5 reasons the other drivers insurer won't pay

[Jus-A-CMax]

As someone who got rear ended by a DUI arrested driver a year ago, this article caught my eye...

 

https://autos.yahoo.com/news/5-reasons-the-other-driver-s-insurer-won-t-pay-212919882.html

 

Be safe out there, LOTS of morons out there...

[hybridbear]

There certainly are. We got rear ended two weeks ago today by a lady who was fasting for religious reasons and had a momentary lapse so she didn't brake for the red light and plowed into us. Fortunately her insurance was very quick to respond and cover all the damages to our car, provide a rental and offer to pay for any medical bills.

[mlsstl]

As a commercial insurance broker with 37 years experience, the examples cited in this are correct, but frankly pretty rare. Far and away the most common problem with insurance claims is that the other, at-fault driver doesn't have insurance. Depending on where you live, 25% or more of all drivers on the road may be uninsured. You can sue them and you can win -- but there is nothing to collect.

 

Two recommendations -- first, make sure the uninsured AND underinsured motorists limits are your policy are equal to the third-party liability limits you carry. Why would you carry $300,000 or $500,000 of coverage for someone you don't know and not have the same limit for yourself and your family?

 

Second, double check that you have comprehensive and collision coverage on your car with deductibles you can swallow. However, at some point as your car gets older and becomes worth less and less, you might consider dropping the coverage. You won't collect more for your car than the ACV (Actual Cash Value) at the time of loss. Check Kelly's or Edmund's for a good idea of what your car is worth used.

[Jus-A-CMax]

There certainly are. We got rear ended two weeks ago today by a lady who was fasting for religious reasons and had a momentary lapse so she didn't brake for the red light and plowed into us. Fortunately her insurance was very quick to respond and cover all the damages to our car, provide a rental and offer to pay for any medical bills.

 

hybridbear - I am really sorry, sorry to hear that and I pray you and your family come out of it ok. I know exactly how you felt going thru this and worst of all - the helplessness of it all (bar stepping out of the car into oncoming traffic). God bless for a speedy recovery and resolution :)

 

I should have said in the first post - eventhough it was rear ender with a DUI arrest, the party at fault's insurer refused to accept fault until the police report came in and the LAPD division is not the quickest of the lot either. I am amazed in your case hybridbear where the party hitting you or their insurer did not insinuate it was your fault somehow and other BS. Over here, they simply LIE.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Jus-A-CMax

[mlsstl]

I should have said in the first post - eventhough it was rear ender with a DUI arrest, the party at fault's insurer refused to accept fault until the police report came in and the LAPD division is not the quickest of the lot either. I am amazed in your case hybridbear where the party hitting you or their insurer did not insinuate it was your fault somehow and other BS. Over here, they simply LIE.

 

Note they didn't deny the claim but rather delayed until their file was documented. That's not a "lie" on the carrier's part. (That's not to say the driver they insure hasn't told them a story that varies from reality. That happens quite a bit and can take some time to sort out.)

 

Some companies are bigger jerks than others about having all the paperwork even in fairly obvious cases. I see this quite a bit and have even experienced it personally. About 13 years ago I was rear-ended and flipped upside down exiting a highway and it took over a month for Progressive (the other guy's carrier) to pay for the accident. While Progressive has a decent reputation for how they treat their own insureds for physical damage claims, they are pretty big jerks as to how they treat people who are struck by the drivers they insure.

 

In such a case, if you need to fix or replace the car quickly, your only choice is to make a claim under the physical damage coverage portion of your policy and let the two insurance companies sort out the subrogation issue later on.

[hybridbear]

hybridbear - I am really sorry, sorry to hear that and I pray you and your family come out of it ok. I know exactly how you felt going thru this and worst of all - the helplessness of it all (bar stepping out of the car into oncoming traffic). God bless for a speedy recovery and resolution :)

 

I should have said in the first post - eventhough it was rear ender with a DUI arrest, the party at fault's insurer refused to accept fault until the police report came in and the LAPD division is not the quickest of the lot either. I am amazed in your case hybridbear where the party hitting you or their insurer did not insinuate it was your fault somehow and other BS. Over here, they simply LIE.

