Wreck, your experience and knowledge requested

So my wife was in a minor wreck last Friday (everyone is fine). Police deemed the other driver at fault (or as we say in Alabama "Primary Contributing Unit"), which seems obvious because the guy pull out in front of her with no warning.

Anyway.... I notified my Insurance company right away (not knowing fault at this point), took photos and all that jazz. On Monday, when the police report was ready, I called them back and they helped contact the other driver's insurance. He had not notified them at all to that point, but took our information and said they would start the claim process. By Tuesday afternoon, the insurance company still had been unable to reach the other driver; but had taken my wife's statement, our car was at the repair shop, and my insurance company had sent them a copy of the police report.

Now, it is Wednesday and I've been told that the insurance company had spoke with the other driver but still had not received the accident report. I scanned my copy and emailed it directly to the claim agent. She told me that it would be 24/48 hours before they would have a "verdict".

So... What is there to "verdict" on? Police say the other driver caused the accident. I understand not wanting to process a claim until you've been able to contact your policyholder (I would expect that if this was reversed), but at the point where you have the information in front of you shouldn't it now just be a matter of getting it resolved?

We have been without a car (and I have been working from home) for 3 days, and it looks like it will be another 2 days until the will provide a rental. Is that standard? Should I expect more? Maybe get a car myself and make them reimburse me?

Thoughts?

If I am reading this right, you probably need to be connecting with the other driver's insurance company. If the other driver is at fault - it's that company that will be paying the claim - your company is looking at the "verdict" in terms of their liability, which would most likely fall into the underinsured/uninsured category - if the other driver is insured, then it's the other driver's insurance company's loss.

Sorry, if not clear, aside from the initial contact with my insurance company everything has been with the other driver's insurance company.

give them another call on getting the claim started. Additional stalling should earn them a call to local DA and state insurance regulator (insurance companies generally hate it when regulators start inquiring - DA not as much - better yet - find vp or ceo's home or cell phone). Step it up to claims manager level or vp level. I'm not saying get hostile at this point, just be persistent and hold them accountable for their responsibility to make you whole again.

Man, things are very different state to state...

Or maybe your state is like mine and the verdict they were talking about is the one that will eventually be arrived at in court after you sue the guy.

I thought, in a comprehensive insurance issue (assuming you have comprehensive), that YOUR insurance company deals with the other company. Basically, your insurance company takes care of you then goes after the other company.

May not be the same with all states / companies...

The police don't determine who is at fault, they just report it how they see it. Even if the cop says it's the other guys fault, if their insurance company doesn't see it that way, you have to fight it out(although usually your insurance company will do this for you).

Lawyer up. We all detest most of them, but this is their life, and they know best how to play the game.

Let your insurance company handle this for you, it's what you pay for.

I handled liability claims for a couple years and still pick up a few here and there. You are making a third party liability claim against the other driver's insurance company. As such they have to investigate the accident to determine who was liable for the accident.

If you have collision coverage you can go through your own insurance company. They will then subrogate against his company and reimburse your deductible if/when they recover. This may affect your rates and you may never receive the deductible back (subrogation is expensive and often not successful). They will not aid you much in your claim against the other insurance company but will help you if you make a claim against your policy.

If the adjuster just received the police report today he/she needs to time to review it and see if they can make a liability determination from it. They may also need approval from their supervisor/manager before making that determination. If the report is not clear or if there insured's version of events is different from your wife’s it might take several days. If there are any non involved witnesses their statement is very important.

You should be able to get a rental and ask for reimbursement. Make sure it is in the same size/class range as the car in the accident (no full size for a compact car).

Basically you should just wait it out and call every couple days for an update to keep the adjuster on their mind. People being a PITA or confrontational to me have never helped their settlement or claims process. If anything I play the passive aggressive card and take my time. You can get a lawyer but if your wife has not been to a doctor yet (almost a week after the accident) the Bodily Injury claim will be weak and lawyers don't make anything on property damage.

Or you can go through your own comapny and let them sort out the details. Good Luck!

What Greg said. I see this all the time. I would insist on a rental right now though, just agree with them that you'll pay them back if their verdict is against you, or that you'll pay up front and they will reimburse you. Easiest is if you go to Enterprise and tell them you have a claim but they haven't authorized a rental yet, but you expect them to and want them to bill the entire thing back to the insurance company once the claim is properly set up. That should get you into a rental today with only a credit card to provide assurance of payment if insurance doesn't come through.

As well the thing of contributory negligence. Some states play this game, like mine. Party A causes the accident by pulling out in front of party B. But party B didn't slam on the brakes hard or take evasive action, contributing to the accident. Insurance company for Party A finds themselves not liable because Party B contibuted to the accident.

I handled a similar case not long ago. My client only had liability coverage so when the other drivers carrier blamed the wreck on her, she didnt have many options. She was on a US highway going thru an inoperative traffic device when the other driver pulled out of the convenience store parking lot in front of her. The adjuster would not give so I filed suit and swore to myself that I would be a real PITA to the lawyer who defended. He called and I told him that he had one chance to get it right. I had a check for property damage within 3 days. YMMV

skruffy wrote: Let your insurance company handle this for you, it's what you pay for.

EXACTLY! Don't stress, leave it to the proffesionals. In N Y your insurance company pays off your car, his incurance company pays for his and everybody is back on the road in short order.

Once blame is established your insurance company will go after his insurance company for the money they put out.

In New York, unless your car is dead in the water, unoccupied with no keys in it, you can be held up to 30% liable. I got slammed by a fool running a stop sign while I was doing 40mph. Mine goes in the shop, I got a goofy rental car and three weeks later they want me to sign off for 20% fault, meaning I eat 20% of the bill. No. I didn't do anything. After some negotiation it came to 10%.

Let them handle it. Also without being able to contact the other guy, I'm sure they have some kind of "flag" on the claim.

Good luck, Dan

i had a similar circumstance. Other driver even admitted it was his fault. His company gave me a low ball estimate. I asked several times to have an adjuster contact me to discuss the estimate. Nothing. My agent said I could get the car fixed under my collision coverage. Then he didn't tell me to contact the NYS insurance office. I did and in no time did their adjuster call me and we were able to agree on a price.