Gap Insurer Keeps Delaying Paying 0ur claim

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arizona
In July of this year, a rash of incidents happened where people were stealing gas out of trucks. Unfortunately, whoever decided to target our Dodge Ram truck also set it on fire. It is obviously a total loss. State Farm settled immediately, but the Gap Insurance Company (OwnerGuard) keeps dragging their feet. Our claim was filed in August, and their website states claims normally take 3-4 weeks. It is now almost December, and our claim still is not settled. We have provided them with all documentation requested, and even agreed to an interview with their "Special Investigator" who only asked us about the sales transaction when we bought the vehicle & how the gap insurance was presented to us; no questions were even asked about the truck fire. We now feel that was just another delay tactic on their part. Do we have any recourse to help us get this settled?

What is the reason they are giving you for the problems?

We have been told by the assigned claims rep that currently our claim is with the Special Investigations division. That's it... no other details have been given to us. Is there some kind of time limit these people have to resolve this? We don't want to have to hire an attorney, but we are at our wit's end and don't know what to do.

not a legal expert --

special investigations -- do you get the idea they're trying to say this is arson? that you set your own truck on fire?

i'm not saying you did at all, but maybe that's the road they're trying to go down to get out of paying

How long after you bought the car did this happen?

To answer both previous questions:

This happened about six months after we bought the truck. We were current in our payments also.

The gap insurer was provided with a copy of the arson investigator's report, which states very clearly that someone attempted to steal gas from the truck whiile probably using a portable electric drill, and set the truck on fire.

To answer the question about that, how stupid would we be to set fire to our own truck in our own driveway, while parked next to our other vehicle and right in front of our house?? I could understand them questioning it if it was found out in the middle of the desert somewhere, but that was not the case. We were woken up by a neighbor banging on our front door to tell us our vehicle was on fire in the driveway.

The investigator that came and interviewed us even admitted that our claim did not sound fraudulent at all to him. So what is the reason for the long delay?? No matter how hard they try, they are not going to find that we did anything wrong. We were victims, and now feel like we're being victimzed again, this time by the insurance company!

azbelle said:

To answer the question about that, how stupid would we be to set fire to our own truck in our own driveway, while parked next to our other vehicle and right in front of our house??

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From another point of view - it might be a very good thing to do in order to cast the suspicion away from yourself



I'm just saying...

zigner, think what you want, but we didn't set fire to our own vehicle. I'm sorry, but it would be really stupid to risk setting fire to our own house.

I really don't think that is what the delay is about anyway. As I mentioned in an earlier post, we've already interviewed with the Special Investigator that deals in fraud cases, and he didn't even ask us one question about the fire. All he wanted to know was about the sales transaction when we bought the vehicle and how the gap insurance was presented to us by the finance guy at the car dealership. What that has to do with anything I don't know, and I certainly don't see how it relates to our claim. The fact remains that we purchased gap insurance when we bought the car, someone set fire to our vehicle, and we are only asking that the gap insurance do their job and pay the claim.

You can complain to the insurance department, if you have cooperated with their investigation and they are just dragging their feet in making a decision.

azbelle said:

zigner, think what you want, but we didn't set fire to our own vehicle. I'm sorry, but it would be really stupid to risk setting fire to our own house.

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Never said you did...and I don't think you did. I was just pointing out an alternate viewpoint.

No offense taken Zigner. If they had asked us any questions about the fire, I could see how they would be taking that view. But so far, nothing of the sort.

Will try contacting the insurance commission and see if they can help. Appreciate the responses everyone, thank you.