What insurance company did that? I'm surprised that the insurance company would be so difficult.

 

Fortunately we were not injured. My wife had the vanity mirror down and was putting on makeup at the time. When we were hit, her face hit the mirror and she got a small cut on her cheek, but that was it for injuries.

 

We did get a police report. We were driving in a very low crime suburb at the time, so the police have nothing better to do than to respond to fender benders. If we had been in Mpls proper, the police would not have come. However, the insurance company didn't even bother to get a copy of the police report. We were stopped at a red light and this lady hit us. End of story. She admitted that to her insurance and her insurance took care of everything. I asked the adjuster if she wanted the police report information and she said that it wasn't necessary since her insured had admitted fault and thus her policy would cover everything.

 

I've been rear-ended 3 times and each time the other person's insurance has been very easy to work with.

 

Our experience from two weeks ago was dealing with The Hartford. The claims adjuster was very pleasant and helpful. I have never gotten a quote from them in the past for insurance but definitely will the next time our policy is up because of this good experience.

 

When the Prius was scraped by someone parallel parking we dealt with State Farm. They were also very easy to deal with.

 

When I was rear-ended in my Saab back in December 2010 the girl who hit me had Progressive. They were very quick to help me out. I was hit on a Saturday and time was short since I was leaving to go out of town the following Thursday on a road trip in my car. I brought my car to a body shop Monday morning and Progressive got their adjuster out to the body shop Monday afternoon. The body shop finished my car on Wednesday and I was able to take it on the trip. Progressive had said that they would cover the rental car for my road trip if they couldn't get my car repaired in time, but they rushed their inspector out to the body shop within a few hours of my first contact with them so that they could save the expense of paying for my rental car for an extra 11 days.

 

My first time being rear-ended we dealt with Farmers. They also were easy to work with, but my memory of this incident is a bit fuzzy because it happened in 2005.

 

Something I just realized now when thinking back about this. All four incidents happened on Saturdays. I wonder what the statistics are for car accidents by day of the week.

 

 

Some companies are bigger jerks than others about having all the paperwork even in fairly obvious cases. I see this quite a bit and have even experienced it personally. About 13 years ago I was rear-ended and flipped upside down exiting a highway and it took over a month for Progressive (the other guy's carrier) to pay for the accident. While Progressive has a decent reputation for how they treat their own insureds for physical damage claims, they are pretty big jerks as to how they treat people who are struck by the drivers they insure.

Interesting, I had a very positive experience when rear-ended by someone with Progressive as noted above. Perhaps some of it depends on the adjuster assigned to your case.

[Icabod]

My daughter was rear ended while driving her work truck. The trucks trailer hitch stopped much of the damage but my daughter lost wages and had to have medical treatment. The insurance company refused to pay anything. They called it a "nuisance claim" and closed it. Our lawyer said the cost of a lawsuit, with the company delaying things, would cost more then any settlement.

[mlsstl]

Interesting, I had a very positive experience when rear-ended by someone with Progressive as noted above. Perhaps some of it depends on the adjuster assigned to your case.

 

As noted, it depends on the carrier and circumstances. Progressive is reasonably good with relatively low dollar physical damage only claims where their driver is clearly at fault and has admitted such. In my case, due to being flipped upside down, the car (a Ford Focus) was only 18 months old and was totaled plus I had the ER visit. While the injuries weren't severe, any third party bodily injury often makes a carrier much more difficult to deal with.

 

My daughter was rear ended while driving her work truck. The trucks trailer hitch stopped much of the damage but my daughter lost wages and had to have medical treatment. The insurance company refused to pay anything. They called it a "nuisance claim" and closed it. Our lawyer said the cost of a lawsuit, with the company delaying things, would cost more then any settlement.

 

If she was on the job when rear-ended in her work truck, that should have been a workers' compensation claim and her medical would have been paid 100% with no deductible. If she lost wages past the state's waiting period (varies by state), she would have been partially reimbursed for her lost wages.

