Hi, my name is Melissa Davidson. I am an attorney with Hankey Marks & Crider. We frequently see folks who are injured in car accidents and there are certain rules and regulations about how an insurance company is supposed to handle property damage or the damage that has been done to your vehicle.
A couple of tips that I have for you today, that will help you through this process:
#1: Contact your insurance company because they may want you to take your car to a specific repair shop to get an estimate. If you disagree with the estimate, you can always take it to another shop and get a second estimate. But ultimately the insurance company does have some control over where you go and how much they are going to compensate you for your car damage. You may be entitled to a rental car, if your car is totaled, but once the insurance company has made you an offer for compensation of your totaled car, then your car rental is going to end. So, you will have to be planning ahead if you have a totaled vehicle since your ability to have a rental car is very limited.
So there’s some tricks to understanding how property damage works and how you can challenge any kind of an estimate, whether it be for repairs or totaling your car. We would be happy to help you here at the office with that. If you have any kind of injury from the accident as well. I’m Melissa Davidson with Hankey Marks & Crider.