A month ago a car I own was involved in an accident. The police gave the other driver a citation. She lied to the investigating officer and claimed she didn’t have any insurance, which is against the law in Texas but apparently the fine is less than the cost of the increase in insurance rates.
I contacted my own insurance company and they tracked down the othe drivers insurance. I have been trying to deal with them since then. I have sent a copy of the police report three times so far. I have been on hold or left messages all morning trying to resolve this issue and am really fed up at this point.
I called my own insurance company a few minutes ago asking for advice and when I told them the name of the othe insurance company, they just laughed.
Now I am on hold again. What do I do next? I’m beginning to think they hung up on me.
Does your policy have uninsured motorist coverage? If it does, then your insurance company pays you and does the chasing for you. If you don’t have uninsured motorist coverage, then I guess you’ll have to sue the other driver.
The other driver has insurance but she lied on the police report. I have uninsurance motorist coverage so my company tracked her company down, but that company is a joke in south Texas.
Not neccessarily. They could (depending on the wording of the policy and relevent state law) deny the claim based on the fact that there is no uninsured moterist involved.
I know it’s a pain in the ass, but I would send all the relavent paperwork to the other insurance company again. Send it “return receiept requested”. Then there’s no way they can say they never received it and you’ll have the name of the person who signed for it.
If you happen to know an attorney have them write a letter to accompany it saying they have 7 days after receipt of the information to respond to your claim or you will file a complaint with the state insurance department. If you don’t know or don’t want to hire an attorney, write the letter yourself. Send a copy of everything to your own company as well. Then follow through, they shouldn’t get away with that crap.
Can you notify the police that this woman gave false information? Might not help specifically with the insurance company, but it’d give you some satisfaction if she were to get into some trouble for providing false info!
Re the repairs: Do you have collision coverage on your own vehicle? Even absent the uninsured motorist question, I’d think your policy should help you out in that situation. I’m just guessing, but it’s at least something to check into.
I finally talked to the adjustor for the other insurance company. They say that they have determined that their policyholder is only 50% responsible, even though she is the one issued the citation and they will only pay half the repairs. it’s not a lot of money (about $600.00 for body work) but now I am mad because of the run around and the insurance company’s attempt to weasel out of any responsibility. I would have been happy if the driver had paid for the broken headlight (it’s an old car) and i would have ignored the other damage but instead she forgot how to speak English when I tried to call her.
To clear up my prior statement, lemme explain. When I had an insurance company railroading me the way this one is doing to you, I made a statement to them about back pain. I am entirely against the idea of faking injury, but the threat of it got me a check in under 72 hours.
Not knowing the details of the accident, I can’t advise you as to if 50% liability is reasonable. I would advise you to speak to your own insurance company for an assessment. Whatever you do, be sure that you are certain before accepting a check from the other company or signing documents.
This sounds like an opening offer. But do you have the equivalent of the U.K.'s Small Claims Court? Simply sue them for the money - it may not be even worth their time defending. But make sure that you’re suing them for the cost of this one specific thing so that you don’t exclude the possibility of suing them for something else arising from the accident
I believe you actually have to sue the other driver, not the insurance company. Making a false statement to the police should be worth something. I’ve never heard of 50% responsibility. I take it that we’re not talking about a huge insurance company. If the claim is really <$1000, it seems that fighting this would not make much economic sense for a large company. Just pay it and go on.
Good luck. Personally, I’m glad I don’t live in RGV any more.
Uninsured motorist coverage applies to bodily injury only. It doesn’t cover collision damage; for that, you have to buy physical damage coverage (a.k.a. “comprehensive and collision insurance”), which the OP has not done:
And you’re finding out the consequences of doing so. I don’t mean that to sound harsh, even though I know it does. Please understand that, since you don’t have PD coverage, your insurer has no obligation here; any help they give you in tracking down the other driver and the other driver’s insurer is a courtesy.
Given that the other driver has refused to accept more than 50% responsibility, your only recourse if you wish to pursue the remainder is to hire an attorney and sue the driver (not the insurer!). If they are found liable, then and only then will their insurer will have to pay. If the facts of the accident are against the other driver to the degree that you suggest, the mere credible threat of a lawsuit may induce the insurer, acting on behalf of their customer, to settle the matter out of court for the full amount.