferred" shops. I got in a bad accident and my chassis and frame was bent, the shop they sent me to did about 8k in work. A few weeks later I was having my oil changed and they noticed that my tires were almost bald on the inside, they had just put them on a week before the accident. They gave me paperwork stating the other shop had never balanced or aligned the tires after doing all the underbody work, Progressive made them fix everything and replace my tires, but it took a fight. I also had to take it back two more times to be aligned. I dropped Progressive after all the issues I had with their "preferred" shops.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

I would call your insurance company and explain the situation. Your agent can work with Progressive and try to get them to pay if it's warranted. That's part of what you're paying for with your premiums - to get help with these kinds of situations. Your company will not want to pay for an accident that wasn't your fault, so they'll work hard to get Progressive to pay.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Darn, I had a long amended post but got kicked out and lost it, so this time it will be a little shorter....

I am not an attorney so no legal advice, this is just what I would do.

The first thing I would do is I would explain to the mechanic shop the issue the insurance company has. Ask them if they are able to provide the information that they insurance company needs in order to pay the claim. Maybe it is just "wording" issues and the mechanic shop can clear things up for you. I would think a good mechanic could tell what happened to your oil.

If the mechanic shop says that they can not determine what happened to the oil level that I would be asking them a lot of questions.

Did you have a check engine or check oil light on when you picked up the car? (Why not?)

What exactly did they check as a follow up to the check engine light?!!

Did they check the warning sensors to see if they were properly functioning? Perhaps the accident knocked a wire lose. You got the warning but by the time the car got to the shop the sensor had failed. I would think they should have checked this? Perhaps they may bare some contribilitor libality? ( I would have another shop check the sensor right now to see if it is functional, this could be important later.)

Did they check your oil level when you dropped the car off? Or before releasing it to you? ( Maybe you would want to look under the car to see if I could tell if an oil change was done? Is the plug in and tight? Is the filter tight?) Maybe ask them if they did an oil change?

This is not as well versed as I would like, but I don't want to get kicked out again so I am typing fast. I hope you get the general idea of what I would do.

Good luck, and if all else fails, I would get an attorney. ( And I am not a fan of lawsuits of attorneys.) Just be sure you know the attorney fees up-front.

 

[Jeff_G]

ummm where did the oil go, it doesn't just disappear and believe me if you burned the entire amount it would had been very noticeable, this huge amount of smoke out the tail pipe... So there is either a crack somewhere, or perhaps the oil pan was damaged by the bike, or was the oil filter knocked off? Did the bike make it all the way to the front of the car?

Go back to your mechanic and tell him progressive is balking at replacing the engine and ask him to see if he can determine where the oil went to.


Do you have any receipts from your oil changes? This will prove that the car was maintained...

 

[Cheshire Figment]

I would suggest talking to your insurance company. They are professionals and will work with Progressive (and they have lawyers on staff).

 

[msmayor]

Just a comment here - a "check engine" light does not indicate an issue with oil...you have a specific "oil" light for that.

"Check Engine" is generally an issue with the emissions system.

I'm curious...did you only take the car to a body shop for accident repair, thinking that the car had no engine damage? If so, why didn't a mechanic look at the car after the accident to check all systems and fluids?

Was there evidence at the accident site that fluids were lost? When my son's car was in an accident it was clear that the vehicle lost both coolant and oil as it was all over the ground, requiring them to spread a drying substance on the road to absorb it.

Absent evidence that the car lost fluids due to the accident you may have a tough time getting the insurance to cover. Can you prove when the last time was you had an oil change (which would indicate that the oil was adequate) or the last time the oil level was checked?

 

[mrodgers]

First off, is this a VW Beetle? That is the only (common) car that having a motorcycle go down and hit you in the rear that could damage anything causing the oil to leak dry.

Just want to be sure of that. A front engine car, there is no way the engine being empty of oil could be caused by the motorcycle.

 

[Kate and Pete]

Thank you all for helping and offering suggestions! We're having the head mechanic at the Subaru dealership (my car's a Subaru) take a look. If he can't find a link between the missing oil and the accident, then we'll pay out of pocket for a new motor. If he can, well, we've got some more fighting with Progressive to do! (And I WILL be using my insurance co. to do said fighting....)

Honestly, I just want my car back - I haven't had it for a MONTH now due to all this nonsense - and school's starting, which means I'm headed back to work...


Thanks again!

 

[Dominus]

Ditto on talking to your agent. The mechanic should fill the engine with oil and watch for leaking to determine where the oil drained from. Most likely there will be visible damage to the pan or something and you could attribute that damage to the bike. Shouldn't be too much of a problem for a competent mechanic and a sympathetic (i.e. your) agent.

 

[SandrA9810]

Often times if the battery is disconnected, it could take a few miles for the check engine light to turn back on. I'm assuming they disconnected the battery long enough for the warning lights to reset, and that's why they weren't on when you picked the car up. But after a few miles of driving, it was able to register something was wrong and turn it on again.

Hopefully your last oil change was resent. And even a leak could take months to burn off ALL the oil. Try checking with the police and city to see how the accident was cleaned up. If the guy's bike slide under your car, I'm sure there were small fragments shattered about the ground and more than just your oil leak. There might be a record of clean up for the accident site.
I'm only assuming, since it would cost money, and if it's city money, there would be a record of how it's spent.