Dealing with Insurance after Accident

[Donald]

Get an estimate from a reputable body shop. Your own insurance company will not want to be involved if all you have is liability.

You need to deal with the other person's insurance company. Was there a police report?

As a side comment, one should never admit it was your fault to anyone but your own insurance company or lawyer.

 

[mjhoward]

Do you have her contact information such as address, phone number and e-mail address? If so, you can start your own contact attempts. Be aggressive and firm with those attempts and let her know that you are not going to go away. Strongly encourage her to reach out to her insurance company to accept her fault in this matter. One phone call is all it would take. Feel free to threaten small claims court if she does not follow through as this would be your only other recourse. I am sorry that this has happened to you. I have learned over the years that most people out there are flakey and will shirk any type of responsibility if they are left an out.

 

[Driz]

This only happened to me once and it was back in the 90s but I suppose approach remains the same. See if your local insurance agent can do anything for you. See if they can contact the other insurance company and make sure he's got all your pictures and information with the license plate to work with. It's really about all you can do in this kind of thing except go file small claims if that's worth enough to fix your problems.
Try that and see how it goes. One thing I did learn fooling around with the other guys insurance company from someone smashing my wife's car, an old one in nice shape, low miles. The big word here is what 🤬not to say and that's LAWYER. Don't say anything about seeing a lawyer or they will just hang up as they're trained to do. Then their legal Dept takes over in the forever stonewalling. Stay away from that arena until you decide to go that route. These claims guys are very practiced in running you around until you go away and very good at what they do. Throw enough evidence at him Maybe just maybe they'll do right by you but don't count on it being easy. Relealize that they're going to run you around and let them know that you're not just gonna Walk away. Remember that's exactly what they're wanting you to do,it it's their entire mission to make you do just that. Mention going legal and they just say goodbye, remember that.
Personally speaking and coming from a background of investigating traffic accidents myself police officer I know that it's almost imperative if possible to get the police report. Yes I know you don't have to, nobody wants to etc. etc. and smoky doesn't wanna come out of the donut shop to waste his time on you. Well tough toenails for all of them . Having The phone call And if somebody does show up at least you'll have a piece of paper and a professional witness present and on official record. With that at least they know police came which may help shake the money tree a bit. i've seen the the cops do those things today and it's pretty much a joke but at least it shows that it happened and hopefully they got a statement from both parties 🤥🤞ðŸ». The guilty won't likely lie to the cop right on scene. If you had that it will at least make it problematic for that insurance company or the owner to sleaze their way out of it.
If they just won't budge and it's worth your trouble and time you can always file for small claims court. That itself could get the hiding owner to head to his insurance agent! It's not that big a process filing small claims in most places as long as you do it all yourself. A PITA but how much is your time worth? Remember that police report ...–. I bet that would cinch the deal if you only had one . Still in a Civil court you only have to gain a preponderance of evidence. Credibility means a lot. Remember, most judges can see what happened right from the pictures. Also people usually do a poor job lying to them as they do with the cops. They see right through the baloney very easily.
I hate 💩 people having spent a big part of my career around far too many of them. Insurance companies follow in close second place though as they are a one way outfit; money in NOTHING OUT. Remember one thing very well. They are both counting on you to JUST GO AWAY.

 

[Gebo]

In my 40+ years of driving and being involved in a few bang ups, I have only called my insurance company and they have dealt with the other party's insurance company. I just gave them the other insurance company, driver's name, license plate, time and place.

I believe in this situation you would be covered under your "uninsured" liability portion of your policy.

You need to have more discussion with your agent.

 

[MasterSolenoid]

My 2 cents:

1) NEVER back out of a parking spot. ALWAYS park so your in a position where you just pull straight ahead.
2) I've seen people backing out of parking spots while talking on their phone / Watch for them.

Good luck. Glad your Wife wasn't hurt.
Take her to dinner and say "it's only a car".

 

[bugeye]

Send a letter or email to the insurance commissioner in your state with documentation.

I was stonewalled by a trucker and his insurance company who rear ended me in the rain. Amazingly two days after email to commissioner, truckers insurance company called me to settle as they just made a decision of fault. It then took another three months to force them to pay the actual value of the totaled car. Yes police were there and report filed. Trucker was conveniently unavailable for his insurance company to verify the accident. Then he had lots of excuses why he rear ended me. Insurance companies expect you to give up.

