Originally Posted by Tcoat (Post 2579218)

Is this not true with every for profit company ever? They are not a charity, government agency or volunteer service. They are a business like any other and need to actually make money. Ya it may seem to suck when they make it off us with nothing tangible in return but their product is way more important than fancy wheels, turbos and headers and people don't whine about paying for those like they do insurance.

Originally Posted by Luftwaffel (Post 2579225)

Of course, and I agree with you like I typically do, but the way they go about it is pretty sketchy. I don't like the free reign that they have to operate with. :thumbdown:

Originally Posted by thomasmryan (Post 2578281)

Do you have an uninsured motorist clause?

Originally Posted by djsyndrome (Post 2578294)

Changing policies will do nothing as all insurers share information; his prior claim will follow him around (and if he doesn't disclose it when applying and they find out later, they can cancel him with no warning). OP needs to suck it up and get a reasonable deductible, put $2k in savings for this sort of thing or get rid of the car.

Originally Posted by pfaffendorn (Post 2578568)

I probably am missing something here, but this sounds like a whole unnecessary megilla. The first call you should have made (other than to the police) was to YOUR insurance company. The reason is simplicity itself: if your insurance has to pay for your repairs, they are out several thousand dollars. If they get to hang the accident on the OTHER insurance, they get to keep their money. The other driver is at fault, no question; you even have a video, for god sake. There's no reason on earth you need to carry this burden of getting justice. It's your insurance company's job to make somebody else pay you for your damage. You are not going to be made to wait for subjugation -- that's your insurance company's problem, and to make that a problem for you is just an excuse. For some reason I don't get (and I don't have to get it), you did not report your accident to your insurance company, and this whole mess has been your own creation. I can't guess what your next step should be, if it's not an immediate call to your own insurance agent.

Forgive the "Dutch Uncle" lecture, but I'm not going to retract it.

Originally Posted by Alltezza (Post 2578594)

Download this app called Yik Yak post his license plate number on there and write what happened. And his life is gonna be hell, someone did that over here in town and I saw that car on school campus.......LOL and someone on Yik Yak actually reported dude's car stolen anonymously and I haven't seen that car ever since LOL idk man I'm just trying to make you better.

Okay seriously Fuck that guy and I have progressive as well. I almost went with a 2000 dollar deductible as well since it was CHEAP AF!
But I'm fine with a 500 deductible, and I'm a bit confused. Did you not report it to your insurance immediately? Did you have a front Dash cam as well? I'm about to buy a rear one now because of you.

Originally Posted by TruRace (Post 2578608)

I was in the same situation sort of. I was side swiped by another driver and he took off (back when I was driving my 240) chased him down. Got him to pull over. Him and I got into it and he took off again, luckily I got his plate number and had a witness there. Long story short I was able to get all his info down to his policy number. First thing I did was call my insurance company and after a lot of back and forth bs my insurance company accepted the claim and cut me a check. Didn't have to pay any deductible but it was about a 3 week process. Have you even called your insurance company op?

Originally Posted by extrashaky (Post 2578667)

If you have an insurance company that won't charge you a deductible for a claim, that's awesome for you. But that's unlikely, and I seriously doubt your insurance works that way. If he files a claim with his own insurance company, he'll be responsible for his $2000 deductible until his insurer recovers it from the other insurance company through subrogation (not "subjugation," LOL). If the other insurance company won't pay up, it'll be up to him to pursue it in court. If he's lucky, the other insurer will accept responsibility and pay out the deductible before he has to pay it to the shop, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes you have to go out of pocket until you can get it back.



Maybe. Maybe not.

I've had two incidents with my Jeep. The first one, I filed the claim with Geico (my insurer) and let them take care of it. Because I was their customer, I had very little leverage against them if I didn't like the way they handled the claim. And in fact, I didn't like it and couldn't do shit about it. The incident happened several hours from home, and my Jeep was stuck there while it was being resolved. I had to go back and forth with Geico and the repair shop for a month to get what I wanted, and I still wasn't 100% satisfied with the repairs. In the end I had a bunch of expenses related to the accident (travel to get the Jeep, etc.) that my policy didn't cover, and the other insurer (Liberty Mutual) simply ignored them.

