Free Legal Information on Negotiating Your Total Loss from an Arizona Car Accident
by Arizona Motorcycle Accident Attorneys - Mark Breyer
As Arizona car accident lawyers, we know that when you have been involved in a collision, it is a new and confusing experience. Most people do not know what to do and are looking for legal help on how to handle their Arizona property damage. To help victims, we thought we would put together some important facts. Here are five points that you should know that will help you with your property damage claim:
- After an Arizona car accident, file a claim with the insurance company - When you have been involved in an accident and are injured by someone else's fault, the first thing to do is to file a claim with the insurance company. We recommend that the person who is injured not file the claim, but rather have a family member file the claim. Many times the at-fault party will not give you the correct information. If that is the case, it is important to contact the police who investigated the accident and see if you can have the police contact the at-fault party for more information.
When contacting the insurance company, many times the insurance company will have multiple phone numbers. When you are calling the insurance company, if they cannot find the at-fault party, ask them to search by address, phone number of date of birth - not just the name of the at-fault party.
If you cannot detect any insurance at all, it is best to talk to an attorney who can help you find the insurance information. If you have a vehicle in storage, it is very important that the vehicle doesn’t sit in the tow yard while you are searching for insurance. It is possible that the insurance company will argue that you should have mitigated your damages and moved the vehicle, so it is important that you document everything that you did to mitigate your damages so you can show the insurance adjuster when the insurance is found how you mitigated your damages. Otherwise, you may be stuck with potentially thousands of dollars of storage charges. - Property damage can be negotiated - Many people who are in a car accident do not realize that the value of their vehicle is negotiable. Ask the insurance company for a copy of the evaluation report that they used to come to the value of your vehicle if your vehicle was totaled. If your vehicle is repairable, ask the insurance adjuster for a copy of the repairs statement and make sure that you know where they are getting the replacement parts from that will be used to fix your vehicle.
In negotiating your property damage, make sure that the insurance company adds the appropriate tax for the total loss of your vehicle. You may also be entitled for reimbursement of any lost items in your vehicle. If the value of the total loss vehicle is not acceptable to you, go through the different papers or online sites so that you can show comparable vehicles and have the total loss evaluation of your vehicle increased.
The best Arizona personal injury lawyers will negotiate the amount of your property damage, whether your car needs repairs or is a total loss, for free for you as a compliment to handling your injury claim. If you are having trouble negotiating your vehicle evaluation, try to use the above steps or call an experienced accident lawyer who can help you for free when it comes to your property damage. - Loss of Use of Vehicle When You Are in a Collision - When you are in an accident and do not have access to your vehicle and the insurance company will not provide you with a rental vehicle, you may be entitled to what we call "loss of use". Loss of use is monetary damages owed to the party who has no ability to use their vehicle and occurs when the insurance company has not provided a rental.
Loss of use currently ranges in Arizona from $15.00 a day on the very low end to $30.00 a day. It depends on what type of vehicle you have and the circumstances surrounding the car accident. The insurance adjuster may offer as little as $15.00/day but typically this number is very low. If the insurance adjuster will not put you in a rental and your vehicle is in the repair shop or not drivable, then you should discuss with the adjuster to either put you in a rental vehicle or that you are owed loss of use for every day you are without a vehicle.
Typically, you are entitled to loss of use until at least 48 hours after an offer on your total loss of vehicle is made by the insurance company. If the insurance company does offer $15.00 a day for rental, ask the insurance company to provide you with information as to what company would give you a rental for $15.000 a day. It is important to understand the law of mitigation of damages in Arizona. If you do have a lawyer make sure that the lawyer understands the laws of mitigation and that they are fighting for you for your loss of use. - Salvage Vehicle from Your Car Accident - If your vehicle is a total loss, you do have the choice of keeping your vehicle. If you ask the insurance adjuster for a copy of the evaluation of the report, it should have a price for the salvage costs of your vehicle. The salvage cost is what you can buy your vehicle back from the insurance company. If you want to keep your vehicle, you can tell the insurance company to deduct the salvage cost of your car. Many people who are involved in an auto accident decide they want to keep their vehicle because their vehicle may be able to be repaired for less money than the insurance company is offering or the vehicle may have valuable parts that the insurance company is not considering in their offer. Remember, the insurance adjuster is not your friend. It is their job to get you to settle for as little as possible on your property damage claim. The minimum amount they give out on property damage, the more profits the insurance company will have, and that is the goal of the insurance company: to make money.
- If It Isn't Written, It Didn't Happen - We tell all our clients that if it isn't written, it didn't happen, so always keep this in mind. If you tell the insurance company you are without a vehicle or let them know all the valuable upgrades to your vehicle, it should be in writing. There are many things a lawyer can do to increase the value of a claim or property damage and this many times comes down to the fact that every conversation is documented and all other circumstances surrounding the accident are documented as well. Whenever you talk to the insurance adjuster, it should be documented in writing by sending the adjuster a letter that indicates what you talked about. Be careful that what you write does not later impact your injury claim though.
Contact Arizona Car Accident Lawyers for Free Advice
If you have questions about your property damage claim, feel free to call attorneys Alexis and Mark Breyer of Breyer Law Offices, P.C. anytime. We can answer your questions and guide you in the right direction. Property damage can be complex and it is always very frustrating for people when they do not have a car and are injured. Sometimes people are in the hospital and do not need a car, but the insurance company still expects the family to get the vehicle out of the tow yard and to negotiate the property damage no matter what the circumstances of their injured family member.
Almost always our clients who are seriously injured have more things to think about than dealing with their property damage. When you are seriously injured, the last thing you want to be doing is fighting over your property damage with the insurance company. As Arizona car accident lawyers, we deal with property damage claims every day and never charge a fee on your total loss vehicle evaluation. If you are looking just to have some questions answered, feel free to give us a call for an absolutely free consultation.
