Posted: 4/10/2010 5:35:04 PM EDT
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Ok so I was in an accident where the other driver was at fault. I was stopped at a stop light when he failed to stop and caused about $1000 in damage to my rear bumber. We pulled over and like an idiot I didnt call the police. We exchanged information and went on our way. I called in the claim with his insurance company (Allstate) right away. Well its been about 2 1/2 months now and Allstate has not been able to get ahold of their insured. The phone number he gave me as well as the numbers that allstate has for him are invalid. He also has not responded to the letter that allstate sent him. I looked him up on whitepages.com and that number is invalid as well. When I talked to my insurance agent she told me to threaten allstate with dept of insurance bad faith claim and a lawsuit. I did and was told by allstate that I had no grounds to file a bad faith claim and that no lawyer would take my case.
I did get ahold of the mans daughter whos name came up on white pages. She said her father is not available and wont be for awhile and that she is dealing with all of his insurance matters. I explained to her that he needed to get ahold of his insurance to give them a statement so my car can be fixed. She said she would have him call and of course, he still hasn't. I am still waiting to hear a final decision from Allstate as to whether they will be paying for the damages or not. I have a feeling they will deny the claim being as I didnt file a police report. Should I call the claims adjuster and tell him that their insureds' daughter is handling his insurance matters on his behalf? Would I have case taking this man to court if allstate denys my claim? Any advice would be appreciated. |
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Quoted:
File it with your carrier and let them abrogate. It's what you pay them for. They will recover from Allstate, your rates shouldn't go up. my agent claims there is nothing they can do. is this not true? i am currently a full time student and can only afford liability on my vehicle, if that matters. |
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That's correct. If you have only have liability then your insurance carrier has nothing to do with it.
I would go ahead and file a complaint with your state's insurance commissioner here. You do have a claim against him and could take him to small claims. Prior to doing that, I would go ahead and file an insurance complaint though. ETA: Quoted:
File it with your carrier and let them abrogate. It's what you pay them for. They will recover from Allstate, your rates shouldn't go up. Did you mean subrogate? ETA 2: The complaint would be filed against the other driver's insurance company. |
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Quoted:
That's correct. If you have only have liability then your insurance carrier has nothing to do with it. I would go ahead and file a complaint with your state's insurance commissioner here. You do have a claim against him and could take him to small claims. Prior to doing that, I would go ahead and file an insurance complaint though. ETA: Quoted:
File it with your carrier and let them abrogate. It's what you pay them for. They will recover from Allstate, your rates shouldn't go up. Did you mean subrogate? Yeah, but he didn't mention he only paid for liability. This is one of the reasons you get full coverage. We always start a claim with the other carrier and most of the time it is no more trouble that dealing with our own, but I think there have been two occasions when the other driver decided it wasn't their fault and things started to drag. We just told them to fuck off, file with USAA and let them take care of dealing with the idiot's insurance company. Our deductible showed up in a few months once they collect it from the other Insurance company. My wife has been hit several times stopped at traffic lights. Not stopping for a changing red light, but stopped behind two or three other cars at a red light. It's just her luck. And one woman tried to claim it wasn't her fault. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
File it with your carrier and let them abrogate. It's what you pay them for. They will recover from Allstate, your rates shouldn't go up. my agent claims there is nothing they can do. is this not true? i am currently a full time student and can only afford liability on my vehicle, if that matters. You are screwed my friend let this be a learning experience always repeat ALWAYS call the police |
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you have no basis for a claim against the other guy's insurer. you don't have a relationship with them, he does. You wouldn't sue the insurer, you would sue the driver, and the carrier covers the loss. At a trial, the word "insurance" wouldn't ever be uttered. i was never really planning on suing the insurance, thats just what my agent told me to say hoping that would get them to pay up. if the insurer denies my claim i will be taking the other driver to court. i am however planning on filing a complaint with dept of insurance. especially now that the claims adjuster doesnt seem to want to return my phone calls. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
you have no basis for a claim against the other guy's insurer. you don't have a relationship with them, he does. You wouldn't sue the insurer, you would sue the driver, and the carrier covers the loss. At a trial, the word "insurance" wouldn't ever be uttered. i was never really planning on suing the insurance, thats just what my agent told me to say hoping that would get them to pay up. if the insurer denies my claim i will be taking the other driver to court. i am however planning on filing a complaint with dept of insurance. especially now that the claims adjuster doesnt seem to want to return my phone calls. See my other post since you did not call the police it is his word against yours about who is at fault. I can hear him now saying your honor I stop and he was backing up to get out of the intersection and back into me even though I was blowing my horn at him to stop. If he is avoiding his insurance company do you really think he will be honest about what happen in court. With out proof to what happen it is unlikely you will win in court. Never ever leave an accident with out calling the police if this had happen in NC you both could be giving tickits for leaving the seen of an accident. I hope it works out for you but as I said in my other post use this as a learning exprience. |
