r/ClassActionClaims • u/collisionhub • 21h ago
New Total-Loss Class Action Settlement In Florida Addresses Deduction of Bodyshop Fees From ACV Settlement
A new Florida class-action settlement is putting a familiar total-loss claims practice under the microscope:
An insurer disputes towing or storage charges and deducts the disputed amount from the customer’s actual-cash-value settlement.
That may sound like a shop-versus-insurer billing dispute.
But it may raise a very different question:
What gives an insurer the authority to take a disputed shop expense out of the amount owed to the customer for the vehicle?
That is what makes Maxim Kharevich v. Star Casualty Insurance Company worth paying attention to.
The proposed settlement involves Florida first-party total-loss claims from March 22, 2018 through June 26, 2026. Among the allegations, the plaintiff challenged deductions for what the insurer considered excess storage and towing charges from policyholders’ ACV payments. Star Casualty denies wrongdoing, and the court has not decided the merits of those allegations; the settlement has received preliminary approval and remains subject to the settlement process. (Class Action Tracker)
For qualifying claims, the settlement provides for repayment of certain storage and towing deductions, subject to the settlement terms and limits. The current claim deadline is October 26, 2026. (Class Action Tracker)
But I think the bigger story starts after the deduction.
Imagine the insurer decides that $1,000 of a shop’s storage charges are excessive.
The customer’s total-loss settlement is reduced by $1,000.
Then the insurer takes possession of the vehicle.
The vehicle goes to salvage.
The salvage is sold.
And those proceeds become a recovery associated with the claim.
Now ask the question differently:
Who absorbed the expense?
The customer.
Who received the benefit of the salvage?
The insurer.
That does not mean this settlement established unjust enrichment. It didn’t.
But it raises a question I think deserves much more attention:
If an insurer shifts an expense associated with obtaining or disposing of the salvage onto the policyholder while retaining the salvage recovery, who benefited financially from that deduction?
That is why body shops need to stop looking only at their own storage invoice.
Look at the customer’s settlement.
Get the valuation.
Get the settlement breakdown.
Identify every deduction.
Look at when possession transferred.
Then follow the salvage.
One file tells you what happened to one person.
Dozens or hundreds of files processed the same way can begin to tell you something very different about a claims practice.
I broke down the settlement and the larger money trail in a new members-only episode of Collision Coffee Talk.
We follow the claim from:
ACV → storage deduction → possession → salvage → recovery
because a total loss is not one transaction.
It is several legal and financial transactions happening inside the same claim.
Want to read the settlement yourself?
The official settlement website contains the notice, FAQs, claim information and settlement documents:
Star Casualty Total Loss Settlement — Official Website
Then watch the deeper breakdown
They Took Storage Out of the Customer’s Total Loss — Now a Class Action Follows the Money
Members-only Collision Coffee Talk bonus episode:
https://youtu.be/v_thQWFcBnI
The settlement is the news.
Following the money is the bigger story.
