Legal Question in Personal Injury in California
O.k. im gonna try to make this short and to the point because im kinda pissed at the moment right now and need some advice. My wife was driving our car and was rear-ended other driver 100% at fault....cool right....NOT...As of right now my bumper is hanging halfway off and so is my muffler met up with the other drivers adjuster to get estimate. My rear bumper had minor minor minor damage to it since someone scraped it in a shopping mall parking lot NO DAMAGE TO BUMPER other than scrapes and some paint that came off no dents, no nothing and above the bumper there is a small dent from the same incident this is all on the drivers side quarter panel and like i said no damage to our reat bumper other than the scrape and paint that same off. So the Statefarm agent takes pictures and says that they'll do a estimate and give a call back the next day which was today. They say the estimate is 787$ to replace the bumper and that they are not paying for that because from the previous damage the bumper needed to be replaced anyways and that they didnt see anything wrong with the muffler. Im like ******* are u serious??? i have dual exhaust the left side is attached and the right side scrapes the freaking ground and u dont see anything wrong with it? I tried explaining that my bumper was attached muffler attached all before your client rear-ended me yea my bumper had some scratches which was fine it was still intact but now that your client ran into the back of my car my bumper is barely hanging on and my muffler is the same. So they suggest i go ahead and start the repair process on my own 787$ out my own pocket and if the bodyshop finds more damage and see's that the new damage made the bumper and muffler hang off then they'll come out and inspect it again. Doesnt make any sense at all i feel that they using the scrapes on my bumper from before the accident a reason to not pay to fix my car. Im not worried about the small dent in the quarter panel i dont want u to fix that your client didnt do that but I DO WANT my freaking bumper and muffler repaired.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Dealin g with State Farm can be difficult to put it mildly. Contact a local attorney for help.
Just tender the claim to your own insurance company and let let them go after State Farm for reimbursement. No attorney can help you with an $800 case.