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Anyone have experience dealing with Insurance companies regarding accident?

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Scorch

Scorch

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Yep, was in a multi-vehicle accident, not at fault. The driver who was at fault was clearly designated as such by the state trooper. He was driving a company truck. This occurred Tuesday (17th). I called his insurance and they said they would get back to me right away regarding alternate transportation. I did not hear from them that day, nor the next day. It is now day 3, and because I missed going in for training on my new job on Tuesday, I have to wait until Monday to start training, meaning I will miss 3 days of work.

I have not been in an accident before, like this. Anyone here have any advice? I know they will give me book value for my vehicle, is that cut and dried? Are there any variables that would allow me to negotiate for a better replacement value, such as I bought the vehicle new and was the only owner? What about property inside the vehicle such as my laptop, which now has a cracked screen?

At what point do I contact an attorney? Or is that even a reasonable option?

thanks

PS: Don't ask if I am all right, apparently that is still to be determined....:doh:
 
Deal with your insurance company. They will recover their losses from his.
 
I called them first, they said because I have only liability, I need to deal with his insurance.
 
Call them again and state your next call will be for legal advice if you do not hear from them in a reasonable period of time.
 
The insurance company is a business. As a business, it's goal is to minimize costs and losses and maximize profits. It has legions of people trained to that end.

And then there's your team.

So, not saying you can't do it without a lawyer, but you have to be tenacious as a pit bull. They will give you nothing you don't ask for. There's no reason not to ask for everything reasonable and possible; everything IS negotiable. That's the way they look at it. Aim for the moon. You can come down; you can't really go up when negotiating.

In my situation with a serious injury, even with the lawyer's take, it was well worth getting a lawyer. It took me almost 2.5 yrs to settle.

They should take care of a rental for you, the laptop, and full repair/replacement of your vehicle. Yes, you being the sole owner does count, even though they'll say otherwise. If it was a cream puff, you should end up with the money to get another cream puff. And, as Kurt suggested, don't be afraid to suggest legal advice is your next step if they're jerking you around at all. Once they have to involve their legal team, costs for them go up exponentially. You want to make it to their advantage to settle with you rather than it get drawn out.
 
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Well here is a good case where having collision insurance would defiantly be in your favor. Now you are at the mercy of his insurance with no one to fall back on. Did you have any injuries, if you did a trip to the doctor might help with the claim, but not saying it will at this point. It's way too early for a lawyer, when you mention the word lawyer they will probably say that they can no longer deal with you and things from here on will progress very slowly, I mean very slowly. I'm sure they will call, but don't expect too much until they have all the facts, ask when they expect to get back with you and be somewhat persistent. Ask for a rent car, you need transportation, even if you have it already, they need to get hooked to this claim, so the process will start. Good luck you will probably need it before it's over, but maybe not.

John
 
and document everything. every call, who, when, etc.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, I am not mentioning lawyers at this point, trying be patient and understanding. I am not looking for anything but a reasonable replacement for my auto and my time. Part of me worries that I need to be a squeaky wheel... I guess the squeaking will get louder each day they ignore me and don't return my calls.
 
I am of the mind set: get a lawyer, NOW!
And document every expense, even lost time that you could have been earning a living.
Have lawyer get you a full medical checkup.
good luck! Keep us in the loop.
 
Left two voice mails with the lady I thought was their insurance, turns out she is their "broker". She called back to let me know the company is doing an investigation, there are more than one insurance adjusters involved, and I should be contacted by them. Good grief. I did mention there were several cars involved, right?
 
Call her back and get a name and number for the business's fleet insurance company. If the truck was a big truck (i.e. DOT license) them them you're checking with TexDOT about the company's safety record on SAFER net.

Call their claims adjuster and tell them they are now looking at a liability claim also due to lost time and wages and threatening your future, and that you're next call is to the business telling them that their insurance carrier is risking the business's exposure to legal suit and draggin their feet. Emphasize the Liability Claim over Auto claim. That is big bucks.

Them them they have 24 hours to get you a rental car. And tell them after that point you will retain legal representation and filing for auto and liability losses and you will NOT be talking to them again.

Call several of the big name car chasers and tell them you;re contemplating both an auto claim and a liability claim. They love that s$%t.

Larry
VFRrider
 
If you say to them you will get a lawyer, be sure you will. They already have several, and may well tell you to get yours in touch with theirs, and then stop communicating with you directly.
 
