Cindy Pascale was waiting for a friend in a doctor’s waiting room, when she heard a loud noise in the parking lot.
“I just hear a boom,” Cindy said. “I look outside and I see someone had just hit my car.”
The parking lot crash damaged the rear bumper and taillight of her 2001 Ford Taurus.
She put in a claim with the insurance company of the driver who hit her car.
The insurance adjuster took pictures of the damaged vehicle. She says he told her she could get it fixed anywhere.
“And that’s what I did, I got it fixed,” Cindy said.
She was able to get the car repaired for $1025.
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But when she asked to be reimbursed by the insurance company, Pearl Holding Group, the company told her she should turn her car in because it was a “total loss.”
She says they offered her $1430 for the car, but wouldn’t pay for the repairs.
“I finally had to get a hold of NBC 6 Responds because the company did not want to work with me,” Cindy said. “All he wanted was my car and I wasn’t going to give it up.”
When we contacted Pearl Holding, a spokesperson told us they were following Florida Law that requires the vehicle be declared a total loss if the repair costs are 90 percent or more of the value of the vehicle.
In her case, the repair estimate she received before it was repaired was $1095 and the value of the car was set at $1220.
That puts the repair cost at 89.77 percent.
But the company said they declared it a total loss, because of a “strong possibility there could be supplemental damages once the repairs begin.”
Pearl Holding reversed course and told us since she already had the car repaired, they would pay her $1165 to cover the repairs and the rental car she needed.
She’s glad to be able to keep her car.
“I can’t afford a new car. And that’s the reason I had this fixed,” said Cindy.
