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billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

Auto Insurance Claim/Lienholder question

Well our 2011 Grand Marquis was backed into and we have to deal with Mercury Insurance even though we dumped them 6 months ago for poor service(it's the other guy's insurance). The damage is not too bad and is mainly about $700, estimate from a body shop. Question is, if Mercury cuts me a check Ford Motor Credit is the lienholder as we are making payments on the vehicle. Can I get them to endorse the check so I can cash it and not fix my car? Or am I required to get the car fixed? Im not sure if I want to get the car fixed or just use the money for other things.

Gbcue
Premium Member
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA

Gbcue

Premium Member

Is it a lease?

skipon11
Premium Member
join:2005-06-09
Pittsburgh, PA

skipon11 to billydunwood

Premium Member

to billydunwood
You have to fix the car,they may want to make the check payable to the lien holder or the body shop.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

Gbcue- It is not leased, just financed. In 4years it will be paid off, but I owe less than what the car is worth
Skipon11- Thank you. What happens if I get a check for more than what the car costs to fix?

Cabal
Premium Member
join:2007-01-21

Cabal to billydunwood

Premium Member

to billydunwood
Why are you talking to the other guy's insurance at all? Call your insurance company, make them do the leg work. That's why you PAY them.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

said by Cabal:

Why are you talking to the other guy's insurance at all? Call your insurance company, make them do the leg work. That's why you PAY them.

Because I dont want to pay MY $500 deductible and get it back later. I don't want to pay anything right now
Now Mercury Insurance will only give me $27 a day for rental even though I drive a premium Mercury Grand Marquis. Time to fight!

hitachi369
Embrace Your Rights
Premium Member
join:2001-10-03
Cincinnati, OH
(Software) pfSense
Switches Trash Bin
Ubiquiti UniFi AP

hitachi369 to billydunwood

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to billydunwood
For 700$ the bank may just sign off on it, depending on there policies. If they wont sign off on it and require it to be sent in, they will require proof of payment to correct the issue before signing off. I work for a bank, and we will directly issue a check to the repair shop for any amount.

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

Johkal to billydunwood

MVM

to billydunwood
$27 per day because the car is roughly worth between 10,425 to $15,275.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

said by Johkal:

$27 per day because the car is roughly worth between 10,425 to $15,275.

Not intending to offend you, but I don't care what the car is worth. If I am driving a 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis, I should get a rental around a Grand Marquis, not a 4dr Toyota Corolla where my head would hit the roof.

UPDATE: Mercury's estimate was for $599 and they said because it was under a certain amount, they do NOT have to list the lienholder on the check and only my name. Thanks for all the advice. I'm happy that the claim is settled in less than 4 days
mocycler
Premium Member
join:2001-01-22

mocycler to billydunwood

Premium Member

to billydunwood
If the check is made out to you personally then you can do whatever you want with the funds. However, you are not released from your obligation to the lien holder and still must abide by the terms of the loan contract.

If the check is made out to a third party (body shop, etc.) then the funds go directly to them and there's not a lot you can do about it. No one is going to endorse the check over to you just for the hell of it. Why should they? They want to get paid, too. In many states it is considered insurance fraud and/or illegal money laundering.

Some free legal advice: You should let your insurance carrier deal with this. I know you want to avoid having your money tied up, but if there is a problem later (such as getting sued), your insurance carrier will have grounds for kicking you to the curb. Once you go out and make your own side deals, you cannot go back and expect them to help you if the deal goes bad.

In addition, if Mercury knows your carrier is not involved, they will take advantage of you because they know you have no professional representation. Who do you think has the upper hand in this transaction? If they are screwing you, how will you know?

Placing yourself at legal risk over $500 that you'll eventually get back anyway is very foolish. If you are going to move ahead with your plan, at the very least do not sign anything or cash any checks without running it by your insurance agent first.

mocycler is a corporate counsel attorney and (by most accounts) a decent guy
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

said by mocycler:

If the check is made out to you personally then you can do whatever you want with the funds. However, you are not released from your obligation to the lien holder and still must abide by the terms of the loan contract.

If the check is made out to a third party (body shop, etc.) then the funds go directly to them and there's not a lot you can do about it. No one is going to endorse the check over to you just for the hell of it. Why should they? They want to get paid, too. In many states it is considered insurance fraud and/or illegal money laundering.

