My Truck is in my Kitchen

[calico1597]

December 14 a vehicle left the road and barreled into our house. It plowed thru our garage door striking my husbands truck, a 2012 Chevy Silverado. The impact launched our truck 35 feet into the house, thru the laundry room into the kitchen. I was not home, my husband was in the rear of the house. He's ok other than a twisted knee when he ran out of the house.

The driver is a 20+ year old male with no drivers license. He has a history of seizures. He told the police he 'felt one coming on' and tried to pull off the road. He had to make a sharp turn to run into our house. We are on two acres and the house is set back from the road. He was driving a 2004 Ford Explorer that belonged to his girlfriend. She only has $20K in liability, the minimum required by Illinois. There is more to this part of the story, but my question is regarding our homeowner's insurance.

We have replacement coverage thru Travelers Insurance. Their adjuster was here all day Thursday. He seemed thorough and itemized the repairs needed. He said it's very likely more damage will be discovered when costruction begins. The property estimate has several columns. One is ACV (actual cost value) Depreciation, and RCV (replacement cost value). When I added the columns, actual cost is $45K and the replacement cost is $58K. He gave us a check for $32K. The last page of the estimate summary has the actual cost at $31K and replacement cost at $41K. I sent him an email and asked to explain the differences and how a check of $32K factored in. I did not get a reply, he is on vacation this week. I'm sure someone in this group has experienced a loss and can help explain how this all works.

Two walls are destroyed and a large hole in the laundry room ceiling. I lost half of my kitchen cabinets. We are going to do some upgrades at this time, the house is 40 years old. If I make changes and don't follow the estimate exact will I still be paid replacement costs?

We do have a link to a website and will submit more costs to garage and kitchen items as we think of them.

 

[mamadogmamacat]

not sure from what you have posted how the 58k became 41k. What is your deductible? Does it explain the 9k difference between 41 and 32?
I do not have Travelers. 2 yrs ago when I had a loss Allstate nickled and dimed me the whole way. had contractors on the phone with the adjuster frequently trying to explain why various repairs were needed. They were my best advocates actually. I did get several more checks over the two weeks it took to repair as the adjustor agreed to various additional amounts. So perhaps you can negotiate more payments also, especially as the repairs progress.

You will need to be careful on getting good descriptions of the extra costs for upgrades and making sure they are segregated out as they will not pay for those. I had a few upgrades as well and the adjustor did not always understand which were replacements and which were upgrades.This is another place where your contractor can be your advocate. its important to get good ones not necessarily those recommended by your insurance.

Good Luck
Sorry this happened to you, especially at this time of year

 

[calico1597]

The estimate lists the repairs by areas of the house, garage, attic and crawl space, laundry room & kitchen. Each of these has their own total, but added up it does not match the total summary on the last page.

 

[skipro33]

Probably due to deductibles. Remember; besides what your insurance company covers, the auto policy of that driver is yours to make up any difference your homeowners doesn't. Also, your auto policy should kick in. After all, your truck did much of the damage. Make a claim on your auto policy and let them deal with it.
Oh, and never limit your claim based on what your insurance company says is their limit. Claim it all, make them put in writing what isn't covered. Then let the other guy's auto policy pay what they say they have for their limit. Then go to criminal court and get a restitution order on the guy's guilty verdict or plea deal. Then file a civil claim for it, even though it's double coverage; civil and criminal.

This could take you over a year to get settled between all the ways you have available for making claims.

 

[street]

That is awful! I sure hope all gets worked out with insurance company.

 

[calico1597]

We are snowbirds and take collision off both vehicles while we winter in AZ. We flew west Dec 8. DH uncle passed away, he flew back Dec 13. I called the agent and had the coverage put back on the car since he would be driving it a couple days. So no collision on the truck to collect on. The police recognized the driver, he has a history with the local police. The other insurance is 'investigating'. They have not been able to contact the owner of the Explorer. A friend of ours knows of the family, word is this couple is living in a camper somewhere. He is supposedly abusive to the girl and her family is driving up from Florida to take her back there. We have a letter from Travelers they will pursue to collect the $20K coverage for us.

 

[Texas Proud]

I do not see how collision is involved with this... I would think uninsured/underinsured would kick in...


However, my friend who was parked when the car next to him went up in flames found out that his auto uninsured was not available to his since there was no 'accident' but it was his comprehension.....


If it were me I would be getting in touch with a lawyer to make sure that all my claims were handled properly... and also have them sue for anything that is not paid by insurance...

