Insurance Loss of Use Claim

[CosmosMpower]

You must have done a lot of bad things in your younger days then by the looks of it

Geez why is everyone so grumpy today

[MiataMike]

JoJo....you are a perfect example of what is wrong with our justice system today.

You must have done a lot of bad things in your younger days then by the looks of it

Geez why is everyone so grumpy today

I can see both sides of this. And I agree mostly with your side. And you should be justly compensated as anyone should be. Perhaps insurace companies should offer a unique car rental service where you get the same exact type car as a rental. But as far as out of pocket cash for said rental its not going to happen at all. As I have tried to go that route and I didn't get a penny when I had a second car. I even went as far as to write up a rental to myself for my car that they wouldn't agree to pay me on. So believe me I feel your pain there. But unfortunately either you take their rental car that they are willing to provide to you or you don't get anything at all for compensation.

As far as what is wrong with the legal system is the fact that the insurance providers (Like all sales people) over promise and under deliever, to an extent that its just plain lies. And because they have more time and money than you makes it legal. (See sarcasm)

[sxk122]

hmm. i didn't know you could ask for money rather than the rental... in the past i've just driven my secondary vehicle when possible... It would have been nice to get a small 'bonus' for the inconvenience of my car being in the shop due to someones vehicular ineptitude....

[VFR750]

Being an adjuster I can tell you if you have declined a rental at this point good luck on getting anything, you have demonstrated to the insurance company you do not need a rental nor any "compensation".

[CosmosMpower]

Being an adjuster I can tell you if you have declined a rental at this point good luck on getting anything, you have demonstrated to the insurance company you do not need a rental nor any "compensation".

Not necessarily. She agreed to pay loss of use rather than rent me something for the duration of the repairs. It was negotiated up front when the claim was filed. The dollar amount is in question.

[Davidss]

Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis are in the rental car business.
Exotic car rental companies are in the entertainment business.

$300 is ridiculous! Just because it might cost that to drive an elise per day no jury would ever award that to you. A more reasonable figure to ask for would be your monthly payment prorated for the number of days.

[ken o]

I think the question is what should be my loss of use and how do I determine the value?

We never want to look at the time and money we spend on our cars, setting up our cars, and consumables versus the amount of seat time. For many the joy is in both working on and driving their car. What's the average cost of an autocross run or a track session? If it was a business, it would be bankrupt. For me it would be more of a loss of enjoyment, not as much as rental reimbursement but including it in the number.

If I have a car I drive everyday and a second car I use for fun/weekend, recreation. One weekend at no fault to myself someone damages my recreation vehicle and I lose use of it for several weekends. True I don't need it everyday and would drive my other car while being repaired. But I miss out on my recreational use of that vehicle. Can I rent a comparable car, use it as such, and at what cost? Would they compensate me for the exotic rental and consumables? Could I decide to take cash in lieu of renting the exotic?

I think the amount equal to renting an equal car for the actual useage missed would be a fair amount. http://www.uptownexotics.com/search_...cturer_10.html. $299 a day for a Lotus looks like the going rate. This should not be charged for everyday the car is in the shop. Rather it would be based on the missed opportunities to drive my car if not renting a replacement.

Now the big question. What is my lose of enjoyment if I choose not to rent the replacement?

[CosmosMpower]

I think the question is what should be my loss of use and how do I determine the value?

We never want to look at the time and money we spend on our cars, setting up our cars, and consumables versus the amount of seat time. For many the joy is in both working on and driving their car. What's the average cost of an autocross run or a track session? If it was a business, it would be bankrupt. For me it would be more of a loss of enjoyment, not as much as rental reimbursement but including it in the number.

If I have a car I drive everyday and a second car I use for fun/weekend, recreation. One weekend at no fault to myself someone damages my recreation vehicle and I lose use of it for several weekends. True I don't need it everyday and would drive my other car while being repaired. But I miss out on my recreational use of that vehicle. Can I rent a comparable car, use it as such, and at what cost? Would they compensate me for the exotic rental and consumables? Could I decide to take cash in lieu of renting the exotic?

I think the amount equal to renting an equal car for the actual useage missed would be a fair amount. http://www.uptownexotics.com/search_...cturer_10.html. $299 a day for a Lotus looks like the going rate. This should not be charged for everyday the car is in the shop. Rather it would be based on the missed opportunities to drive my car if not renting a replacement.

Now the big question. What is my lose of enjoyment if I choose not to rent the replacement?

That was exactly what was discussed up front.

1. It's a pleasure car, I don't expect loss of use for the full 54 calender days, just the 14 days I would have used it for pleasure on the weekends.