I am so sorry to hear of your accident. Two years ago May 28th
A driver hit ( and 3 other vehicles) me from the rear and totaling
my vehicle and messing up my back ( did not know until next
Day when i could not get out of bed). Police at scene said other
Driver clearly at fault. After three months all claims were paid but
Mine and i learned two lessons. One: Make all claims with your
Insurance company and always go to the hospital to be checkef
Out when your vehicle is totaled. I ended up getting an attorney
To deal with USAA and ended up settling for damages to me
And my vehicle the following October! Ever one who filed with
Their insurance company was paid within 90 days but me.
 
Years ago, I was rear ended on my 12 year old kz650 at a red light. No big deal. No cops. Driver admitted fault and their insurance told me to get a quote for repairs. The estimate was about $1200 and the company sent me a check. I bought that bike for $750 and put 60k miles on it. It's the only bike I've ever made money on.
I'm quite sure if the same scenario happened today the outcome would be different.
 
Wife and I were part of a multi vehicle accident in Florida spurred by a 35' box truck that didn't bother stopping on at red light and smashed into all the waiting cars at 60 mph. Many hurt and two died. We were unharmed and sustained minor damage, but inches from loss of life to my wife.

To my surprise that insurance co was mostly on top of things. They called me that next morning at my hotel, and continued to call a couple more times gathering info. They we're eager to get my car fixed, a rental set up and me on my way to so I'd agree not to file suit. I never threatened anything, they just wanted this cleaned up. The frustrating part though was the brokers that handled things. I didn't realize insurance co's had all these middle they farmed our work to. Seems like on a couple occasions, the right and left hand were not communicating. I will say through, that I had to keep calling to see about getting an adjuster out to get the ball rolling on repairs.
 
One week....nothing.

Called the company whose employee hit me, said I should hear something tomorrow.
 
Sorry to hear about your accident!

Keep in mind: emails work and are traceable (along with phone calls). if no response --- ask for the supervisor. do you have witnesses? if so they are golden!

when things stall out get the TX Dept of Insurance involved. You already know the last ... last ...last call to make. They get a large %%% of any $$$ collected.
 
I was rear-ended on I-35, and after chasing Al Boenker Insurance for a few weeks I filed with my Uninsured Motorist coverage. I ate the 500.00 up front and put Allstate's lawyers to work on them. 6 months later, they finally paid and I got a 500.00 check in the mail. So, if you carry the Uninsured Motorist coverage, that may be an option if you can't get any relief from the other company.
 
I had a good experience with Progressive and it was a majority my fault accident. They got my stuff in when I was available to take it, gave me a rental, and it only took 3 or 4 days to get my ride back. The other guy got his car taken care of and I am pretty sure I jacked his car up way worse than what mine was because the whole front end of his car was shifted over and coolant was spraying out his radiator, meanwhile all mine needed was a new bumper cover and a respray. The bad news is my insurance went up about 20 bucks a month but considering it could have been worse I guess it is what it is.
 
Well, finally their adjuster called. Gave me the spiel about how they needed to do a full investigation before they could accept liability. Took my recorded statement, and I may be paranoid, but I got the impression she was trying to confuse me by asking the same questions over and over in different ways, and by suggesting that "so, the red truck was following you and did not see your signal"... "no, I cannot say what the red truck saw or did not see, only that the red truck struck my vehicle from the side"...

Also, asked a lot about my personal injuries, which have gotten steadily worse the longer this drags on. And she was very forceful and direct on telling me that they would not pay for storage of ny destroyed vehicle if I allowed those charges to build up while she completed her investigation. I laughed-- HAHAHA! So, are you suggesting I pay a wrecker to move the vehicle to my apartment? It means I would have to pay the storage fees to date, and I simply cannot do that.

Hopefully the Hwy Dept will get the crash report finished. I guess they work a lot slower than NCIS on TV.
 
When I was involved in a similar situation, I talked to the insurance company adjuster. I was told I was NOT their client only the claimant and that they did not work for me. The adjuster told me whatever I claimed would have to be verified with their client. Eventually the driver verified my story and the police report and I received my adjustment.

So, it may be that the insurance company is not receiving confirmation from the driver or company at fault. Also, complicating this may be a no tolerance policy by the drivers place of business, if they were driving a company vehicle. In some cases a driver may loose their job if they are involved in an accident held to be their fault. This may also hinder the acceptance of fault by the driver.

If indeed it is this complicated, then you may need to get a lawyer.
 
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