What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? OHIO
Background: I was rearended by a driver going about 35 mph when he hit me. He was driving his gf parent's car, which was insured by his gfs parents. The damage to my car when first estimated is 2000 dollars, which isn't too bad when being hit at 35 (I have Acura MDX, other car was volvo sedan). Police were called and he was cited for the accident.
Now, I want to make sure I protect myself and that everything is completed correctly with this accident, as well as recover any additional loses. I got an estimate on my car 3 days after the accident as instructed by the adjuster. Then it took another 3 weeks for the adjuster to tell me to go ahead and get it fixed. During the 3 weeks I called multiple times as I don't really like driving around a busted up car. When I told him that I was getting the car fixed, he told me he was going to go to the body shop the same day to take pictures and give a check to the bodyshop. Here are the questions I have surrounding this:
I have not signed anything nor verbally agreed to anything so far, so why would the insurance company pay without me releasing them from personal property? The other thing is I brought up to him that I wanted to file a diminished value claim for my car. I did extensive research on autotrader and carfax reports and found that my car sells for about 3k less when being in an accident, how do I claim diminished value?
My wife and 18 month old son were in the car when we were hit. Both checked out fine, but I have had persistent back pain since (5 weeks later). I saw my general doctor a week after the accident because I still had pain, after xrays(negative), he had me go to physical therapy for a total of 8 times which is ending. My pain is still there and I am not "whole" yet. I am going to see my doctor again to see what I should do next. My question is, I have no idea what to do when a settlement is offered or what my case is worth. I have an extensive excel worksheet with all conversations with adjusters, car rental place, etc listed out, as well as time missed from work, police report, receipts, diminished value research, diminished value court cases in Ohio, medical records, medical visits, and estimate. My medical bills so far are around 2k, but could increase as I am not pain free. Any suggestions on how to handle this?
Background: I was rearended by a driver going about 35 mph when he hit me. He was driving his gf parent's car, which was insured by his gfs parents. The damage to my car when first estimated is 2000 dollars, which isn't too bad when being hit at 35 (I have Acura MDX, other car was volvo sedan). Police were called and he was cited for the accident.
Now, I want to make sure I protect myself and that everything is completed correctly with this accident, as well as recover any additional loses. I got an estimate on my car 3 days after the accident as instructed by the adjuster. Then it took another 3 weeks for the adjuster to tell me to go ahead and get it fixed. During the 3 weeks I called multiple times as I don't really like driving around a busted up car. When I told him that I was getting the car fixed, he told me he was going to go to the body shop the same day to take pictures and give a check to the bodyshop. Here are the questions I have surrounding this:
I have not signed anything nor verbally agreed to anything so far, so why would the insurance company pay without me releasing them from personal property? The other thing is I brought up to him that I wanted to file a diminished value claim for my car. I did extensive research on autotrader and carfax reports and found that my car sells for about 3k less when being in an accident, how do I claim diminished value?
My wife and 18 month old son were in the car when we were hit. Both checked out fine, but I have had persistent back pain since (5 weeks later). I saw my general doctor a week after the accident because I still had pain, after xrays(negative), he had me go to physical therapy for a total of 8 times which is ending. My pain is still there and I am not "whole" yet. I am going to see my doctor again to see what I should do next. My question is, I have no idea what to do when a settlement is offered or what my case is worth. I have an extensive excel worksheet with all conversations with adjusters, car rental place, etc listed out, as well as time missed from work, police report, receipts, diminished value research, diminished value court cases in Ohio, medical records, medical visits, and estimate. My medical bills so far are around 2k, but could increase as I am not pain free. Any suggestions on how to handle this?