Fuck. (can I say fuck in MPSIMS?) I keep whining to my boss that I need to work a couple years in Bodily Injury to round out my claims experience, but maybe I need to complete my vision of Property Damage first by spending time in Subrogation … just to try out a few killer ideas.
That totally sucks that dude “can’t be collected from.” I think they should take a limb or at least his right thumb. & Fuck the Po-Leese when it comes to vehicle crime anyway. Here in Denver I strongly suspect the Denver PD, when they’re not busy killing people, are behind most of the vehicle theft. Recovered stolen vehicles are dragged to the PD’s impound lot where they are held hostage while they incur $25/day storage charges while the insurance companies donate blood, firstborns (which we take from our insureds at renewal time) and fuckin’ MONEY just to get them to release the cars so we can dispose of them. I’m having a beer for you, Cisco. Come up North for a ColoraDOPE and I’ll buy you a bunch.
Wait a minute . . . isn’t this just exactly the situation that the “uninsured motorist” clause is for? (I don’t know if you have it or not, but I thought it was pretty much mandatory with any insurance policy).
And how the hell can the police ignore someone with basically an illegitimate driver’s license, i.e. a fraudulent address?
“Uninsured driver insurance”, apparently, is not only unavailable in Arizona, I’ve been told that it is illegal for insurance companies to offer it here.
The responding officer totally screwed up. As those two were potential witnesses to a crime, he should have identified them as an absolute minimum.
It also sounds like the insurance company dropped the ball. With an eyewitness and a police report, a judgement for damages in court should have been a slam-dunk. If, as they say, the dirtbag was uncooperative, he would likely have been a no-show in court leading to a default judgement. Even if he appeared, he should have lost. Once you have a judgement, you just hold on like a pit bull and eventually you might be able to score a lien or garnishment if no cooperation is forthcoming. These are things your insurance company has done to countless others, why not this guy?
Behold ladies and gentlemen, the truck that hit my car.
After receiving the above-posted letter, I was fired up. I called my insurance company, and after getting transferred around and placed on hold about a million-dozen times, I finally got ahold of someone in their collections department and sweet-talked her into giving me this asshole’s real address (something they’ve refused to do on all prior occasions.)
On the way over to his house, I saw a police car parked about a quarter-mile away. Perfect. So I drove by the house and the truck was there. I turned around and hauled ass back towards to police car and waited for the officers to return to it. After a good 15 minutes or so, they showed up and I told them my story. They were 110% uninterested in taking any action (I could’ve swore hit and run was a crime…), but they were eager to give advice. They said to take pictures of the truck and use them as evidence in small claims court (hence the picture and why I feel ok posting it - they said it was perfectly legal as long as I don’t stand on their property.)
So I ran home, racing against the sun, and picked up my girlfriend and digital camera. As we pulled up we saw that the shithead himself and a few of his brat/punk friends were sitting in the truck! We parked down the street and started walking slooooooowly towards them, waiting for them to leave. Finally, just before it was too late, they fucked off to the back yard and jumped in the pool, and we got our pictures (we have many more, including ones of the license plate, but I won’t post those.)
I left a message for the officer that filed the report to call me, so I can ask him to show up in small-claims court, but he hasn’t called yet.
I’m thinking of suing for my $1,000 deductible, the cost of small-claims court, and 2 months insurance for the 2 months I couldn’t drive the damn thing (my logic tells me that if the car was parked, it didn’t need that insurance I was paying for, and everyone I’ve talked to seems to agree, but there could be flaws in this argument.)
You need the VIN from that truck, and the license plates as well. You need to file an FOIA request from the Arizona DMV for the information associated with both of these numbers, since the information about the owner of the vehicle and the person to whom the vehicle is registered can differ. The whistleblower bit is good, do that. Loudly. Then, and this is most important, follow up. Not a little, not a medium amount, a LOT. Call the people you report this to every day until they give you what you need or want to go away. Take copious notes and keep absolutely everything, then…
…take the weasel to small claims court. Bring EVERYthing with you. From handwritten notes to official correspondence, bring it all, in an orderly file, into court with you, and plan your case. Create a timeline, put the paper with the timeline info and hope the judge does right by you.
I feel everyone’s pain, I really do. My insurance company is huge (Oh OK, it’s AIG, what are they gonna do, sue me?) and they have treated me so poorly since my accident. And when I called the sheriff’s deputy to tell him that the other driver gave false information at the scene of the accident (gave an insurance company name and policy number that was invalid due to non-payment), the deputy called back 2 weeks later and said sternly “that is not giving false information, he was insured by them but it lapsed”. WTF? Who’s the criminal here?
Anyway, since I filled out the state required forms for post-accident and I had the guy’s name and driver’s license number, I have the cold comfort of knowing that the state of Califonia will eventually “take away his driving rights for up to 1 year”.
WTF?
My insurance adjuster called the rental car company to remind them that I needed to turn in the car next Tuesday, my max of 30 days had been used up. That seems to be the adjuster’s main priority, since now her voice mail says “I will be out of the office until June 13th, do not leave any messages”. I have no check to pay the rental car company. I have no check to buy a new car. WTF?