Some free legal advice: You should let your insurance carrier deal with this. I know you want to avoid having your money tied up, but if there is a problem later (such as getting sued), your insurance carrier will have grounds for kicking you to the curb. Once you go out and make your own side deals, you cannot go back and expect them to help you if the deal goes bad.

In addition, if Mercury knows your carrier is not involved, they will take advantage of you because they know you have no professional representation. Who do you think has the upper hand in this transaction? If they are screwing you, how will you know?

Placing yourself at legal risk over $500 that you'll eventually get back anyway is very foolish. If you are going to move ahead with your plan, at the very least do not sign anything or cash any checks without running it by your insurance agent first.

mocycler is a corporate counsel attorney and (by most accounts) a decent guy

The adjuster confirmed that they do not have to list the lienholder and will make out the check to me and me only. Mercury also knows my Insurance Carrier is involved, because I gave them my Geico Claim # but the claim was left open to see what Mercury was going to do or how I wanted to proceed. The adjuster said once I fax her a copy of my registration with my name on it, she will cut a check and mail it to me(registered owner). I will have to read my loan contract again to see what the terms are.
And suborgation of my $500 is not always 100% reliable and I may not ever recieve it back. And to verify that, even our Geico claims rep told us that. But I will definitely take your advice and call Geico once I receive the check from Mercury.

jadinolf
I love you Fred
Premium Member
join:2005-07-09
Ojai, CA

jadinolf to billydunwood

Premium Member

to billydunwood
ALMOST unrelated but I have State Farm and they only pay $16 a day for a rental.

Rickshaws really ain't that bad.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

1 recommendation

billydunwood

Member

said by jadinolf:

ALMOST unrelated but I have State Farm and they only pay $16 a day for a rental.

Rickshaws really ain't that bad.

If I used my policy, I pay extra for $50/day rental so I can have a car similar to mine. But I and anyone else who is not at fault should not have to sacrifice the size/quality of car just because it is in the shop and the insurance companies are cheap
tcope
Premium Member
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT

tcope to billydunwood

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to billydunwood
As you've found out, the insurance company does not need to protect a lien holder on a 3rd party claim as long as they are not put on notice of that need by the lien holder... and I don't see why the lien holder would know about the accident.

You can feel free to read up on the loan agreement but honestly, as long as you make the payments it won't matter if they get the payment or not. If you don't make the payments then they will hold you responsible for the outstanding balance and a bunch of fees so you probably won't care what they think about the damaged vehicle as you would be paying a boat load in excess of your loan anyway.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

said by tcope:

As you've found out, the insurance company does not need to protect a lien holder on a 3rd party claim as long as they are not put on notice of that need by the lien holder... and I don't see why the lien holder would know about the accident.

You can feel free to read up on the loan agreement but honestly, as long as you make the payments it won't matter if they get the payment or not. If you don't make the payments then they will hold you responsible for the outstanding balance and a bunch of fees so you probably won't care what they think about the damaged vehicle as you would be paying a boat load in excess of your loan anyway.

Seeing as you are the expert and worked in the insurance field before(thanks for the help!), what is your thoughts about the rental problems? They wanted to give me $27 a day to get a standard car and yet I am driving a premium/luxury car according to Budget rental. Shouldn't I be entitled to rent the same/similar car that I am driving?
tcope
Premium Member
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT

tcope

Premium Member

said by billydunwood:

Seeing as you are the expert and worked in the insurance field before(thanks for the help!), what is your thoughts about the rental problems? They wanted to give me $27 a day to get a standard car and yet I am driving a premium/luxury car according to Budget rental. Shouldn't I be entitled to rent the same/similar car that I am driving?

No. They owe you for a "similarly equipped" vehicle. That is, 4 wheel, 4 doors, automatic transmission. No offense but I've heard it all. I still fail to see why someone cannot "slum around" in a standard vehicle for a few days.

It's been probably about 20 years since I've known anything about Mercury. At least back then they were about as bad as it got. Their own insured's would pay for something like $30/day worth of rental coverage but the adjusters were told to limit it to some economy car for around $18/day. Again, their insured was paying for $30 in coverage so legally the carrier could not limit this to something less. They still did. Perhaps they have improved... but I'm betting that they still pull crap like that.

