minor accident other party fault?

Question

We were in a minor accident with the other parties fault, after 5 months of waiting on our insurance company to get the other company to call their insured, we filed a no-fault claim with our insurance, so we are now waiting on $1000 remainder (which was our deductable) and again, our insurance company keeps stating they are waiting on the other insurance company to get ahold of their customer. How long does this process take? we been on our insurance companies rear almost once a week trying to get them to do something more then just "put calls in"

Answer 1

IT can take up to two years, but the average is about 6 months. You should really be calling your agent to have them intervene with the subrogation department of YOUR policy.

See, if the other party hasn't responded to their insurance company phone calls by now, they never will - and YOUR insurance company is going to have to file in court against them, BEFORE the statute of limitations runs out.

So if you DON'T get your agent to nudge your insurance company into gear, and enough time goes by, well, then it's going to be TOO LATE to take any action.

Answer 2

Your insurance company is trying to subrogate against the "At Fault" insurance company.

This can sometimes take a long time, and it could potentially never be resolved - unfortunately at least all you had to pay was your deductible, however, don't be upset with your insurance company, this is how all auto policy contracts work - you may want to consider lowering your deductible to $500 for your comprehensive and collision coverage, the increase in price is probably not as much as you think...however, lowering it now will not mean you are going to get $500 back from your insurance company.

Subrogation: The transfer to the insurance company of the insureds right to collect for damages. After paying a claim, the company STANDS IN PLACE OF THE INSURED in suing the negligent party, thus preventing the insured from collecting twice.

This is a fairly standard definition of subrogation from an insurance textbook - but basically subrogation means the insurance company is going to pay your claim, then do the footwork for you to get your money back - keep this in mind, if you vehicle cost the insurance company $15,000 to repair (which I don't think it did by your description) - then they are out $14,000, you're only out $1000...Who do you think wants their money more?

Hope this helps put some of the insurance company jargon into perspective...

Answer 3

AD has a lot of this right. Your company will try to subrogate against the other party, and will attempt to get your money while they are at it. The big question is whether the other party's insurance company even has confirmed that they have coverage for this loss. The reason they haven't made a decision might be that they are doing a coverage investigation. (These take longer than trying to determine fault.)

One option to move this along is to file a small claims suit against the person that hit you for your deductible. If the total amount of damage is less than the small claims limit, you can file this, and send a copy to the other insurance carrier. This can force them to move this claim along and make a decision.

Answer 4

This matter should have been cleared up long before now. Unfortunately, your insurance company has every incentive to collect what they paid out from the other insurance company; but little incentive to collect your portion (the deductable).

Perhaps it would be better for you to file a claim directly with the other party's insurance company. If this becomes to look cumbersome, then tell them that you felt aches and pains for a couple of days following the accident (which you very well might have). Insurance agents will generally pay out $1000 for injuries at the drop of a hat and with no questions asked provided you are willing to sign a document stating that you waive them from any further medical claims.

Answer 5

If your company paid you for your damage, then they have a right of subrogation against the other company for the money they paid. They will also ask for your deductible. Once they collect, they forward your deductible to you.

It sounds like th other carrier has not made a liability decision because they have not been able to speak to their insured. At this point, your company can't force another company to pull the trigger - anymore than any other company can force your company to do something. They can push a little bit.

Since it was minor - most likely your company is not going to hire an attorney and initiate a subrogation law suit on your behalf - they are not going to spend $5000.00 in attorney fees to collect $2000.00.

However, if both companies are members of Arbitration Forums or similar organization they may be able to file arbitration against the other company. This is a much cheaper alternative than a law suit. But this process can take several months as well. If one of the companies is not a member of Arbitration Forums then that is not an option and putting calls in may be all they can do.

You may want to ask your insurance company if they can just turn the other driver over to a collections agency and not worry about fooling with his/her insurance company any more. There is no guarantee this will speed things up, but if the other driver gets a letter from a collection agency it may prompt them to cooperate with their carrier. But if the other driver has poor credit anyway..then another collection letter may not be a threat to them.

Instead of just hounding your insurance company ...how about hounding the other company. They are the ones who are not pulling the trigger and making a decision on how to handle the claim. Make their life rough. Call them weekly. You may want to consider filing an insurance department complaint against the other person's carrier. Instead of working against your company to collect...how about working with them. With both of you putting heat on the other carrier your more likely to get somewhere.

Of course, if the other carrier has not been able to get a hold of their insured...they could be operating under a reservation of rights. So it could be a little more complicated than you are aware.

Answer 6

Well - I would ditch your insurance company after this is all over. Could you take the party to small claims court?