pixelbend

Hi all,

Early last week my wife was driving back home from class in her 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport when a guy came out of a side street (coming down a hill) in a Chevy S10 at about 35 mph and hit her in the right back door/tire area. It spun her all the way around the street and she ended up in someone's lawn.

The guy said his brakes failed and he couldn't stop. It sheared a few of the bolts in the back end and dropped the rear drive train, messed up the wheel and wrinkled up both doors on that side and the back fender panel. It had to be put on a flat bed to get it out of the street. All in all, I think it took the impact like a champ.

We got her checked out at the Emergency Room and everything was ok (thank god). She got in contact with the other guy's insurance company and we got a rental car from them. We requested an SUV because she uses it for work and to haul around our Great Dane. They said, "We can't do that, it would be too expensive and you are lucky we are even coveing this because it was equipment failure on my client's part. Any other insurance company would not cover it." And at the time we thought he was just blowing smoke up our butt.

The next day we get a call saying that they are not going to cover our claim because it was equipment failure and we need to take the rental car back. We were shocked. We were awed. We thought, "Isn't that what you have insurance for?".

Well, to make a long story short, our insurance company is going to pick up everything and have to sue his insurance company to get their money back. the Jeep is totaled and we will still owe about $900 on it.

So my question to all of you is: Is this bullshait or do most insurance companies not cover this sort of thing? Everyone I have talked to says it's bull. My insurance agent, the rental car guy, friends, family...everyone.

I feel like we are the victim's in this and we are getting screwed at every oppourtunity.

2sheds

that's terrible. i'm not an insurance expert, but it wouldn't suprise me if auto insurance companies routinesly deny some claims they no are probably valid, in hopes that the claimants (you and your insurance) will decide it's not worth the trouble pursue legal action. i know my health insurance will occasionally reject a claim for no apparent reason, only to accept the claim when i re-file it.

hopefully your insurance will be able to get them to pay, at which point i believe they will reimburse you for your deductible.

thankfully it was just your car that was hurt.

good luck!

__________________
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cj2112

contact an attorney that deals in these matters ASAP. you need to protect your interests, I guarantee you that the insurance companies are going to look after themselves first.

yakimushi

Yeah, I would call BS on that one.

If everyone that ran a stop sign or red light claimed faulty equipment then nobody would ever be liable.

"I swear I tried to stop but my breaks just quit working!"

Yeah, right.

Jackebear

I know how you feel...it's a bloody nightmare. Everytime I was in an accident (not my fault) I couldn't sleep for days dealing with this type of BS. I guess that is why they have no-fault insurance in Canada now, so no matter what happens, you deal with your own company only and if you have the different options you can get a rental Navigator if you want.

It doesn't sound right to me...your situation, so I would definately check it out and luckily it wasn't serious...I am glad your wife is OK. You might want to call another insurance company or a buddy in the business for a second opinion.
Good Luck.

__________________
Life's jounney is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn-out shouting, "Holy sh*t! What a ride!" - unknown

Moonduck

It depends on your locale. The advice I'm about to give is based off the insurance regs for my area (and many of the surrounding states). Take what I say with a grain of salt.

Your insurance company is not trying to screw you over, obviously. If they were, you could sue them for Bad Faith and rake in stupid money. they are trying to settle the claim in line with your policy. The other insurance company is not trying to screw you for similar reasons. They are try to settle the claim based on your locale's law and statutes. Faulty Equipment is thin though, and not normally done unless the cop ont he scene declares it Faulty Equipment.

Equipment failure happens. If it truly is equipment failure, it is not the fault of the other driver, unless it can be empirically shown that he did something to cause said failure (ie messed with his vehicle in a blatantly stupid fashion). In most states, you cannot prove equipment failure unless the court agrees. The only way the court will agree is if it is obviously equipment failure, and, more importantly, if proper evidence handling procedures are followed. In other words, that the other guy has no contact with the vehicle, and no one works on it until the investigation can take place to determine failure or not. If the other guy drove his vehicle home, or had it towed to his house, he's screwed. I say this because I did have a brake failure a few years ago, blatant one what spewed brake fluid all over the bottom of my truck. But because I had it towed to my home to fix myself, chain of evidence was broken and they could not accept any evidence I provided.

