I'm very tempted to be an SC. Need Advice...

[erik316wttn]

Mods, I wasn't sure where this would fit, so if you need to move it, go ahead.

Ok, so here's the story...

On August 25th or 26th (whichever one was the Saturday), my wife was in our Wal-Mart parking lot. She saw someone pulling out of a parking space and stopped with plenty of room for the person to get out. Well, the guy pulls out, hits her drivers side door, keeps going (!), then laughs and speeds away. Thankfully, the people in the car just behind my wife got the licence number, and the guy was tracked and ticketed. There is over $1,500 worth of damage to her door, which needs a total replacement.

The police report says my wife is not at fault, and the drivers and witness statements in the report both say my wife is not at fault. The guy who hit her admitted what he did. So there is absolutey no question of who is at fault here.

So, my wife contacted his insurance company about possibly getting things fixed. The company (whose initials are "State Farm") says they need to contact this guy and get his side of the story, as per their policy. I guess I should add two things here:

1) He never contacted State Farm to let them know that he hit my wife, as he should have done.

2) He is now actively avoiding their phone calls.

So, my wife was told nothing further can get done till they talk to this guy. Well, if this guy has caller ID and an answering machine/voicemail, he can avoid them indefinately by call screening. So who knows how long we're going to have to wait on this jackass before something gets done.

My wife is going to call again on Friday, and if nothing is done then, I will call on Monday, and I'm seriously considering raising holy hell with these people. Obviously, since we're not State Farm clients ourselves, they're in no rush to help us and give us $1500 for repairs. My wife has access to a fax machine at work and can fax them the police report, including his statement in which he admits fault. She'll bring that up to them in Friday's call.

Right now, water can get inside my wife's car through the bent door if it rains. With winter coming, I shudder to think what can happen with the cooler weather here and (I think) an early winter on the horizon.

I really, REALLY don't want to be an SC, but right now I'm backed into a corner and see that as my ONLY option to get some results. I HATE being dicked around, and that's exactly what State Farm is doing to us.

Both my wife and I are ok with pursuing legal action if that's what it takes, but as it stands at this very minute, we don't know if we have a case.

Does anyone have any advice? I could really use it.

[chainedbarista]

contact an attorney; it seems like this might be the only way you'll see compensation.

as long as you have witnesses and maybe a statement from your insurance agency stating that as of to date, the other party has not replied to their messages left, i think you may have a case.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Insurance companies WILL dick you around. That's what they do. Sometimes getting ugly is the only way to get them to do the right thing. If you are getting nowhere being nice, you have no recourse than to turn up the heat.

It's not like you are trying to get someone to comp you a free meal. The guy is at fault, your car is damaged, and the insurance co. needs to do what they are supposed to do.

I'm also wondering why the guy was not charged with hit and run. Maybe you should bring that up with them, too, and talk to the police about it.

Also, are you SURE your wife is not hurt? I mean, she MIGHT be, understand? The insurance company would sure like to close this before any far-reaching injuries become apparent. You might mention that she's having some pains and you are sending her to the doctor to get checked out They'll be getting a bill from that. Send her to the doc, send them the bill. They will get the hint. That will be taken a subtle threat and they will start to want to close this case very, very soon, if they think you are going to play like that.

I did that to the insurance company of a guy who hit me with a really big plumbing van. He did it in front of three witnesses, one of whom was a cop. The asshole STILL tried to make like it was my fault. What I said to the insurance stooge was this:

"Well, sir, I was going to give your client the benefit of the doubt for being stressed out after just having hit someone. But now that I see he's actually just an asshole who doesnt' care if he hurts someone...."

IS: No, ma'am, it's not like that at all..."

Me: I'm going the doctor today. I'll send you that bill. My neck and back is pretty sore. Sure hope it's just a little stiffness. Just an FYI, your client didn't seem to care at all if I was hurt or not. He wanted to tell me it was my fault. If I'd known then that he was such an asshole..."

IS: No, MS. Recovering Kinkoid, that's not how it is..."

Me: Weeeell, let's hope it isn't. Talk to you later.

I got a check THAT WEEK.

Don't play with these people, they will try to avoid paying for anything they can. That's how they make their money. but they owe you, they need to pay. If you have to play hard, play hard. They are hoping you'll push over and go away.

[erik316wttn]

Yes, the guy did get charged with hit and run, as well as leaving the scene of an accident. I just didn't mention that.

[Auto]

I don't understand the problem.

You need to ask your insurance company to process your claim. Because the other driver was at fault, your company will contact the other driver's insurance company and the two companies will settle up with one another. There's no reason for you to have any contact with his insurance company.

And since your insurance company may require you to pay your policy's deductible, you can go to small claims court to make the other driver to reimburse you the amount fo the deductible. (Some policies may cover your deductible if the other driver is at fault.)

But whatever you do, talk to YOUR insurance company first.

Hope this helps.

[AFpheonix]

See above. Especially since YOUR insurance company sure as hell doesn't want to pay out on the claim, they are in a better position to duke it out with SF for you.

[LostMyMind]

I hate to say it, you really have to pull a page from SC when dealing with insurance payout department.

Next time you talk with them. Inform them that their "client" story is in the officer's report. Also threaten to take it up with the insurance commissioner (or equiv in your state) about their stall tactics. And sometimes, yes, you have to demand their "boss" and keep going up the chain.

