Is there any justice for accident victims??

Question

I was in a wreck.. The guy that hit me will not get in touch with his insurance. They say if they do not hear from him, even though there is an accident report, they will drop him and the accident will not be covered. How can they do this if he had ins. at time of crash???

Answer 1

Why not save yourself some trouble and go through your own insurance company.   They will force the other company to take some action.  Do you have collision coverage?   If you do let your insurance company take care of you.  

And, yes the other company can drop their customer for not cooperating.   It is in the policy that in the event of a claim they have to cooperate.  The accident will still be covered because he was covered at the time of the accident so do not worry about that.  

Why isn't your agent or insurance company helping you?  Talk to them and if you have collision coverage let your insurance company take care of you.   I can not say that strong enough.    

Answer 2

Technically, you can report an accident to the other drivers insurance and send them the police report but that isn't enough. The company HAS to confirm the accident and all facts with their policyholder before they can consider paying you. Your company would do the same thing if the roles were reversed.

It is legit for them to delay paying you until they can talk to their insured and confirm the accident. The other company should be doing EVERYTHING they can to contact their policyholder. I have had cases like this where I hired a field claim adjuster to go to their house and knock on the door 5 times a day if that is what it takes.

Ask the company what they are doing to contact him to make sure they are doing more than just trying to call him once a day.

You can try to contact him yourself, but you have to handle it carefully. You can't threaten him etc. Just let him know that his company needs to talk to him or they are going to deny coverage.

If you have your own collision coverage, use that it will save you a ton of time and hassle. If you don't have collision coverage then you are at their mercy.

Good Luck      

Answer 3

They have no duty of good faith towards YOU.

YOU, have to go through YOUR insurance, and let them go after this guy.  Or, if you don't have insurance to cover your accident (isn't that  a form of justice?), you can hire a lawyer and sue the other guy.  

His insurance has a duty of good faith, towards HIM, not you.  

Answer 4

You are correct, if he had insurance at the time of the accident, your accident should be covered.  

Answer 5

They cannot retroactively "drop him."  But you cannot submit a "claim" against another person's insurance - only the policyholder can.  You options are to work through your insurer or to sue the other party.

Answer 6

They do have to hear from their insured before they accept any liability.  However, they can also deny coverage for his failure to cooperate.  In most states, the insurer cannot deny the compulsory limits of the state.  They can only cutback the limits.  

You could consider filing a small claims action against the other party.  This will likely prompt that party to contact their insurance company.   You can also file a claim against your own policy assuming you have the proper coverage.  Your insurer will pay you and then subrogate for recovery.