I was hit by this

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 05:40 pm Post Subject:

If it has been that long (and knowing Progressive's history), you are probably better off filing a claim with your carrier. How long before you can gather the money to cover your deductible? Do you think it the repairs will be finished before you can get it? Your carrier will subrogate the claim and you should get your deductible back. They wil most likely not do anything until they talk with their insured.

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 05:53 pm Post Subject:

First, the police officer does not determine legal liability in the matter of an accident. To be more clear, the officer certainly does not determine this on behalf of any insurance company. Next time you see a police officer, ask him/her if the state observes comparative or contributory negligent laws. Ask if it's modified in anyway. After you get a blank stare, you will see what I mean. But I think it's clear that a police officer cannot bind a 3rd party (the insurance company) into making a payment. A court of law can do this... but the police officers is not a judge.

With that said, let me ask a question. If I call your insurance company and tell them that you hit my car, would you want them to just send me a check or would you want them to call you first and confirm with you what happened? Yes, I understand that the other person _should_ call their insurance company and give this information right away. But some people are idiots, jerks, or perhaps there is some good reason why they have not called back yet (it's doubtful that they have a good reason, they are probably just irresponsible). Unfortunately, this is going to delay your claim. Have you offered to obtain a copy of the finalized police report and submit it to the adjuster? If I can't reach my insured for after many attempts, I take a look at the police report to see if it does provide enough information for me to accept liability. Sometimes it might. Other times, not. If it does, I can document that I gave my insured ample opportunity to do as their policy requires and cooperate with my investigation. So if I pay the claim w/o speaking to them, they don't have a valid complaint about that.

Is this creating a huge problem for you? YES! But the other person's insurance company is doing nothing wrong. Your complaint is against the other idiot for not simply picking up the phone and calling their insurance company.

If I was Progressive I'd still either have you submit an estimate for review or I'd have an appraiser inspect the damage to your vehicle. That way you could make temp repairs on your vehicle without any problems.

Additional damages caused to you vehicle are probably not going to be covered by insurance. Are these damages going to amount to more then your deductible? If so, it may be in your interest to file a claim under your own policy and scrape together our deductible amount. You will probably get this back from Progressive so what about asking family members for a short term loan?

Trust me... I know exactly where you are coming from and it's frustrating.

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 08:48 pm Post Subject:

One has a duty under the contract of insurance to mitigate their damages. Meaning you must do everything reasonable in your power to not create addiitonal damage or allow the elements to cause damage to your interior if you have broken glass. The other guys insurance will not likely be liable for these additional damages.

If your alignment is out of whack and your wheel is set back an inch on one side causing stress on the axle and it pops out causing you to steer into a parked car, that is not the liability of the original at fault driver or their insurer even though they put you in that position. This is one reason I encourage my customers to not be driving their wrecked cars around until a safety inspection has been performed.

You could use your coverage and leave the exterior not painted until you have your deductible picked up by the at fault insurer. That could amount to 500 dollars or perhaps you could drive with a scratched headlite that still performs adequately. Leave the grille out etc. Have all the safety related items repaired and fix the other later.

You are not required to repair your vehicle to collect for the damages or to be indemnified by your company. You may however be liable to your leinholder. I have not seen the language in one policy that requires all repairs completed before paying a loss.

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 08:57 pm Post Subject:

Only problem with that is that the OP might have a lien, which means the check should have the body shops name or lien holders name included. This makes it difficult to have only some of the repairs made (which is the reason the check has those names on it... to protect the lien holder and not allow only some repairs to be made). This would also prevent the person from collecting the money and not having repairs done. Of course, this is only if their is a lien holder.

I can't speak for any other adjusters but most of the time I'll pay more loss of use to to the other party (within reason) if it's a matter of my insured not cooperating. It's not owed, and I certainly won't give up the farm, but I also know it's not the other person's fault that my insured is a deadbeat and can't find 2 minutes to pick up the phone and make a call. I've also been known to go to the extreme of calling 4-5 times each day and hounding the insured. Of course, I've also had it be the situation where the person has had a death in the family or the like so they just were not up to making a return call. They should still call but there are those rare situations were I can understand their position.

Posted: Wed Dec 02, 2009 09:27 pm Post Subject:

tcope, Read your first post regarding the other party not notifying their insurer.

It seems that this guy is effectively at the mercy of the person who damaged his car. I know that liability has yet to be established, but surely there is a way of forcing a resolution? If the other driver doesn't do anything and this guy can't afford his deductible, how can he force matters to a conclusion?]

Is there a timeframe in which someone can be deemed to be avoiding contact and have liability apportioned? 3 weeks of ducking calls seems like a pretty good attempt at avoidance!

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 01:04 am Post Subject:

3 weeks of ducking calls seems like a pretty good attempt at avoidance!

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 01:37 am Post Subject:

Or is this just a great way of her and her ins company getting away with damaging my car!

Progressive is notorious for stalling. I on occasion do reinspects for them. Wait until it turns into over a month, pretty customary for this company

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 02:45 am Post Subject:

Although it is the at-fault party's insurer who has responsibility to pay the claim for damages caused by their insured, you may be forced to turn this over to your insurer and have to foot the deductible (borrow if need be). Then you simply file a small claims suit against the at-fault party, for your deductible plus any interest or fees. If they lose in small claims court, then Progressive or they will be forced to pay. Or they'll turn it over to Progressive to pay ASAP to avoid having to go to court.

You can also get the State Department of Insurance involved by filling a complaint against Progressive for unfair claims practices.

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 03:25 am Post Subject:

I'd like to see examples for this Trench, ESPECIALLY in your area..why on earth would Prog. be hiring you to do reinspects when they have about 50 adjusters within 10-20 miles of you? pretty big talk on the net. put up or shut up bud...... I know quite a few adjusters (and managemnet) that work for Progressive in your area...this is NOT true...not in your area at least.

pretty big talk on the net. put up or shut up bud......

Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 05:04 am Post Subject:

And from the moderator, no less!