 

As for the other auto insurance carrier, that whole scenario sounds a bit odd to me. Most states have laws against bad faith claim adjusting that can get a carrier in trouble with the insurance department. It is often worth calling the state insurance department's complaint hot line and have them check into things. As such, it is fairly rare to hear of an insurer casually blowing off a claimant. I suspect the other driver gave them a story that alleged your daughter was either at fault or contributed to the accident in some way.

 

As a broker (I don't work for an insurance company), I've heard a lot of client stories over the years. While I've seen my share of situations where I believe the insurance carrier has handled things incorrectly (I was even an independent expert witness in one case a  few years back), I often find that important facts go missing as horror stories make the rounds. Insurance policies are legal contracts and most possible scenarios have been well litigated giving precedence. Details that may seem unimportant to consumers often play an important part in how claims are paid, or not paid.

[bro1999]

I just recently got rear ended in my NRG. I was stopped at a signal, and some guy popped me from behind. His foot slipped off the brake and he 'crept' into me. Fortunately, I had my bike rack attached to the rear, along with the kids' bikes, so damage was limited to the bikes and rack...NRG was spared. :victory: The guy was apologetic, admitted fault, and I ended getting full (retail) compensation for the bikes and rack from his insurance co, GEICO. They even gave me the cost of labor to install the new bike rack when I asked for them to include that in the quote. The kids needed new bikes anyways, so the timing of this couldn't have been better. Talk about turning lemons into lemonade. :dance:

 

I've actually been rear-ended 3 times (each time the other party had GEICO....coincidence? :headscratch: ). Each time, the other party admitted fault, so the claims processing went smoothly every time. If you're gonna get rear-ended, get rear-ended by someone that has GEICO! :lol:

Edited August 25, 2014 by bro1999

[kostby]

I've actually been rear-ended 3 times (each time the other party had GEICO....coincidence? :headscratch: ). Each time, the other party admitted fault, so the claims processing went smoothly every time. If you're gonna get rear-ended, get rear-ended by someone that has GEICO! :lol:

 

Apparently geckos are near-sighted  ;)

[Jus-A-CMax]

AAA was the insurer of the driver that tboned my wife, nearly killed her but the car saved her, she had physio & chiro. The driver admitted fault and AAA offered a piddly settlement in person that same weekend which my wife rejected with a laugh and then a week later denied fault - claiming my wife was at fault in the tbone. Luckily my wife tracked down a witness behind her and they changed their tune along with our attorney that hammered AAA. That is why I said people lie here. In my case, they delayed and I was expecting them to throw a lie in there - there is no reason for a rear ender to take this long - its utter BS. Luckily(or unluckily) as I was carried away in an ambulance, the LAPD had to file a report and dinged the driver for DUI and failing to render assistence. My wife did not have any report since it was sheriff who was there to guide the traffic...she should have gone in an ambulance, imho. LA is a city of lunatic drivers and dangerous to drive, you never know and you also need uninsured driver clause in this city as well...

[bro1999]

AAA was the insurer of the driver that tboned my wife, nearly killed her but the car saved her, she had physio & chiro. The driver admitted fault and AAA offered a piddly settlement in person that same weekend which my wife rejected with a laugh and then a week later denied fault - claiming my wife was at fault in the tbone. Luckily my wife tracked down a witness behind her and they changed their tune along with our attorney that hammered AAA. That is why I said people lie here. In my case, they delayed and I was expecting them to throw a lie in there - there is no reason for a rear ender to take this long - its utter BS. Luckily(or unluckily) as I was carried away in an ambulance, the LAPD had to file a report and dinged the driver for DUI and failing to render assistence. My wife did not have any report since it was sheriff who was there to guide the traffic...she should have gone in an ambulance, imho. LA is a city of lunatic drivers and dangerous to drive, you never know and you also need uninsured driver clause in this city as well...

 

Insurance adjusters....I'm sure they rank in the top 10 of the 'most hated people to interact with' list. :banghead:

 

Speaking of lunatic LA drivers, here is a recent example of one:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stolen-tesla-cut-fiery-crash-west-hollywood-video-article-1.1855333