On Friday a motorist drove off the highway, ran through three fences and plowed into the side of a concrete-walled building I own. The police say there was no evidence of any braking or of any other involved vehicles, and the person, while apparently 'OK', was dazed and taken off in an ambulance.

First, I'm grateful the person is OK. Human life and health always trumps property damage.

I've got to wait on the accident report, but one of the officers told me the person had Loya insurance, and I'm steeling myself for what I'll need to do when dealing with the Loya claims department knowing (a) they probably had the minimum $25,000 property damage coverage, and (b) Loya may try to deny coverage if the premiums weren't paid up, the driver wasn't the insured, etc, etc.

I've got significant damage, and am self insured (liability coverage only) on this building, so at this point I just want to minimize the amount of my loss.

Can you give me any advice on dealing with Loya after I get the accident report?

Thanks a bunch, fellas.

Yeah, tell your insurance company to get involved before they get stuck covering the other company's underinsured client.

OldArmyCT said:

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Yeah, tell your insurance company to get involved before they get stuck covering the other company's underinsured client.

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I would, but I don't have property coverage on this building. It's liability coverage only.

It's my fat in the fire, I'm afraid.

Do you have an umbrella policy.....might look into that, as those often have $1 million of coverage. Also, you might explore your own auto insurance policy to see how it is written and if coverage may be available through it.

A traditional umbrella policy doesn't usually cover 1st party claims. They generally sit excess of third party liability policies.

Quote:

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I've got to wait on the accident report, but one of the officers told me the person had Loya insurance, and I'm steeling myself for what I'll need to do when dealing with the Loya claims department knowing (a) they probably had the minimum $25,000 property damage coverage, and (b) Loya may try to deny coverage if the premiums weren't paid up, the driver wasn't the insured, etc, etc.

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It turns out my initial information from the officer was wrong.

According to the crash report the car that hit my building was leased from Honda Lease Trust (the owner) and is covered by State Farm.

Property damage coverage is likely the Texas state minimum of $25,000 so I'm probably still in for a beating, but maybe I'll get lucky and it's more.

Is there any difference dealing with State Farm claims rather with dealing with Loya claims, or are they all about the same?

Thanks.

EDIT: To answer prior questions -- no alcohol involved and the lady driver was retired in her '80s.

It's going to be tough to subrogate the woman or State Farm. You can absolutely try, but your insurance company obviously won't assist so you'll be out of pocket for all legal fees, etc. Self insuring reflects your risk appetite and unfortunately has its consequences. Sucks sorry to hear it.

Really? Why can't he just open a claim with state farm? The police report will prove his building isn't at fault so it should be pretty clear they have to pay at least up to her limit which might be higher than the minimum.

Hire a good litigator and get after it. Post a general location and I may be able to refer you.

First, I certainly appreciate all the helpful comments here. Thanks.

Update -- State Farm will cover the property claim, but as can be expected, I don't know at this point whether the coverage limit will be the Texas minimum of $25,000, or something higher.

As for litigation -- I'm fairly certain the insured has very meager assets so pursuing them (for any excess above the minimum coverage) will be a dead end.

We'll see if State Farm deals fairly on this and proceed from there. As another poster said -- when you self-insure, you take your chances. I will say this was a very, very freak accident.

I'm also reminded of what my old man used to say, a la Yogi Berra -- "If I could afford all the insurance I need then I wouldn't need insurance."

Ribeye-Rare said:

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First, I certainly appreciate all the helpful comments here. Thanks.

Update -- State Farm will cover the property claim, but as can be expected, I don't know at this point whether the coverage limit will be the Texas minimum of $25,000, or something higher.

As for litigation -- I'm fairly certain the insured has very meager assets so pursuing them (for any excess above the minimum coverage) will be a dead end.

We'll see if State Farm deals fairly on this and proceed from there. As another poster said -- when you self-insure, you take your chances. I will say this was a very, very freak accident.

I'm also reminded of what my old man used to say, a la Yogi Berra -- "If I could afford all the insurance I need then I wouldn't need insurance."

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Had something similar at my RV park. It had a pole barn on it, pipe with tin roof, that measured 45' x 80' or so. One day a guy was sitting in his pickup and had a seizure, foot left the brake, and landed on the gas pedal. Knocked the first two posts (including the concrete footing) out of the ground and almost a third post. Pole barn basically collapsed. I had recently given the thing to the husband of a girl who worked for me, the deal being he would tear it down and could have the pipe and tin.

I got a couple of quotes on the thing, both within $200 of $29,500 so I took the $25,000 gladly rather than spend the time and money to try and collect the difference. It wasn't State Farm but like all insurance companies, his insurance tried to low ball me by a huge amount, offered me something like $8,000.

Sorry to hear you had this issue.

Yeah State Farm will do everything they can to not pay you that full amount. If you have a good commercial broker it's their job to fight this with the carrier. Good luck!

Going naked on property insurance….that was a bold strategy cotton.

Not my business but I am curious… does this building happen to be in Flatonia?

aggiebrad16 said:

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Not my business but I am curious… does this building happen to be in Flatonia?

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No, it's up in the Waco area, although I'm very familiar with Flatonia and Fayette County and still have my (Max) Nikel & Son ball cap around here somewhere.

If the ladies in her 80s and has been with State Farm for a long time, then she probably has higher than state minimum limits.

Back in the day, most State Farm agents wouldn't write state minimum, but we see tons of it now as they're dropping limits to try to save their customers.

rlb28 said:

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If the ladies in her 80s and has been with State Farm for a long time, then she probably has higher than state minimum limits.

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Thanks for that info. Yeah, State Farm Claims has kept a pretty good poker face about disclosing what limit they've got. They're waiting on me to submit some justifiable numbers.

Right now I'm waiting on a structural engineer to take a look.

TxDOT has already replaced the highway speed limit sign she took out. I wonder what that cost them, as I assume TxDOT doesn't eat that cost anymore.

Ribeye-Rare said:

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TxDOT has already replaced the highway speed limit sign she took out.

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Stop sign woulda been more ironic