Now, going off the regs that we use in Virginia, if someone else hits your car, and the accident is demonstrably not your fault at all but either they have no insurance or their insurance denies coverage, you will go under your own policy with some modifications. In Virginia (and many other states), Uninsured Motorist Insurance kicks in. It is a seperate coverage just for situations like this. Your carrier will pay for the damages, rental, injuries, etc just as they would in a normal hit as if you were a third party claimant. They will then try to go against the other carrier in subrogation to obtain the monies paid out. Your insurance company is on your side by contract law.

Now I am usually the first person to tell people NOT to get an attorney. The car repairs/total-loss are almost never negotiable by an attorney, and, in most cases, a person's injuries are not severe enough to warrant an attorney. Also the fees the attorney will charge will usually eat up whatever extra they manage to get in settlement over what a competent individual can get if they handle things intelligently. In this case, you may wish to retain an attorney though. While your carrier is going to fight out the liability side in arbitration, an attorney can beat up the 3rd party carrier civilly. The problem with this is that the attonrey will take their 30% even if all they do is negotiate liability.

Basically your best bet is to figure out what happened to the other guy's vehicle, and to get a police report. If it shows the ticket as Faulty/Improper Equipment, you're in trouble. If it shows Improper Driving, Failure to Yield Right of Way, etc, you're in better shape. You also want to talk to your insurance rep and have them explain in detail what the process is from here, and what the chances of arbitration succeding would be (or however your state handles it).

Too many people have a knee-jerk assumption that the insurance company is trying to screw them, when, in reality, they've not read thier own policy and have no idea whatsoever what their state laws are regarding liability, etc. The knee-jerk advice is "get an attorney!', when the actual advice should be to examine your situation and see if the 30% the attorney is going to shave will be worth spending.

I wish you luck in getting your claim resolved.

pixelbend

Well, here's an update. The other guy's insurance adjusted took his truck into the shop and they determined it was indeed brake failure. He said the line exploded (spontanious rubber combustion, I suppose), so they are going to deal with his claim and not ours. I guess it is the same as if he ran into a inanimate object.

So our insurance company is going to cover all of our bills and they have decided to total out the Jeep. Bad thing is, we will still owe $923 on the Jeep, but we shouldn't have a problem getting that rolled over into another vehicle. On the upside, since our insurance company is cover all of our medical expenses. If they succeed in their suit against the other guy's insurance company, they will also have to cover any medical expenses incurred. So that will just be money in our pocket. That is what our insurance agent said anyway.

So all in all, I think it will turn out all right. Now we just need to find another Jeep (we really liked that thing).

shakran

equipment failure is no excuse. You're supposed to keep your vehicle well maintained. That means having it checked if you're not savvy enough to check it yourself. brake lines don't just spontaneously combust. I also call TOTAL bullshit on this total brake failure due to a busted line theory. Brake systems are designed as a double backup system. The front right wheel and the rear left wheel are connected, and vice versa. So if the line to the front right wheel blows, you lose brakes on the front right wheel and the rear left wheel. The brakes on the front left wheel and the rear right wheel still work and will stop the car.

And if it's a brake line that broke, why didn't Genius pull the E-brake? Or downshift? Or slam it in park? (oh, and "I didn't KNOW to do that" is no excuse. Either know how to drive including handling emergencies like that, or stay home.)

Bottom line, it's the other guy's fault.

Moonduck

This is why his insurance company is going to fight it, Shakran. You always fight equipment failure. Brakes do fail though. If you blow a brake line, you have greatly reduced stopping power. Yes, you hit the emergency brake, but ever tried that at speed? It doesn't work all that well as it only activates the rear brake and has no applicable ABS. About 80% of your braking power is applied by the front wheels, meanign your emergency brakes give you 20% of your stopping power. Additionally, if you are trying to panic stop, you will only be able to do so much in the split second that you realize your brakes have failed. Most people pump the brakes a couple of times trying to get them to work, then it is time to hit emergency brakes, downshift, etc, and by then it is frequently too late.