Legal obligation to insurance company?

greiswig · **Posted:** Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:03 pm

Hi,

I was in a minor accident recently with my new (less than 8,000 miles on it) Libby. The other driver was honest, and his insurance company sent me a check to cover the repairs.

The damage is pretty cosmetic...a couple of scratches and scrapes, but when the car is dirty it's hard to see them. Under one of the "rocker panel covers" (AKA cheapy plastic half-tubes), there's a minor indent in the sheet metal, but with the plastic in place you don't see that at all.

Tempting it is, gosh it is tempting...to use that money to greater good. Put some REAL rocker panel protection on there. Get some of Al's upper A-arms.

I'm still making payments on this...what kind of legal obligation do I have to just fix the scratches and scrapes?

Thanks!

jarvis · **Posted:** Thu Apr 27, 2006 8:21 pm

You are under absolutely no obligation to fix your KJ.

Skyjump136 · **Joined:** Tue Jul 05, 2005 6:50 pm **Posts:** 1633

jarvis wrote:

You are under absolutely no obligation to fix your KJ.

Hold on just a second there professor! If you have a loan then chances are good you have a legal obligation to fix your KJ. That obligation is to the lender, not the insurance company. Your car is their colateral and if you read over your loan contract you'll see that you can get in to trouble real quick. At least give the lender a call to see what their policy is.

Now if you owned the KJ outright then it would be your choice.

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:05 pm

I would say maybe yes and maybe no on the obligation to the lender based on the amount of the damage and your percentage of equity. Unless you had a significant trade or a big down you may not have much equity in the vehicle with only 6K miles though.

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:20 pm

greiswig wrote:

Hi,
I'm still making payments on this...what kind of legal obligation do I have to just fix the scratches and scrapes?

well, they can't exactly make you fix them...

But here's a story about what happened to my jeep:

Door got kicked in (no idea how, I just noticed it with footprints and a big dent). Jeep is like 2 months old, so I want it fixed, I get insurance to quote it. They say $580, I say "ok", I bring it to the body shop. They fix it, but they charge the insurance company ANOTHER $500 on top of that.

Moral is, sure you can skimp out and fix it yourself or decide not to, but the only way insurance will cover the extra unknown costs is if you bring it to an approved repair shop for the work. If you just pocket the money you have no way of knowing if they lowballed you and you can't fix it for that price.

But if like you said they are just scratches, that's up to you. Once you have a few scratches, tho, everyone in the world will think it's ok to add another one in a parking lot, it's a slippery slope. But then again, it's a jeep, you were gonna get scratches from trees anyway.

So where are the photos of this damage? We want to be able to say "eh, that'll buff right out".

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 28, 2006 1:52 am

If u r making payments and not leasing it, do what u want with the money. If for some reason u stopped making payments and they repossesed it, they would sue you for the difference in what u paid into it and what they were able to recover out of it by reselling it plus some hefty charges. You can bet they would throw in the cost of fixing any damage as well. If u were leasing it, that's something else. You are usually required to fix all damages in a lease situation or they'll charge you for the reapairs when u turn it in.
Now, ure insurance company is a different story. If his ins co sent u a check, u can bet they notified ure ins co. If u get any future damage and try to go through ure co. (if u have full coverage let's say) ure co may may claim that the damage was there previously or may want to inspect the KJ after u have made the repairs. If u r paying on it, u prob have full coverage. Most lenders require it.
I just had mine broken into and the ins co covered all my damages minus my deductible. My local body shop fixed everything and a few more odds and ends for the money from the ins co and no out of pocket but they had to sign an affadavit telling the ins co that they had fixed all damages that were on the ins co's estimate. I guess they don't want u hittin them up for the same damage later on and claiming it was "new". I could have pocketed the money but then I would have to tell the ins co that I wasn't fixing the damage which they said I could do but they would note it in my records and not cover any of it in the future.
Also, what was said above about hidden damage is very true. Often there is damage that isn't seen until some panels come off. Or ins co estimates are lower than what it actually would cost to do the repairs. U r entitled to use any shop u want for repairs but if they are not reputable the ins co may give u hassles about any "hidden damage".

KJKev · **Posted:** Fri Apr 28, 2006 11:26 am

Having worked in a body shop as the manager for quite a few years, I've found out a few things.
Now of course, this will depend on what state you live in and what your contract with the insurance company states...but....

Your vehicle is like rental property. Someone else holds the title to it, but you're paying for it, so legally its yours to do with as you see fit.

If the insurance company cut you a check with your name on it, you can do with it as you please.
BUT
If the check has your name AND the name of the body shop, you have to have the repairs completed as per the estimate.

KJKev

Se7enLC · **Posted:** Fri Apr 28, 2006 5:10 pm

Cacher123 wrote:

If u r making payments and not leasing it, do what u want with the money. If for some reason u stopped making payments and they repossesed it, they would sue you for the difference in what u paid into it and what they were able to recover out of it by reselling it plus some hefty charges. You can bet they would throw in the cost of fixing any damage as well. If u were leasing it, that's something else. You are usually required to fix all damages in a lease situation or they'll charge you for the reapairs when u turn it in.
Now, ure insurance company is a different story. If his ins co sent u a check, u can bet they notified ure ins co. If u get any future damage and try to go through ure co. (if u have full coverage let's say) ure co may may claim that the damage was there previously or may want to inspect the KJ after u have made the repairs. If u r paying on it, u prob have full coverage. Most lenders require it.
I just had mine broken into and the ins co covered all my damages minus my deductible. My local body shop fixed everything and a few more odds and ends for the money from the ins co and no out of pocket but they had to sign an affadavit telling the ins co that they had fixed all damages that were on the ins co's estimate. I guess they don't want u hittin them up for the same damage later on and claiming it was "new". I could have pocketed the money but then I would have to tell the ins co that I wasn't fixing the damage which they said I could do but they would note it in my records and not cover any of it in the future.
Also, what was said above about hidden damage is very true. Often there is damage that isn't seen until some panels come off. Or ins co estimates are lower than what it actually would cost to do the repairs. U r entitled to use any shop u want for repairs but if they are not reputable the ins co may give u hassles about any "hidden damage".

I don't like to be picky about internet abbreviations of things, because people say "u" and "U R" all the time *shudder*....but I've never before seen "ure"...

I assume that the URE is somehow "yoU'RE".... but the RE in you're and URE is from "are", which really doesn't make sense up there: "you are insurance company", "you are ins. co.", "you are co."

</hijack></rant> sorry about that, grammar gets me :-P

SethX9 · **Posted:** Fri Apr 28, 2006 6:19 pm

I was gonna be a good boy and let it slide too but since Se7enLC opened the door I'll jump through it: Be very suspicious of legal advice from anyone who won't spell the word "you". :wink:

Call your lender.

grumppee · **Posted:** Fri Apr 28, 2006 9:20 pm

Bob Slydell, Office Space wrote:

Hold on just a second there professor!

Cacher123 · **Posted:** Sun Apr 30, 2006 8:50 pm

ure.... as in "belonging to you". :roll:

Se7enLC... as in "nit pick" (just funnin) :wink:

jpzkj · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 1:05 am

Send me the cash if your to conflicted to buy some mods for your Jeep..

CaKJFreedom · **Posted:** Mon May 01, 2006 7:12 pm

It'd be like a donation to the "Jeff's XJ Charity Drive" and maybe you can write it off too! (Jeff, let me know when to expect a commission fee for helping you on this one) :wink:

Legal obligation to insurance company?

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