| Depending on your policy, (hopefully you have full coverage) you should be covered for property damage such as that which you incurred. If there is any liability on the part of the landowner, your insurance company will then seek subrogation against the landowner's insurance so you do not have to do anything. If you do not have full coverage (i.e. liability only), you can seek payment for the repairs through the homeowner's policy of the landowner. Whether the insurance company inspects the car or not; it may or may not be their poicy. Take pictures of all the damged areas. Get 3 estimates on your own, then take the car to the insurance company's shop of choice, if they have an approved one. They may just pick the lowest of your three. The only time you should get an attorney involved with this situation is: (1) if no one will pay and you are faced with carrying the full burden, (2) you were not covered for property damage (meaning liability only) and the landowner or his insurance will not cooperate with you, or (3) you are covered and the insurance company will not give you the full value of the repairs, or they wish to total the vehicle and give you blue book value only (meaning not actual replacement value). If you need to get an attorney involved, see if you can get them to take care of it through a nominal flat fee. It should be no more than a few phone calls and letters. At the most, small claims court before a local magistrate may be involved for claims of $10k - $15k, depending on your area rules. In any event, if an attorney is involved, then be prepared to be patient, a little frustrated, and wait a bit before a resolution is reached. For now, mitigate your loss. Take pics. Make sure the open areas of the car are covered and protect it from further damage from the elements until it is inspected and/or repaired.
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17:52:35 12/28/06
