NBC 5 Responds to a North Texas driver with a car accident claim in limbo. The consumer said he disagrees with his insurance company’s decision to repair the vehicle.
He said he believes it can’t be fixed.
Read on for what happened and what drivers should know if their vehicle is damaged in an accident.
REPAIR OR REPLACE
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After a crash in March of 2022, Chris Fears contacted his insurance. His SUV was towed away. More than two years later, Fears said he’s locked in a battle over what’s next for the vehicle.
“We're out a car. We had to buy a new vehicle. That doubles up your payments, you have insurance on both. It's absolutely a nightmare,” Fears said.
Fears and his wife, Dallas, said they didn’t agree with the insurance company’s decision to pay for repairs. Instead, they wanted insurance to total the SUV.
Generally, if a covered vehicle is damaged, the Texas Department of Insurance explains an insurance company considers the value of the car versus the cost to repair it. If the cost to repair is about the same or more than the value of the car, insurance would likely consider it totaled.
The Fears said, for them, the sticking point was the frame of the 2017 Lexus LX SUV.
“We were T-boned and the car went underneath us,” Chris Fears said. “All the impact was underneath the vehicle. From the very beginning, I was letting them know please check the frame. There is damage to the frame.”
The Fears shared a photo of the vehicle after the crash. Deployed airbags are visible from the side view. Part of the running board is detached from under the side doors of the vehicle.
Through months of repairs, the Fears said there were setbacks.
“As they started to try to fix these other items, there was there was error messages that always came up when they would replace an item,” Fears told NBC 5.
He said he was concerned the damage went deeper, “I'm not a mechanic, but I was, like, it's the frame.”
The Fears said the body shop later determined the frame would have to be replaced and that it would take months longer to get one from Japan.
The Fears filed a lawsuit naming their insurance company Infinity County Mutual Insurance, part of Kemper Corporate Group, and Carstar Autobody Denton. The lawsuit alleges the companies underestimated the extent of the damage and the SUV should have been considered a total loss.
“We were pleading with them to total the car because all of that damage was way more than the car was worth and we were going to get back a car that was not really fixed or sellable in the end,” Fears said.
The Fears hired a third party to inspect the SUV. In an inspection report the Fears shared, the inspector writes the frame damage wasn’t properly assessed early on. The inspector, preparing the report on behalf of the Fears, writes that their estimated cost to repair, $46,146, combined with an estimated loss of use, $14,760, and depreciation, $13,203, would exceed the fair market value of the SUV, estimated at $63,644.
We asked Fears’ insurance about this and whether the vehicle was inspected for frame damage immediately after the wreck. In an email, Kemper Corporate Services director of communications wrote it couldn’t provide details due to privacy policies.
Carstar Autobody Denton told us it couldn’t share information about a customer vehicle. It said the Fears were welcome to get in touch to find out the status of the SUV.
OPTIONS AFTER A CLAIM
If your vehicle is damaged and you don’t agree with an insurance company’s decision to repair it, the Texas Department of Insurance said to check the policy for an appraisal clause for loss disputes. It may be an option to make a case that a vehicle should be totaled.
If a car is totaled and a consumer doesn’t agree with how much insurance says the car is worth, the Office of Public Insurance Counsel writes a consumer can ask how it determined the value. Confirm insurance has the correct information about factors like mileage, condition even option packages on the car. If a consumer doesn’t agree with the value, OPIC writes that consumers can ask for a claims supervisor or request an appraisal.
Consumers with questions can contact the Texas Department of Insurance helpline at 800-252-3439. Calls are answered from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you believe an insurance company has treated you unfairly, you can file a complaint with the Texas Department of Insurance.
NBC 5 Responds is committed to researching your concerns and recovering your money. Our goal is to get you answers and, if possible, solutions and a resolution. Call us at 844-5RESPND (844-573-7763) or fill out our customer complaint form.
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