What am I entitled to after a garbage truck caused unrepairable damage to my vehicle?
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What am I entitled to after a garbage truck caused unrepairable damage to my vehicle?
While traveling on an interstate, a drive shaft from a garbage truck struck my vehicle causing major damage which totaled my car. There were also 5 other
vehicles involved in the incident. I did not suffer any bodily injury. The insurance company for the garbage truck company is willing to pay the value
of my car plus my deductible, rental car expense and roadside assistance cost. My 7 year old car was paid for. Now I have to get another vehicle. I chose another 7 year old vehicle but the cost is more than what the insurance company is paying me current value of my totaled car. Am I entitled to receive any more money from the insurance company for my loss such as new tag, insurance increase for the new car or any thing else?
Asked on July 15, 2018 under Accident Law, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
No, you are not entitled to that additional compensation. When property (including a vehicle) is destroyed, the most you are legally entitled to is the sum of the costs directly and foreseeably (predictable in advance) incurred due to the accident (e.g. towing; rental car for a reasonable time while getting a new vehicle) and the then-current fair market or "blue book" value of the destroyed (totalled) car. However, the additional costs to get the new car are not sufficiently causally linked or foreseeable due to the accident, since you could have elected to lease a car instead, buy a smaller or older or cheaper car, do without a car, might have received a car as a gift from family, etc.--that is, what you do about replacing the vehicle does not flow in a predictable or foreseeable way from the accident, and so the costs associated with replacement at not seen as costs coming directly enough from the accident as to require reimbursement.
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