Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

[TilliamWe]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Dan I am an adjuster. No they weren't screwing him.

The key phrase is this right here, from the original poster:

"No I didn't make any money on it, but at least i think i got as close as i could have to them making it right."

You don't have insurance to make money. It's only to compensate you for what you had. That's what happened here.

Dan sounds like you got what you needed.

 

[cheburashka]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Dan I am an adjuster. No they weren't screwing him.

The key phrase is this right here, from the original poster:

"No I didn't make any money on it, but at least i think i got as close as i could have to them making it right."

Yeah, but he only got that because he fought their original estimate.

I kind of understand your position--people do tend to take advantage of insurance companies, thinking they can get more than the actual value of the vehicle or the repair. That's certainly true.

On the other hand, it's also true that insurance companies tend to lowball their first offer. Perhaps it's because they expect people to fight it.

I got the impression from your posts that you feel that people should just take the first offer given them by the adjuster. Was I wrong about that?

In this case, the only reason the OP got a fair deal is that he fought against what the adjuster offered. If he had taken their first offer, he would have gotten hosed.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Quit using the word "fight". That is why all you guys have such a hard time. You "fight" when you should "negotiate". Big difference. Assholes fight, gentlemen negotiate. We negotiate with gentlemen, we don't talk to assholes.

At no point did I say he should accept their first offer. Read my posts again. I asked him how they arrive at their ACV offer and for him to get a copy of it. Only until that happened could any of use know if the offer was fair or not.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Quit using the word "fight". That is why all you guys have such a hard time. You "fight" when you should "negotiate". Big difference. Assholes fight, gentlemen negotiate. We negotiate with gentlemen, we don't talk to assholes.

WOW... all i have to say is WOW!!!

I'm speechless...............





So how does one go about "negotiating" with someone who has all the power, it's not like we can go somewhere else for this service or purchase our widget from a different widget store. We are stuck fighting (OH sorry,,, negotiating) with a person who's job is to give us the least amount of money to make our problem go away.

I would love to have met the "gentleman" from XXX insurance who sent me lowball settlement offers,,, 1 day before Thanksgiving and then 1 day before Christmas. Bad timing? I don't think he was "negotiating", he was picking a FIGHT!

So how do you negotiate with a 500# gorilla, you don't!

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

There are LOTS of insurance carriers out there, so what are you talking about? Or you could be self insured. Then you could fight with yourself.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Nah,,, I'm not self insured. Thanks for trying to incite a battle but I'm not playing, we are hi-jacking a thread not trying to settle an insurance claim

So what's not understood about my previous post?

 

[aspeck]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Being in the car business, we had the opportunity to negotiate with a lot of adjusters. Most were fair, and did the right thing when it came to our customers. Some were jerks ... welcome to the real world. I will say that if the dealership/shop does the negotiating for the customer it usually seemed to come out better for the customer, because the adjuster and repair shop spoke the same language. Customers would be too passionate about it and it would end up in a fight, and no adjuster wants to help a customer when they are being called names and being accused of cheating ...

There were a couple of insurance companies (whether it was because of company policy or because of the adjuster) that I would never have, but most were fair, and that is really all you can ask for.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

There you go aspeck. You know the score.

 

[phwrd]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Does you local tv station have a "consumer alert" kind of thing ? Get a reporter to call them asking for their "comment" on an upcoming story.

Or if you are lucky, get them to actually investigate it for you.

just a thought that might prompt someone to do something right.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Let me add one more thing to this thread, then I am done ... it is really the adjuster that makes all the difference in the outcome of an insurance claim. We had one that we would work with that was absolutely the greatest for the customer. I am not sure the insurance company liked him too much ... but he was great for the customer. The first question that he would ask us is, 'What happened that this car is here?'

The reason he did this was to determine if it was the driver's fault or not. If it was definitely NOT the driver's fault, then he would "find" things wrong with the car that "might" have been wrong, but seemed okay. He felt that if the driver was not at fault, then he needed some reward for his inconvenience. If the driver was at fault, he would keep the estimate as fair as possible.

4 out of the 6 adjusters we worked with did this to some extent. And we never had to negotiate with those 4, because EVERY estimate we made came in lower than theirs, and they paid their estimate because they knew we would NOT charge the customer the extra. The other 2, well, they were out for the bottom line, and 50% of them could be negotiated with and a fair settlement could be reached. The other, well, you knew if he was coming you had better have a really high estimate and be ready to justify it and fight, if needed. Then you would be fighting with his company to get the money ... they were always late at paying what they said they would pay.

So, it is the adjuster, not the insurance company, that really decides how the claim is to be paid. Be nice to the adjuster, and there is a good chance he will be nice to you.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Got a MUFFLER SHOP IN TOWN THAT DOES DRIVE SHAFTS? MAYBE THEY WILL WRECK IT TWICE FOR U, YEA RIGHT.

 

[dolluper]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Well I've negifighted with both independent and company adjusters .....inde ones are fair but not good and company ones LOW BALL you always a tattic since you are most vunerable and may still be in shock ....it sucks but thats from experience

 

[mthieme]

Re: Need Advise Muffler shop drove my truck off lift

Added advice from another once-professional mechanic...
Safety features are on all lifts as are safety procedures (such as setting the parking brake).
It is quite obvious that they are at fault.
If they are not willing to make good, go to your lawyer.