It appears that State Farm will accept liability for the damage to my parked car?what a relief. There?s a certain set of criteria auto insurance companies use to determine if the driver was insured at a specific date. Prior to yesterday, State Farm was instructing me that the premium payment was not paid by the vehicles owner, leading me to rightfully believe that the driver did not have insurance. I was reading this website that said often despite a delayed premium payment the insurance underwriters will extend a persons coverage if they have continuously been insured and a longtime customer despite errors with payment. I?m not sure if they are required to do this by law, or if it?s just a courtesy but it makes sense.
Anyway, I?ve received estimates in the range of $7100 to $7800 for the repair costs to my car. An informative article geared towards consumers can be found at the Insurance Consumer Advocacy Network. They mention something called Diminished Value?the lost value to a car that has been in an accident despite being completely repaired. DV is apparently the evil word in the insurance world because for a long time insurance companies were refusing to pay it. Apparently a legal precedence was set in Georgia in which State Farm (just a coincidence, that I?m dealing with State Farm to collect my damages in WA) was required to payout on claims regarding DV. From my interpretation of the laws and the process for purchasing a vehicle (which was unfortunately very recent) this is the right thing to do. The first two question I ask when inquiring about a used car is 1) has it been in an accident and 2) does the car have a clean title. If the car had been in an accident, I won?t even consider it. In fact, Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds.com, and NADA all have appropriate valuations for cars that have been in accidents and do not have a clear title. From my own year experience trying to research and purchase a car, I have seen the value of vehicles that are salvage or damaged sell for 60% of retail value. CarFax provides a good service for helping to determine if a car has been in a prior accident (however, it is NOT fool proof). I am told from a professional who had experience in DV claims that my car with a $14000 retail value and cost $7800 to repair could likely bring in anywhere from $2500-$4000 worth of DV claims (but note, that this person was trying to sell me their DV claim service, so it is probably a rather high estimate).
I went swimming on Wednesday, and I think I?m going to try to go again today?yah I?m that bored. There was an interesting (although it just reinforced my already existing views) television program on outsourcing and globalization by Thomas Friedman on the Discovery Channel last night. Friedman traveled to India to see how outsourcing (particularly in the call center arena) was changing culture. Glocalization, a term coined by Friedman, apparently is a process in which local communities adapt to a global market that preserves traditional culture. Anyway, you should watch the show; I have it stored on TiVO if you want a copy.