So when a stupid little shit rear-ended me the following year, and I saw that he had Allstate insurance, I filed my claim directly with them. Because I could tell them to fuck off and sue them at any time, they were more responsive. I also had a medical claim with that one, so that made a difference also. But even with a medical claim, if I had filed it with Geico, I doubt I would have come out with as good a settlement. On the other hand, Allstate has a good reputation for claims. If I had tried that with the Liberty Mutual incident, I probably would have ended up having to sue them.

So it really depends on the situation. Based on experience, I would probably file a claim with the other insurance company first and see how they responded, like OP. If I couldn't get any satisfaction out of them, I would weigh whether I had the time and interest in the entertainment value of suing them against the convenience of filing a claim with my insurer and almost certainly ending up with a lower settlement.

One other thing: I keep seeing people mention resolving a claim quickly. A lot of you seem to be buying into the insurance industry marketing scam. Insurance companies want claims resolved quickly because doing so costs them less in manpower and quick claims payment usually results in lower claims. The first check they wave in your face is almost always going to be less than what they're actually willing to pay out.

If you can drag it out on your side and make them sweat a little, you'll usually get a better settlement. Sure, it's not always possible to drag it out, because you need your car back or you can't afford alternative transportation. But job performance for claims adjusters is evaluated not only on keeping claims costs down, but also on the number of claims they process and how quickly they process them. A claims adjuster wants your claim off his list as quickly as possible. Claims that drag on for months appear on internal reports that attract attention from his supervisors and managers, and it wrecks his average settlement time numbers. You can use that to your advantage.

Here again I'll give you an example from my own experience. When that little fucker rear-ended me, I got a call the next day after filing my claim with Allstate. Within two days I had an estimate on my Jeep, and they wanted to send me a check for the repair estimate and $500 for my medical claim. I said no, that I had been referred to a chiropractor for my back, and that we'd need to wait until all my treatments were done. The adjuster wanted me to go ahead and settle the damage claim, but I told her I wasn't happy with their estimate and wanted a second opinion. So I was going to wait and consider my options and handle everything at once.

I dragged this out for about four months, during which I got calls from Allstate every week. By the end, the original claims adjuster had been removed from my claim and replaced with a supervisor. The claim offer went up in several increments. If I remember correctly, I ended up with about $2300 more than their first offer, not including the chiropractor visits they paid for. And all I had to do was wait and put them off each time they made a new offer.

So ignore what the duck and Dennis Haysbert and the automatons in the hybrid claims fleet tell you about how great quick claims are for you. They're full of crap.

Originally Posted by morswestford (Post 2579543)

unfortunately they no longer had insurance at the time of them hitting me. how they are not fined or worse is beyond me.

sorry to hear about your situation but at least you were lucky to get it resolved. i am stuck either paying out of pocket or going through my own insurance now.

Originally Posted by morswestford (Post 2579542)

sorry you had a similar situation and yes my insurance knows what happened.

Originally Posted by cjd (Post 2579562)

You can take them to small claims court. You also have them on camera driving without insurance... I'd be surprised if you can't find someone that will take this on the premise they get paid if/when they win. However, it's best to work with your insurance company if you just want to get rolling again - this is unfortunately why you're required to carry uninsured motorist coverage.

On the high deductible - you got bit gambling on your own policy coverage limits and such. Sucks, but hopefully it's still a better deal than just paying out of pocket. If it's not, just pay up and work with your lawyer.

Originally Posted by morswestford (Post 2579571)

i will be filing the small claim this week. i just need to decide whether to go through my own insurance or pay out of pocket to fix my car. winning a judgement is one thing, but collecting is another. in PA i can't garnish their wages. i can try and lien the vehicle if they don't pay.

I went to the DA office in philly and tried to get them arrested, but in Philly driving without insurance is just a $300 ticket.

I talked with a police officer about giving her a ticket but you can't retroactively give someone a ticket. even if i have video evidence. i will forward the car information and no insurance information to the DMV and they should suspend their registration and insurance.