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by dishdude
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Who is your insurance company because they suck ! You pay them to deal with these situations and they tell you "call the other person's insurance" ??

Since it happened (from the sounds of it) on private property, no police report, no witnesses, this will be a case of "she said, she said". You and your insurance say it's the other person's fault, the other person will say it's your wife's fault. The truth, in this situation, doesn't really matter.

Tell your insurance company to do their job and handle your claim.


He only has liability coverage. Since he doesn't carry collision, there is no job for his insurance company to do unless the other driver files a claim against him.



100% what I was thinking .

As far as repairs , at 30 years old , I would be wondering if parts are avalable ?

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted by WyrTwister
Originally Posted by dishdude
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Who is your insurance company because they suck ! You pay them to deal with these situations and they tell you "call the other person's insurance" ??

Since it happened (from the sounds of it) on private property, no police report, no witnesses, this will be a case of "she said, she said". You and your insurance say it's the other person's fault, the other person will say it's your wife's fault. The truth, in this situation, doesn't really matter.

Tell your insurance company to do their job and handle your claim.


He only has liability coverage. Since he doesn't carry collision, there is no job for his insurance company to do unless the other driver files a claim against him.



100% what I was thinking .

As far as repairs , at 30 years old , I would be wondering if parts are avalable ?


I'm with hallstevenson on this one. Even though you just have liability,you're paying them big bucks to protect you,represent you,and to protect your rights. That's their job. Go see your local agent in person.

 

[AZjeff]

OP, You must be talking about the Metro XFI? Though it's a minor cult car is it even worth $2000? You may be headed for the totaled/buy-back route. A fender and door are no big deal to replace as long as the hinges or door frame aren't bent. Good luck, hope the video shows what you need.

 

[JLTD]

Progressive has to hear both sides of the story before they can make any payments. The other driver will probably say that your wife backed up into her.

So-

Originally Posted by doitmyself
Any witnesses or any chance the store has a security video tape of the accident??


This. See if you can get the store security tape.

If progressive will not return your calls, then the best solution is to get it repaired by your company and let them chase after progressive. You will end up paying your deductible, but you will get that back once progressive pays.

 

[Eddie]

You should ALWAYS call the police and get a police report while both people at the crash site. Ed

 

[exranger06]

Did your wife give her insurance info to the other driver? If so, has the other driver called your insurance company and tried to make a claim on your insurance? If not, has the other driver called her own insurance company to make an at-fault claim? (I doubt her insurance company would give you that info, but you can try). If the other driver only called her own insurance and not yours, that's pretty much admitting fault. If you can gather some kind of documentation from both insurance companies showing this, you have some ammo to use against the other lady's insurance.

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
OP, You must be talking about the Metro XFI? Though it's a minor cult car is it even worth $2000? You may be headed for the totaled/buy-back route. A fender and door are no big deal to replace as long as the hinges or door frame aren't bent. Good luck, hope the video shows what you need.


Yes, it is the xfi. It is the only vehicle I have owned where people have left phone numbers under the wipers wanting to buy it. Definitely not worth $2000. No structural damage so I could just take a hammer and pound away at the fender and door until it opens fully. But it didn't have a dent before and I would like to take it back to that.

Not much luck on the video. They have video, but the police are the ones that have to request it. The police is not willing to get involved, so video is a dead end.

Edit: a police officer called and thought that was weird they will not give the footage without the police asking for it. He said he would call and see what he could do.

 

[DeafBrad]

Police here are not willing to come out and investigate if it is private property. The Safeway food store parking lot is private property.

 

[DeafBrad]

Originally Posted by mjhoward
Do you have her contact information such as address, phone number and e-mail address? If so, you can start your own contact attempts. Be aggressive and firm with those attempts and let her know that you are not going to go away. Strongly encourage her to reach out to her insurance company to accept her fault in this matter. One phone call is all it would take. Feel free to threaten small claims court if she does not follow through as this would be your only other recourse. I am sorry that this has happened to you. I have learned over the years that most people out there are flakey and will shirk any type of responsibility if they are left an out.


I believe we can find her if needed. But we are giving her the benefit of the doubt and are giving her time to respond. Never know... it is doubtful but she may have a legit reason for not responding.