2. The $ amount is negotiatable, that's what I'm going to work out.

3. Is that $ amount calculated on a per day X $ to rent basis or on a monthly payment+insurance basis? What if I had a 24 month note and my payment was $1,000+ a month or a 72 month payment? What If I had no payment? Should I be penalized for not having a note on the car?

On the flip side what if I had a terrible driving record and my insurance was $1K a month? Should the insurance company have to eat that? I don't think a prorated payment+insurance cost makes sense as a way to calculate loss of use since there are too many variables. This is the whole basis of the thread to see if anyone has been in the situation before personally and how that $ amount was calculated.

[ken o]

I would calculate the real loss based on the days you would have driven the car.
Insurance cost per day + rent of a replacement per day X days = reimbursement for loss of use.
(Insurance is $10 per day + $299 rental) x 14 days = $4,326

For get that you are paying the note. That is a wash in the loss of use as you made the choice not to drive it everyday.

[Titus]

IMHO, the most reasonable thing to be compensated for would be to figure out the cost of ownership for those 54 days. If it was lease, the payment amount would go in to this calculation along with 15% of your annual registration, inspection, and insurance. IMHO, purchase payments are irrelevant. For a non-lease car, you instead need to look at the depreciation. Unfortunately, prices on 6 year old Elises seem to have already taken a good 40% depreciation hit, and I suspect that the current depreciation on the car has slowed down to less than $200/month.

[CosmosMpower]

Hertz, Enterprise, and Avis are in the rental car business.
Exotic car rental companies are in the entertainment business.

$300 is ridiculous! Just because it might cost that to drive an elise per day no jury would ever award that to you. A more reasonable figure to ask for would be your monthly payment prorated for the number of days.

First of all, why is everyone talking about a Jury? No one is going to court right now and I'm still in the negotiation stage to just figure out a dollar amount.

Hertz rented Elises. You can also rent a Bugatti Veyron from Hertz in CA. Pretty sure that qualifies as "entertainment". If the chain rental places were only in the rental car business and not the entertainment business they wouldn't carry stuff like Vettes, Camaro SS, Challenger, Bentleys etc. Besides, the car that was involved wasn't used for my transportation, it was used for my entertainment.

http://www.bhrac.com/page/menu/corp/our_uniq_fleet.html

http://www.budgetbeverlyhills.com/re...rs-gallery.asp

[CosmosMpower]

IMHO, the most reasonable thing to be compensated for would be to figure out the cost of ownership for those 54 days. If it was lease, the payment amount would go in to this calculation along with 15% of your annual registration, inspection, and insurance. IMHO, purchase payments are irrelevant. For a non-lease car, you instead need to look at the depreciation. Unfortunately, prices on 6 year old Elises seem to have already taken a good 40% depreciation hit, and I suspect that the current depreciation on the car has slowed down to less than $200/month.

Car is not leased. And getting paid solely on depreciation makes no sense. That doesn't take into account the fact that I actually wanted to drive the car on the weekends. The real question here is, what should I be compensated for the time that I would drive the car but I couldn't? What would it have cost to get an equivalent car to drive during the time period that I missed out on.

I would calculate the real loss based on the days you would have driven the car.
Insurance cost per day + rent of a replacement per day X days = reimbursement for loss of use.
(Insurance is $10 per day + $299 rental) x 14 days = $4,326

For get that you are paying the note. That is a wash in the loss of use as you made the choice not to drive it everyday.

Ken O gets it.

[VFR750]

Since you discussed loss of use at the time of the claim being filed you did good. You do have a valid point, good luck with your negotiations. If I can ask, what insurance company is involved?

[CosmosMpower]

Turns out there was no negotiating. They gave me what I asked for. I'm happy with the result. The company was not a normal car insurance company (Allstate, State Farm etc) but rather a commercial insurance company as the lady that hit me was a business owner.

So far they have been no nonsense and this has been by FAR the easiest claim I've ever dealt with.

[ken o]

Interesting outcome on the M5, if you remember. Kinda goes with a DV claim.
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=386265

[Davidss]

Interesting outcome on the M5, if you remember. Kinda goes with a DV claim.
http://www.m3forum.net/m3forum/showthread.php?t=386265

They actually list the loss of use that was awarded in the post:

Loss of use of vehicle of a new M5 for 16 months = $18,858.00
Looks like right at a typical monthly payment for a new M5 for 16 months. But if you can get more then go for it!

[fwMiata]

They actually list the loss of use that was awarded in the post:

Loss of use of vehicle of a new M5 for 16 months = $18,858.00
Looks like right at a typical monthly payment for a new M5 for 16 months. But if you can get more then go for it!

there is a whole other side of the story than that FYI. and his lawyer is really the only winner there.

and thanks to that and other retards on both sides, we all pay higher insurance premiums.