Adjusters as cowboys. Was: Re: VW roof...etc

[Roa, Greg]

I think State Farm does this as a matter of course.  I had the same thing happen to me.  Was in the parking lot at UC a few years back, backing into a parking spot.  Had a girl run into the front fender of my car.
On private property, so no official police report, but the campus police officer came and wrote up a report for their records.
I made a claim to State Farm, and they responded by telling me that it was 40% my fault, because I should have known that this girl would be coming (I saw her pass by, looking for a spot, then she came back, and hit me).

I took them to court, they had a lawyer up against me.  I brought in the campus officer, pictures, drawings, and everything.  The judge saw what was going on, and decided that they had to pay the claim.  Only problem was, in Ohio, for some reason, you only can be reimbursed for what you have already spent on these types of claims.  I hadn't had the car repaired yet, as I was going to do it myself if I didn't win the case, and it had to come out of my pocket.
Only thing I had done to the car at that point as a result of the accident was to get it aligned so I could still get to school in it.  My mistake as I'm not a lawyer.

My total award was $36.25 to cover that cost.

State Farm saved themselves $2200 by fighting me on something so stupid, minus their lawyer's fees, ect.
They lost a lot more though in the long run.  I told everyone in my extended family what happened, and state farm lost 8 families as customers that week.

Morons.

Greg Roa
Cincinnati, OH
86' 4kcsq
93' 90 CS
83' 944
AND NO STATE FARM!

>So the adjuster goes out and with great vigor decides to squeeze every last
>dime out of every last loss to show his boss what a terrific adjuster he
>really is.  My wife's Mazda RX7 was backed into in a parking lot by some
>elderly woman who was insured by Allstate or State Farm....one of those.
>They had their own "drive-in" claims office and she took the car there.
>They declined the claim on the spot, saying, in effect, that my wife had
>been at fault for driving down into the parking lot.
>
>Well, my wife was a licensed insurance agent, a Chartered Property and
>Casualty Underwriter, and possessed of an enormous temper when pushed.
>Although she was basically shy and retiring normally, the attitude of the
>claims adjuster made her so angry, that she prepared a dossier and took
>State Farm or Allstate (whichever) to court.  Since the accident happened in
>a private parking lot, there was no police report, but she took photographs
>of where and how it happened.  They hired a lawyer, and she went pro
>se....her CPCU degree had prepared her well for arguing insurance matters in
>court, and she knew much more about contributory and comparative negligence
>than the lawyer who she met in court.
>
>The judge took one look and listened to the hot shot lawyer posture, finally
>cutting him off at the knees.  The judge pronounced the claims denial to be
>illegal under the law, and ordered the insurance company to pay the claim
>immediately, plus court costs, and the lawyer to get the he-- out of his
>courtroom.  Case closed.
>
>Roger