 

[skipro33]

Not collision since your car wasn't in motion or even a driver behind the wheel, but comprehensive ought to.
You can contact a company like The Greenspan Company. These businesses deal with the insurance company for you to get your rightful due. Usually charge 10% for their fee. Just mention Greenspan to your adjuster and I bet he comes around. These companies are pit bulls and know how to read a policy.
You're darn right your insurance company is gonna pursue the other company on your behalf. Insurance companies have a fiduciary duty to their insured. In fact, do not be surprised if the other company has you sign an agreement that the paltry $20K fully indemnifies their client of all further and future claims or else hold back every last cent until you do. That is their job; to settle for their client in their client's best interest.

I think you probably will need a licensed public adjuster like Greenspan to get this worked out or a lawyer. Make sure you get hold of your district atty and have a victim's advocate assigned to you for this case.

If you want to get your homeowners insurance company's attention, tell them your home is not livable and that 'loss-of-use' is being claimed and you want a temporary replacement home, furnished of course, until this mess is fixed and you can move back in.

As I see it, you have 4 potential sources for financial recovery;
1. Your homeowner's policy
2. Your truck policy, comp.
3. The driver
4. The car's owner that hit your place.

The guy who was driving is the only one you can get a criminal restitution order from and that only awarded by a judge, so be sure the DA has you on the contact list for anything moving along regarding this. Everything else is civil.

Don't forget your income tax adjustments for unrecovered loss.


Good luck!

 

[mamadogmamacat]

The estimate lists the repairs by areas of the house, garage, attic and crawl space, laundry room & kitchen. Each of these has their own total, but added up it does not match the total summary on the last page.

thanks for the clarification

I would not wait for the adjustor who came out to view the damage to get off vacation

i dealt with several people in the Allstate claims office
Seems like this significant discrepancy is something that can get fixed/explained by anyone in the Travelers claims office, and they should have that office staffed tomorrow at least from 9 to 5 if not 24/7

 

[street]

^ I can't see why your insurance wouldn't cover it. That is good advise from skipro33 if there is a company to look into I for you. I really dislike dealing with insurance companies.

 

[bbbamI]

Oh my gosh....well, Merry Christmas.

I worked for an insurance agency a long, long time ago. Like has been said, you can contact Travelers and hopefully a rep can help you. They should have the info at their fingertips.

In the meantime, look at your policy under...'in the event of a loss'.

This is an assumption on my part, but perhaps he cut a check so you could get started on making repairs. Any additional damage should be photographed by you with a time and date stamp if possible. Keep all receipts and estimates. If Travelers steps up to the plate (and I believe they will), they should reimburse you for any additional expenses.

 

[MissMolly]

I can't speak to the auto coverage, but as far as your homeowners insurance goes, they ordinarily cut a "preliminary" check and hold back a percentage (I don't recall what that specific % amount is) and then cut you a final check once repairs are completed. When you check with your insurance company for an explanation, I will not be surprised if this is part of the discrepancy. This is common practice in the insurance industry for major losses. It is an enticement for you to actually make repairs and not pocket the money (which happens more frequently than you would think even with major damage such as yours).

 

[Scrapr]

Insurance companies have a proprietary program that they schedule the repairs. Many remodel/insurance contractors can use the same program and hooked into the insurers servers. Maybe something like Xactimate.

Contractors that do this kind of work know the ins & outs. Down to scheduling 6' of floor protection for carpet. Remodel contractors would use floor protection but not know that they should charge it in Xactimate.

Doesn't make you feel any better but one of our drivers stepped out of his truck to use the bathroom and did not set the brake. Truck rolled down a hill, pushed a car through a garage door and into another car, while our truck veered into a corner post holding up the 2nd floor. The good news? The contractor that did the repair work was on our client list. So we only created some work for us

 

[FIREd]

I don't have much to contribute to the discussion, but my heart goes out to you, calico.

 

[Bamaman]

Unfortunately, this is an example of how inadequate state minimum liability regulations are.

The portion on the automobile liability insurance that pays for such damages is "property damage," and it's usually even much less than the stated value liability coverage.

Good luck with your claim. The timing wasn't good at the end of the year, but I'm just glad no bodily injury happened. Unfortunately, it sounds as if the driver of the car would be uncollectible even if a judgement was made against him in civil court. At the least, he needs to be grounded from operating a motor vehicle if he has seizures.