How long can an insurance company wait until they accept liability.?

Question

I was hit from the rear and my car is undriveable. The guy who hit me has a crappy insurance company. They keep trying to call him and he will not call in or even answer her calls. They will not let me get a rental car until they get a recorded statement from him and they don't know when that will be. Meanwhile I am stuck with no car and 2 small kids. Is there a certain time that they have to get in touch with him? Will they automatically accept liability if he doesn't call? Please help? I haven't ever been a wreck and I am very confused. I know that in my state you have 15 days to turn the police report into your insurance company, but it said nothing about calling them.

Answer 1

YOUR insurance company should be helping you and providing the rental car.  When the liable driver's insurance company catches up with him your company should fight to get reimbursed for the rental charges.

The first wreck I ever had was a couple of months ago and out of the blue some dude drove right into my driver's side door.  I went through my insurance company.  The whole thing went alot smoother than I ever imagined and because the other driver was liable everything was paid for including my deductible which amazed me.  Also, because no one was injured there was no police report and so none was required by the insurance companies.  Later on though, as a side note, the mother of the driver called me and said there were injuries -- mind you, no one appeared or said they were injured to me at the scene so when I called 911 I didn't request an ambulance.  Seemed she was trying to blame me but the person at real fault was her own son.

Answer 2

First, If you have collision coverage on your policy, file the claim with them,

Secondly, there is not set time period for the insurance company to accept liability. Most policies require an insured to notify the company of a loss w/ in 91 days. If after that time their insured has not cooperated, they could deny the claim for breach of policy conditions.

Just remember, if the situation were reversed, your company would not pay somebody else or accept liability without hearing your side of the story first.

Finally, if there is a police report w/ a narrative from the officer, send that in to the company. They may be able to bypass their insured's recorded statement, and accept liability based on the report.

Hope this helps

Answer 3

1) Your insurance company can only assist with the coverages                         you've chosen to put on your policy.  If you did not choose rental coverage (it's not considered part of 'full coverage'), their not liable to provide a rental vehicle.  The only option you have in this case is to rent a vehicle, pay for it & hopefully get reimbursed....no guarantees!

2) The other insurance company can decline your claim if they do not have a statement or an inspection of their insureds vehicle.  They're policy specifies that they need to speak with the driver, find out what vehicle they were driving to confirm it's covered on that person's policy.

3) If there is a police report and it has the year, make, model and the vehicle identification number on it...I would submit it.  Most carriers only hold the vehicle id number on their systems and sorry, but most police reports do not include them.

4) If they do accept liability (Calif.) you have 2 years to settle your claim.

Answer 4

It is difficult for me to fully understand your question because of your use of "They" and "her" in your description but You should have called the police and You should also have notified your own insurance comany and let them sort thru all of this.  Your own insurance company should handle everything, that is what we buy insurance for.  Call them !

Answer 5

No, they will NOT automatically accept liability.  They have NO duty of good faith, towards YOU.   YOUR insurance company does.  My advice, is let this go through YOUR insurance company - your collision, and your rental car coverage.  If you don't have any, YOU are uninsured.

Ultimately, they don't have to pay, until a judge says they have to pay.  You could realistically be looking at 18 months.  

So you can't go on waiting for them.  You need "plan B".  

Which starts with you replacing that car, and filing a small claims court suit against this guy, if you don't have your own collision coverage.  Or hiring a lawyer, if it's too big for small claims court in your state.