I needed a job once so I applied there. They told me to be there at something like 10:30. When I got there the lady insisted that they told me 10:30. She really had an attitude. Part of the testing process was a spelling test. A spelling test? Who gives one of those any more?! Needless to say I could never spell very well. I was sweating and was thinking about just getting up and walking out. I finished the test. After a few minutes the person came back in and pointed out that I had not completed the back and asked me if I wanted to finish it. I told her know (at this point I _REALLY_ just want to shoot myself). Needless to say I did not get the job. About 6 month later they call me and left me a message asking if I was still interested in a job. Must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel to now want to hire someone who completely bombed their spelling test.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

said by tcope:

said by billydunwood:

Seeing as you are the expert and worked in the insurance field before(thanks for the help!), what is your thoughts about the rental problems? They wanted to give me $27 a day to get a standard car and yet I am driving a premium/luxury car according to Budget rental. Shouldn't I be entitled to rent the same/similar car that I am driving?

No. They owe you for a "similarly equipped" vehicle. That is, 4 wheel, 4 doors, automatic transmission. No offense but I've heard it all. I still fail to see why someone cannot "slum around" in a standard vehicle for a few days.

It's been probably about 20 years since I've known anything about Mercury. At least back then they were about as bad as it got. Their own insured's would pay for something like $30/day worth of rental coverage but the adjusters were told to limit it to some economy car for around $18/day. Again, their insured was paying for $30 in coverage so legally the carrier could not limit this to something less. They still did. Perhaps they have improved... but I'm betting that they still pull crap like that.

I needed a job once so I applied there. They told me to be there at something like 10:30. When I got there the lady insisted that they told me 10:30. She really had an attitude. Part of the testing process was a spelling test. A spelling test? Who gives one of those any more?! Needless to say I could never spell very well. I was sweating and was thinking about just getting up and walking out. I finished the test. After a few minutes the person came back in and pointed out that I had not completed the back and asked me if I wanted to finish it. I told her know (at this point I _REALLY_ just want to shoot myself). Needless to say I did not get the job. About 6 month later they call me and left me a message asking if I was still interested in a job. Must have been scraping the bottom of the barrel to now want to hire someone who completely bombed their spelling test.

We dumped them about 6 months ago, yet we still have to deal with them because they were the other guy's insurance company lol. The only reason why the "standard" vehicle isn't good is because my head would hit the top because I am 6'4'' and I probably wouldn't be very comfortable at all, and they want the car for at least 3 days. Yea Mercury is still bad, but I don't think they are the worst. You probably remember, but once I sent them over that copy of their "secret" preferred body shop rates with penalties for using OEM parts, they finally caved and fixed our old car properly. I'm glad I am just getting a check in a couple days and that it was pretty quick.

TheTechGuru
join:2004-03-25
TEXAS

TheTechGuru

Member

Sweet talk Enterprise into a free upgrade, I usually always get Impala's from them.

OldCableGuy3
@207.191.193.x

OldCableGuy3 to billydunwood

Anon

to billydunwood
I'm 6'3" and drive a prius no problem, so I think you're exaggerating the "hitting the roof"

My friend is 6'5 and fits in my prius without issue as well.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood

Member

said by OldCableGuy3 :

I'm 6'3" and drive a prius no problem, so I think you're exaggerating the "hitting the roof"

My friend is 6'5 and fits in my prius without issue as well.

The point was I shouldn't have to drive a Prius or Corolla for that matter when I drive a V8 large premium car. And the last thing I would want to drive is a prius

Johkal
Cool Cat
MVM
join:2002-11-13
Pennsyltucky

Johkal

MVM

It doesn't bother me want rental I drive because it's temporary. As long as it is clean inside, I'm good with anything.

Heck, kind of [OT]: I own a beautiful 2011 Dodge Durango, but also own a 2013 Chevy Spark. I drive the Spark to work. I've gotten funny comments from people about its size or looks, but I'm the one smiling when getting 42 mpg.

Boooost
@151.190.40.x

Boooost to billydunwood

Anon

to billydunwood
said by billydunwood:

Not intending to offend you, but I don't care what the car is worth. If I am driving a 2011 Mercury Grand Marquis, I should get a rental around a Grand Marquis, not a 4dr Toyota Corolla where my head would hit the roof.

