Property Damage Claims
The property damage claim provides reasonable compensation to:
- Vehicle fixed or determine it is considered a total loss
- Obtain a rental vehicle
- Obtain compensation for damages items in the vehicle (make a list)
- Car seats
- Laptops
- Misc. items
- Lost time at work
Obtaining a rental vehicle
Often times the at-fault insurance company will pay for a rental vehicle during the time it takes to fix your vehicle. However, sometimes they put a cap on their coverage. Therefore, make sure they explain how much and for how many days they intend to cover the rental.
What tends to happen is they will only cover 30 days for a specific dollar amount per day. If you go over the cost ratio, you will then be personally responsible to cover the rental costs directly with the rental car facility.
Should the insurance company deem your vehicle a total loss, the insurance company will generally only give you 2 days of rental coverage from the date they deemed your vehicle a total loss. They will often tell you that those are the rules. However, you can usually negotiate this.
Tell the insurance adjuster that you will need approximately 7 days to find a new vehicle. 7 days is generally considered a resonable amount of time and the insurance company will probably approve it.
Total loss vs repairable
Total Loss
The insurance company pays what they deem would have been the reasonable value of your vehicle had it not been damaged in the accident, up to the maximum amount of coverage available under the insurance policy.
Repairable
The insurance company will pay the total cost to repair your vehicle including all parts and labor up to the maximum amount of coverage available under the insurance policy.