[MadMike]

I guess I got lucky. In all my dealings with them, I've never had a problem, although the last time was back in 1997. I guess they've gone downhill since then.

The last time was when this really nice (and cute) girl accidently backed into my car hard while she was trying to park (not sure how she did that), and banged up the front pretty good. I didn't see it happen, and most likely, neither did anyone else. It would have been so easy for her to just run, but she did the honorable thing and went knocking on doors until she found the owner, and then gave me her name and insurance info. (Did I mention she was cute? It's a damn shame I was spoken for. )

She was with State Farm, and I didn't get any trouble from them. They had me take it to one of their designated shops and get an estimate, and then they got a check to me pretty quickly.

About the only issue I had with them, and this is more humorous than anything else, was that they asked all the standard questions without thinking first, like "How fast were you going when it happened?" Uh... I wasn't going at all, the car was parked, and I wasn't even in it when it happened.

[ArenaBoy]

Had a incident like that happen to me. I was backing out of a spot, looked to make sure no one was coming, about a second later BAM!! It was an older woman yelling at me about how I drive etc. Her insurance wanted me to pay up just because I was a kid but I got out of it because there were cameras that caught the whole thing and she cut through a few parking spaces just to get out. I got out of paying and from here on I always ask if they have cameras, just to be safe. Ask the store your wife was at if they have security footage also. You won't believe how much help they can be.

[ladodger34]

I don't understand the problem.

You need to ask your insurance company to process your claim. Because the other driver was at fault, your company will contact the other driver's insurance company and the two companies will settle up with one another. There's no reason for you to have any contact with his insurance company.

And since your insurance company may require you to pay your policy's deductible, you can go to small claims court to make the other driver to reimburse you the amount fo the deductible. (Some policies may cover your deductible if the other driver is at fault.)

But whatever you do, talk to YOUR insurance company first.

Hope this helps.

I agree. Back in June, some dude pulled an illegal u-turn in front of me and I hit him. My car ended up with $6500 in damage. After calling the police to come out to get a report, my second call was to my insurance company. They started the claim right away.

It turns out the guy didn't have insurance, but it wasn't my problem. I let the insurance company deal with that crap. If they want to go after the guy for the damages, so be it. I have no idea if they did or not. Honestly, my car was fixed and that's all I care about.

Let your insurance company do the heavy lifting.

[wagegoth]

Your insurance company pays you, less the deductible. They are supposed to collect the full amount from the other company, then reimburse you for your deductible. You do not, and probably should not, even talk to the other company.

Frankly, sometimes, all you have to do is mention that you're meeting with an attorney and they will jump to. But even that doesn't work with Mercury. Be warned. No one I know (at least three I can think of) who has had an accident under Mercury insurance has been able to get a settlement without a lawyer. There are reasons some companies charge a lot less for premiums.

I've been with State Farm for almost 20 years. A few problems on follow-through, but I can always mention that I've talked the situation over with my MIL, the lawyer, and that usually takes care of the problem.

The problem I have run into with State Farm is their claims people. The turnover is so high. The claims adjuster seems to change from month to month. Even my agent agreed with me that it is a real problem for them, because when they go to bat for a client with claims they are always having to bring the current adjuster up to date.

[Phone Jockey]

Just don't take any flack from the other company and let your own company deal with them.

My husband was slammed into a year ago by a jerk (Mr. Idiot) changing lanes. Mr. Idiot didn't realize traffic had stopped & hit my husband, sending him into the person in front of him. Mr. Idiot tried to say he'd seen my hubby hit the lady in front of him before he ran into hubby. HOWEVER, his comment listed on the POLICE REPORT said he was "looking behind him" when he connected with my husband's car. I had to make a point of this when speaking with OUR insurance adjuster so that he could close the deal w/ Mr. Idiot's insurance. (I used to work in car insurance) Hubby's car was totaled & we were able to afford our new car w/ the check that company sent.

The sad thing was, this was Mr. Idiot's FIFTH accident of the year & it was just August!!! I hate to think he's still out smashing into ppl...

[tacohuman]

I don't understand the problem.

But whatever you do, talk to YOUR insurance company first.

Hope this helps.

he didn't mention what kind of coverage he has, but if he's only carrying liability on his vehicle, his insurance company won't do anything.

[One-Fang]

A lot of the responses assume the OP has insurance.

If you don't, call the industry watchdogs, whoever they are. Probably coincidence, but I had a six week dragged out claim with my insurance company once. I'd finally had enough, so I rang their head office to ask who to make an insurance company complaint to. I didn't identify myself, but within two hours I had a call back from my agent, all done, in my favour.

PJ - your hubby should have been liable for all damage to the front of your car and rear of the car in front. Always stop far enough back so that you don't get shunted into another car if you get hit (sit on the brakes).

[erik316wttn]

Thanks for the advice, all.

The wife and I are both very stubborn people, and we didn't want to deal with OUR company because we didn't want to pay the deductible. Both of us are 100 percent firm in the belief that we should not have to pay a single cent.

*sigh* She'll call state farm, mention lawyers, call them on the "we need to contact him first" bullshit, and then if we don't get resolution, I'll call my agent.

I'm just tired of this shit. Seriously tired. I shouldn't have to pay $500 (even if i'll get it back soon).