Kelly fought for her DV in CA!

June 26, 2019By Justin Petty
Kelly fought for her DV in CA!

Kelly fought for her DV in CA!

Have you had trouble getting your diminished value claim settled?  

So did our client Kelly in San Mateo, CA so she hired us as her experts.  She had a 2016 Audi Q3 2.0T Premium Plus with over $20K in damage after an accident that wasn’t her fault and, although it should have been totaled, the at-fault insurance carrier INSISTED it was repairable!  

She submitted her $6100 DV claim and got the typical immediate denial.

Because California only requires $5K in property damage liability coverage, insurance companies COMMONLY attempt to use this denial / delay tactic…

Here’s how it works:

The responsible carrier will refuse to address the victim’s out-of-pocket damages (like Loss of Use and Diminished Value), arguing that the VICTIM’S insurance carrier needs to subrogate first. 

If this happens, the victim almost never gets paid for Diminished Value.  Since your own policy doesn’t cover diminished value, you MUST get it from the at-fault person’s carrier so the subrogation claim must wait until you recover your DV.  

Otherwise, the subro claim could exhaust the limits of the at-fault party’s policy, leaving you empty-handed with no way to recover.  The Made-Whole Doctrine exists to combat this inequity (search more about this topic on our blog).

Once she made everyone aware that she knew her rights, Kelly got the full Diminished Value settlement of $6100 and her insurance company was forced to wait on their subrogation claim.

Do you need a great expert appraiser to help with your diminished value auto claim?  

You can get a FREE claim consultation today to talk about your claim with one of our experts!

WHAT’S THE MADE WHOLE DOCTRINE & WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ANYWAY?

March 31, 2016By Justin Petty
WHAT’S THE MADE WHOLE DOCTRINE & WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ANYWAY?

Made Whole Doctrine: Are you being preyed upon?

Insurance companies count on vehicle owners not knowing about the law, specifically the made whole doctrine.  They use the lack of knowledge by the layman to prey on accident victims for profit.  Right now, many of the accident victims that are reading this article are being further victimized by their own insurance company, and many times the adjusters that are doing the victimizing have been indoctrinated to believe they are doing the right thing and that they are within the law.

Let me be very clear here:

Insurance companies routinely steal money from their own customers through improper and illegal subrogation activities.

ARE YOU AFFECTED? CLICK HERE TO READ MORE!

ALERT! ! ! COLLUSION / DECEPTIVE SUBROGATION PRACTICES IN CALIFORNIA REGARDING THE MADE WHOLE DOCTRINE

May 6, 2015By Justin Petty
ALERT! ! ! COLLUSION / DECEPTIVE SUBROGATION PRACTICES IN CALIFORNIA REGARDING THE MADE WHOLE DOCTRINE

Warning – Your Insurance Company Could Be Stealing From You!

Insurance companies are stealing money from their own policyholders by ignoring the common law “MADE WHOLE DOCTRINE”.

If you have been in an accident and had to use your own policy to get your vehicle repaired, then you are potentially a victim of the malicious subrogation practices by carriers like State Farm, GEICO, Farmers, USAA, AAA, CSAA, Mercury and many others.

Almost every insurance carrier in California is illegally demanding money that is not theirs to take under a general subrogation provision in personal auto policies before their customers are made whole.

READ ABOUT HOW INSURANCE COMPANIES ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF INNOCENT VICTIMS!

Subrogation: Are you the Tortoise or the Hare?

September 4, 2013By Justin Petty No Comments

subrogation tactics, tortoise or the hareIf you don’t know what subrogation is, then this article isn’t for you.  In this posting, I am speaking only of personal automobile subrogation recovery.  A recent teleconference with some claims professionals made me think of this blog posting.

Subrogation recovery is a difficult skill to master.  There are two fundamental approaches to maximizing recovery.  One approach focuses on speed, and the other is based on securing the most future money. Think of the fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” and the lesson it teaches.  We believe that lesson is well applied in the area of subrogation, and our long term numbers can prove it.

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Proper Use of Resources

September 9, 2009By Justin Petty No Comments

For a small to medium sized auto insurance claims department, the best method for maximizing subrogation recovery and reducing claims severity is to hire one specialist for every 500 subrogation potential claims that are open at any one time.  Then train that specialist to promptly and effectively recover the easy money claims while sending out the “hard dollar” claims to a specialty vendor, not a subrogation mill.  By specialty vendor, someone or company that can demonstrate the ability to recover money from uninsured motorists, not a company that works for a lot of large carriers (they count on the carrier missing easy money and in my experience don’t do a good job at recovering from uninsured motorists).  The prime scenario would also include utilizing the “hard dollar” specialist to audit subrogation demands and specialty demands for proper payouts.

This scenario which is hard to find, is where my company specializes.  By utilizing a company such as ours (the only one that exists), a small to medium sized company can kill two birds with one stone and maximize uninsured motorist recovery while at the same time minimizing the amount of money they pay out on subrogation and related matters like diminished value.  By specializing in these niches, Petty Details,LLC provides the most bang for a company’s buck!

Texas Driver License Suspensions

September 3, 2009By Justin Petty 2 Comments

Why can’t people just look up the law on their own?  I cannot figure out why some people can’t help themselves.  I guess that is why I exist, hehe.

Really though, if you are getting calls or letters from an insurance adjuster or subrogation specialist, you would do yourself good to follow my articles on E-zines.

Texas Driver License Suspensions – Can you be suspended due to an auto accident?

If you have a Texas Driver License and somebody has called you or sent you a letter threatening the suspension of your driver license over an auto accident, it is highly possible that it could actually happen, but it is just as probable that the person making the threat doesn’t actually understand the rules as they apply in Texas. Only the Texas Department of Public Safety can suspend your driver license (and the DPS doesn’t call people to advise of a pending suspension, they will send a written notice). What an individual, insurance, or subrogation company can do is request the suspension of your license in accordance with Chapter 601 of the Texas Transportation Code, and there are a lot of exceptions and rules that have to be followed (it is notable that if you don’t have a license, a proper request will keep you from getting one, and the suspension is supposed to affect your registration, too).

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Free Help

August 28, 2009By Justin Petty No Comments

Why is it that people can’t do a little research on their own? Resources like my website and many others are out there to help people with almost any problem. Laziness is not a virtue, hehe.

Get a free consultation today on your claim and get the answers you have been searching for!