Questions on reconstruction

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bogofree
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Questions on reconstruction

Post by bogofree »

My son had an accident. His car was significantly damaged in a private parking lot. $7,000. Looks like his left side was rammed with extreme force. No police report was filed since they stated it was private property and my own suspicion was it was a bit of vengeance on someone's part.

He filed a claim and the car was inspected twice with the insurance company stating the damage "was not consistent to what he reported." That they felt there was evidence he hit a guardrail. About six weeks ago the same side of his vehicle was scrapped by another driver. We just received a police report from that incident and a call from the claims representative that their client accepts full responsibility. Now that damage will be hard to determine. I saw the scrape from rear to front panel on divers side. I just faxed over the police report and insurance information to his company hoping that will shed some light on the situation.

So...do we hire a reconstruction expert ourselves? How will they reconstruct the "accident?" Do they just survey the damage? If they do not budge can they file charges against him? What messes this up is he is currently under care with the VA after being in a WTU (Warrior Transition Unit) for a year after physical and mental issues relating to his service in Iraq. The insurance company may be right....or they may be wrong.

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mikemerolli
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Re: Questions on reconstruction

Post by mikemerolli »

Bogo

Insurance Carriers employ professional reconstructionists or appraisors to perform damage analysis. You don't mention what type of vehicle your son owns. If the vehicle is equipped with an event data recorder, any impact that occurred while the car was running should be recorded. If the vehicle was truely damaged while parked, they would no record of an impact associated with the event. I would suggest your son give the insurance company permission to retrieve any crash data. If the vehicle is supported, this should shed more light on the situation.

What type of car was damaged?
Mike Merolli, ACTAR #1518
MAPFRE INSURANCE
SIU Accident Reconstructionist
Phone | 508.943.9000 Ext. 15071 | Cell | 508.208.8517
Email | mmerolli@mapfreusa.com | Fax | 508.671.3071 | http://www.mapfreinsurance.com

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bogofree
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Re: Questions on reconstruction

Post by bogofree »

It is a Mazda6 2010.

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DPatrickRyan
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Re: Questions on reconstruction

Post by DPatrickRyan »

Mazda not presently supported. Don't hold your breath on retroactive coverage even when they come online.

Crash investigators with experience in low speed collisions should be able to distinguish between vehicle-to-vehicle impacts and barrier collisions. I've seen, well, perhaps not a great many of these, but certainly on the order of ten to fifteen. Since our company has done literally thousands of low speed collisions, we've got sufficient experience to draw upon to make the distinction. You should be able to find a local expert with similar experience. The intervening collision is going to confuse the issue, though.
D. Patrick Ryan, P.Eng. - Graham Ryan Consulting Ltd.
#34, 11410 - 27 Street SE Calgary, AB T2Z 3R6
Phone: (403) 290-1150 Fax: 290-0659 Cell: 651-8340

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bogofree
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Re: Questions on reconstruction

Post by bogofree »

I was actually at the shop when the accident reconstruction person was there and pointed out the damage that was previously done via a scrape and a dent. The major damage from the second collision is in the wheel and door at the hinge area so you can spot the other damage and it coincides with the police report. And without a data recorder it is a he said and she said. He even said he didn't care if they added on points. Just help with the claim.

My son is totally depressed about the situation. He feels no matter what he does the insurance company can just keep on rejecting his claim and then you get into dueling experts. He has said with his delectable ($1,000) any settlement he gets from the first accident he may get it fixed at the shop since the owner is a close friend who is willing to get this done minimally.

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bald347
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Re: Questions on reconstruction

Post by bald347 »

Did you check the parking lot area to see if any of the businesses had video cameras that might have caught the damage. I hope you have voiced your displeasure with your insurance company. Sometimes you have to be persistent to get what you want and even then you might not.
Ken Lassiter

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