Jill: Hi everybody! I'm Jill Bollwerk.
Andy: And I'm Andy Pichler.
Jill: And we're the attorneys at Bollwerk and Associates. Welcome to another edition of Coffee with the Counselors. It's been a minute, hasn't it?
Andy: It has, it's been a few weeks.
Jill: We haven't done one in a while because we've had a lot of snow here and we've had to cancel a couple of scheduled videos. So anyway, welcome back! What are we talking about today, Andy?
Andy: Today we're going to talk about what to do if you're in a car accident but you're not injured, yet you still sustain some property damage.
Jill: Yeah, we do get phone calls occasionally from people saying, "I'm not injured, but my car was damaged and I need help." Unfortunately, it's hard to find an attorney to help with that situation simply because you can't get more than the value of the car for somebody. You can't get more than the cost of repair for somebody, so it doesn't make economic sense for people to get lawyers in those cases. But if that happens to you, we're always happy to give you some thoughts on how to handle it yourself.
There are different scenarios that can come up. What happens, first of all, if you have a car crash with somebody who does have insurance? What would be the advice you give to somebody when they tell you, "My car was damaged by somebody, and they do have coverage"?
Andy: I think the first thing you do is submit it through that driver's collision coverage. Put their insurance on notice and they'll get you set up with a body shop, hopefully soon, to get those repairs that are necessary. If that happens, that's the easy way of going about it.
Jill: But unfortunately, the calls we get most of the time are from someone saying, "My car was damaged and the other driver doesn't have insurance." In that case, the first question we ask is, "Do you have collision coverage? Do you have coverage for property damage to your vehicle?" And if you do, what's the advice? What would you tell somebody then?
Andy: Well, at that point, just submit it through your own insurance collision coverage. They would be the ones to get you set up with a body shop, get those repairs, and if necessary, go after the other driver potentially for reimbursement on your deductible.
Jill: So if your own insurance company pays you for your property damage, they have what's called a right of subrogation where they have the right to go after that other driver that doesn't have insurance and try to get their money back and your deductible back. So that's the option you have if the other driver doesn't have insurance, but you do have collision coverage.
But sometimes we get calls from people who say, "My car was damaged by somebody who doesn't have insurance, and I don't have collision. I only have liability coverage." And those aren't fun phone calls.
Andy: No, then your options are limited. We'll tell them it may make sense to try and take that other driver to small claims court. Unfortunately, if that's the route you choose to go, you are limited to $5,000 in recovery in small claims. So a lot of times, especially with newer vehicles and the cost of vehicles now, the damage is going to exceed that. So you're not making yourself whole—you might get something, but it's certainly not going to put you in the position where you were prior to the crash.
Jill: And if you have a really expensive vehicle that has, you know, $25-$30,000 of damage—well, first of all, you shouldn't have a vehicle of that price range without collision coverage. But if you do, for some reason, that might make sense to hire a lawyer to pursue that property damage. But remember, you're going to have to pay the lawyer, and so to pursue $25,000 in damage, a lawyer is either going to charge you a third or whatever contingent fee, or they're going to charge you hourly. So you just have to weigh the benefits of that.
Here's another question, and we get this question a lot too: "I had property damage to my car. I submitted to the other insurance company, but they're offering me too little for the value of the vehicle." If your car is totaled and the other insurance company isn't offering you what you think is fair, what can you do?
Andy: I think there's room to negotiate. It's going to take some research on your end, but if you can show that other vehicles like yours, through different websites, are valued at a certain amount and you submit that, then that's a good starting point at least to get that valuation kicked up a little bit.
Jill: Yeah, you can look at Kelley Blue Book, you can look at NADA.com, and you also can get—look on Craigslist or classified ads for cars with your make and model that are for sale. Now, that's not going to be the market value, that's going to be the sale value, but at least it's evidence that you can present to the insurance company to say, "Hey, you're not offering me enough money."
And then sometimes we get questions about people that have property damage and they're working with the other insurance company, and their car is repairable, but they're not paying enough to repair the car. So what do we give for advice in that situation?
Andy: I think in that situation, it makes sense to call the body shop that's working on your car, or that is going to be working on your car, and see if they're willing to get involved and call the insurance company and say, "Yeah, it will in fact take more than you're offering to get this vehicle fixed, so what can we do about that?"
Jill: I mean, there's no really great answers when you're involved in a crash and you don't have any injuries. Your damages in that case are the fair market value of your car right before the crash, or the cost of repairs. Usually, a car will be totaled if the cost of repairs exceed a percentage, and I think it's sometimes 75% or 80% of the value of the vehicle.
So anyway, these are just some tips—not legal advice, just tips—that you can use if you have an accident and you are faced with property damage only. And if that happens to you and you don't know where to turn, you can always give us a call. We'll be happy to talk you through it. But again, it's hard to find a lawyer to actually take on the case simply because the damages don't really give any kind of compensation for attorney fees. So anyway, hope that was helpful.
Andy: Yeah, I think it was. If you are injured in a crash, then definitely that's something we work with all the time and we're happy to take those calls.
Jill: Of course, we're happy to take those calls as well. So anyway, take care of yourselves. Anything else to say, Andy?
Andy: No. If you have any topics or questions that you want us to cover in an upcoming episode, let us know, and we're happy to incorporate that.
Jill: Okay, thanks everybody! Have a great day.
Both: Bye-bye!