The you should pay closer attention to what insurance you purchase. I pay an extra $20/year to get a $50/day limit (up to $2000 total) for rental car coverage (and don't forget the taxes!). I rented a brand-new Nissan Altima while my car was in the body shop and the insurance paid for it all.

OldCableGuy3
@207.191.193.x

OldCableGuy3 to billydunwood

Anon

to billydunwood
Well then you should have used your insurance and paid your deductable. Since you're using the other parties insurance you're at the mercy of the economy car they pay for.

And I'll ignore your attempted insult about the "Prius". Enjoy shelling out $$$ for gas to make up for your shortcomings.

TheTechGuru
join:2004-03-25
TEXAS

TheTechGuru to billydunwood

Member

to billydunwood
said by billydunwood:

The point was I shouldn't have to drive a Prius or Corolla for that matter when I drive a V8 large premium car. And the last thing I would want to drive is a prius

LOL, I'd hardly consider that a "Premium" car compared to Caddy CTS/STS, Lincolin's, BMW's, Mercedes-Benz, etc, lol. It's the same chassis as your everyday Crown-Vic police car.

Alakar
Facts do not cease to exist when ignored
join:2001-03-23
Milwaukee, WI

Alakar

Member

said by TheTechGuru:

said by billydunwood:

The point was I shouldn't have to drive a Prius or Corolla for that matter when I drive a V8 large premium car. And the last thing I would want to drive is a prius

LOL, I'd hardly consider that a "Premium" car compared to Caddy CTS/STS, Lincolin's, BMW's, Mercedes-Benz, etc, lol. It's the same chassis as your everyday Crown-Vic police car.

I was thinking the same thing. Who thinks a Crown Vic of any type is a "premium car"? They're what the police and old people drive.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy to billydunwood

Premium Member

to billydunwood
In Massachusetts we have no fault insurance which requires you to file with your own insurance company and then after fault is determined then the appropriate insurance company is subrogated.
billydunwood
join:2008-04-23
united state

billydunwood to OldCableGuy3

Member

to OldCableGuy3
said by OldCableGuy3 :

Well then you should have used your insurance and paid your deductable. Since you're using the other parties insurance you're at the mercy of the economy car they pay for.

And I'll ignore your attempted insult about the "Prius". Enjoy shelling out $$$ for gas to make up for your shortcomings.

I enjoy comfort, room and power over the " Eco" crap.
billydunwood

billydunwood to TheTechGuru

Member

to TheTechGuru
said by TheTechGuru:

said by billydunwood:

The point was I shouldn't have to drive a Prius or Corolla for that matter when I drive a V8 large premium car. And the last thing I would want to drive is a prius

LOL, I'd hardly consider that a "Premium" car compared to Caddy CTS/STS, Lincolin's, BMW's, Mercedes-Benz, etc, lol. It's the same chassis as your everyday Crown-Vic police car.

I was basing that off of what Budget rent a car lists the Grand Marquis at. And the price tag on the car new is about $27k which is close to some caddy's/bmw

hortnut
Huh?
join:2005-09-25
PDX Metro

hortnut to TheTechGuru

Member

to TheTechGuru
said by TheTechGuru:

Sweet talk Enterprise into a free upgrade, I usually always get Impala's from them

.
Have had a few occasions to do just what you suggest. No sweet talk, just drop the names of some of the Companies I used to work for. We usually get Caddies.
hortnut

hortnut to billydunwood

Member

to billydunwood
I do not understand all this talk about going through one's Insurance Company for damage to one's vehicle?

Since 1978, I have had some 7-8 small accidents where I went through the other party's Insurance and sometimes cashed out with the other guy [no insurance involved]. Damage ranged for a couple hundred bucks up to a couple thousand. I cannot recall once where I went through my Insurance for damage to my vehicle. But then I had cars paid off and no collision. I have yet to have an at fault accident. Knock on wood.

One time I did go through my Insurance when I was injured so they would pay medicals under PIP. State Farm totaled my pickup and I settled direct with them [no collision on it anyway] and kept the salvage. Drove it for 9 more years.

Maybe things are different in Oregon.