Q: My insurance has comprehensive coverage which covers flooded cars. My adjuster is claiming that it wasn’t flooded.
My insurance adjuster called me today asking me really detailed questions that I’ve already answered before and asking me things he should’ve been asking a mechanic. My mechanic stated that the car was a total loss due to flood after several diagnostics and my adjuster ignored him and stated he wanted a in-depth search of the cars engine to look for water. Which is absolutely fine, if my car didn’t flood in September. Almost 6 Months ago. He also stated that I had to sign a paper stating that if there was no water found that I’d have to pay for all the services which sounds to me like a made up his mind and is devaluing my claim. I live in a flood zone and have to forcefully pay flood insurance for my property. The car was working perfectly fine and was my only method of transport to work and I’ve been 6 months unemployed due to no means of transportation and these people taking their sweet time.
A: There are good and bad insurance companies, and the bad ones routinely deny valid claims and/or are extremely stingy because they figure their resulting higher profits will outweigh the losses caused by lawsuits. When an insurance company has no rational basis for its denial or stingy offer, that's called "bad faith", and there is a legal process of sending a bad faith notice, which is a written warning that if they don't do right by the insured within 60 days, they will get hit with a bad faith lawsuit for both the monetary loss and attorney's fees (and court costs). Consult an attorney in your area handling insurer bad faith claims.
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