Insurance companies frequently undervalue total loss claims by employing dubious methodologies to value your vehicle, which often do not comport with Florida law. The good news is that you do have recourse, but such recourse takes a bit of time and typically you find yourself under the gun in need of transportation, because even if you’ve been provided with a rental the insurer will threaten to cut it off if you don’t agree to their settlement quickly.

If it is your own insurance company who is settling your total loss claim, raising a dispute with them over the damages will most likely cause them to invoke the policies Appraisal Clause. Under that clause they appoint, an appraiser and you appoint an appraiser who try to work out a settlement. You are responsible for the cost of your appraiser, and they are responsible for the cost of theirs. If the two appraisers can not reach an agreement, they are required to agree on an Umpire who must choose either your appraiser’s valuation or that of the insurance company’s appraiser. You must share the costs of the Umpire and there is no appeal process. Clearly, the Appraisal Clause is designed to benefit the insurance company, not you, but there are other avenues.

One such avenue is to accept the settlement offer presented by your insurance company in exchange for executing the salvage paperwork and allowing them to settle without executing a release of your claim. Seldom does a person’s own insurer seek a release anyway. This approach allows you to get the money on the table quickly so that you can acquire a replacement vehicle and then fight the battle for the amount the claim was undervalued without being under the gun. In such a situation you don’t tell your insurer that you disagree with the settlement amount, you simply tell them that you’re willing to proceed with the transaction.

Once you have executed the salvage paperwork and received the undisputed funds, without releasing your claim, you are in a much better position. Where a known and insured person caused the collision, you have the option of presenting the claim for the undervalued portion of the total loss settlement to the insurer of that person. Because you have no contractual relationship with that insurer, they can not invoke the Appraisal Clause so you can avoid that quagmire. Typically, you will also have damages for excess loss of use that are only recoverable from the third-party so you will be combining the two together, which is a better way to go.

If the insurer for the person who caused the accident resists your claim unreasonably, you have the opinion of hiring an attorney and filing a lawsuit, which typically results in a reasonable settlement, albeit less the attorney’s contingency fee because Florida law does not allow for the reimbursement of attorney’s fees in costs in automobile liability cases. But that path is a no-lose proposition because if the attorney is not successful, you don’t pay.

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