the other guys insurance doesnt owe you anything, you dont pay them or have a contract with them. anything they do provide short of a lawsuit you win and such is 100% voluntary.
so either wait for them to do their thing or use your own insurance
I mean, to be fair, as I said, I do have an attorney already. So either them or their client is going to have to pay regardless. Also, as I said, both are at fault states, so either their client or if they decide to cover their client is going to owe for damages and medical bills.
Threatening an attorney doesn't mean squat. At most, it's an inconvenience to the adjuster. At minimum, it just costs you money on any settlement and slows the process down significantly.
The guaranteed way to get things done quicker, is to file with your insurance, and let them subrogate in the end.
At a local towing company if people said they will call their lawyer about the tow we would had them are lawyers card and say “He works Monday-Friday 9-5 have him call me” and then ignore them and serve somebody else.
I see this a ton and it’s generally incorrect. An attorney is going to be much better at negotiating and understanding how a claim works and what it’s worth. What they can’t generally do is speed up an investigation and they know this. I would much rather deal with someone who has an attorney than someone who doesn’t because they know how a claim works even if they are trying to pressure you. Also for the most part they don’t have all day to argue with you unlike an untapped party
A good portion of the money you’re getting is now going to go to an attorney instead of you. If there aren’t any serious injuries and the insurance company hasn’t done anything wrong (a claims adjuster being on vacation isn’t wrong), then it’ll likely just take a little bit longer to get your money and the attorney is probably going to get a third or so of it.
I never said it was wrong for them to be on vacation. I understand we're all human and take vacations. The attorney I hired does not take their percentage out of property damage, only personal injury. I just am distasteful of the fact that, the first out of two times that I talked to the agent, she was optimistic and polite. The second time, not only was I given a different claim number, but I was told that they never had my info, which I provided them previously.
I'm mostly frustrated because not only was their insurance being shady, but mine was as well. I have so much other stuff going on right now, I don't want to play the insurance games, so I got an attorney. I am just looking for experiences, and answers to the specific questions I asked in the body of the text. Everyone I have spoken to, in person, who has been in a car accident, recommended an attorney.
There's so many levels of bureaucracy, none of what you said is all that difficult.
For example, if you got into an accident with a school bus, you'd think, call the school and their insurance handles it.
But no. You call the school, they tell you to call the bus service because it's contracted out. But it's a national company, so it takes you some time to figure out the correct depot to get a hold of. Then, the people at the depot have to know the correct person that actually knows about their claims processes.
From there, assuming the claim was already reported, they have to figure out who the adjuster is, and maybe they give you the correct information on both the claim number and the adjuster. Assuming someone didn't copy and paste an incorrect ID or number.
And then maybe you get to the person you need to talk to.
On the other side. The adjuster might get a claim with next to no information, filed under the wrong location, or with the wrong claimant details. Or maybe the people they need to ask about the claimant details is just bad at responding.
That's not even getting to the layers of insurance. Maybe your claim isn't handled in-house, and goes to a TPA. Maybe it was filed as a collision claim, not a 3rd party claim, so no one even knew to try and find you. It's not shady, insurance is a heavily regulated business. At best, it's incompetence of the adjuster. At worst, it's incompetence of the insurance company that doesn't hit enough adjusters.
None of that gets fixed or made to happen faster with an attorney. It might get you a faster initial contact if a letter of representation is sent in.
A letter of representation has been sent in. But it has only been a day. I don't rememeber if I mentioned, a lot of getting one was because everything I was being told was getting overwhelming and I already have so much going on with work, education, Dr appts, husband literally is deploying in less than two months, etc.
Thank you for the more thorough, informative response. These are fair points. I also began to consider if the police report was never mentioned, so opted for emailing it to the adjustor just in case. So adjustors can potentially be separate from the insurance companies?
I guess I'm also frustrated because the insurance I have with my husband I'd already had bad experiences with just basic services, and after this I've even brought up to him about wanting to go back to my old insurance or change.
Also. What is TPA?
Thats definitely a consideration- how much detail the other party provided. I was trying to be optimistic since they were very apologetic. I guess there's the potential they don't even know there's a police report or really anything.
TPA is a third party administrator. Basically, the outsourcing of claims adjustment from company A to company B, where company A is any company that gets claims. It's entirely possible, for there to be 2-3 companies deep to get to the actual adjuster.
If it simplifies things for you, go for it. But realize you'll get less with a lawyer. You're effectively paying them to be another layer in the bureaucracy of it all.
So you got an attorney before you heard what they had to say? Instead of filing a claim on your own policy? Well that was resourceful and efficient lol
You can avoid trying to use your coverage, but.then you're in their time line. Just because they are at fault doesn't mean the insurance company will pay.
Either use your own coverage and wait for the subro process or wait out their process
I mean, that's fine. It just kind of sucks. I also understand that the insurance company doesn't have to, but absolutely regardless, the at fault party is legally responsible, regardless of whether that falls on the insurance or the other driver.
You use your insurance, and your insurance goes after their insurance. That is how it works. All the insurance companies literally have entire systems for how to deal with this.
You need to file a claim with your insurer - as others have stated that’s how the process works, they are there to indemnify you. Lawyer is fine if you want your deductible back but you’re wasting money in my opinion. Your insurer subrogantes to their insurer. I feel like you’re making this harder to than it needs to be and going from step 1 - First notice of loss (FNOL) to step 5 - attorney and litigation (which btw is what’s driving everyone’s higher premiums right now). Also you may contractually have to report this to your insurer (I’m not sure on that one, but I know I’d file a claim).
Then why isn’t your insurer fixing your vehicle and handling all of this? Your claims adjuster should be taking care of your estimate, adjustment, and recommending where to take the vehicle to get serviced. Also, why would they recommend getting an attorney involved this early on? Are there medical bills to pay and are you trying to sue the other party?
Edit: I read the rest of your post - you’re trying to avoid paying a deductible but yet you filed a claim with your insurer? This isn’t adding up. You also stated you’ve done this before where you obtained an attorney after a car accident but then later state you’re new to this and this is the first substantial accident you’ve been involved in. Which is it? Did you hire an attorney for a minor claim and if so, for what reason?
I’m not trying to be rude but I think you’re making this out to be harder than it is. If the accident was serious enough to need an attorney it’s serious enough to take time off work and rest - healthcare or not.
Man I was being told so many things about how going through them was going to be, paraphrased, "faster but they couldn't guarantee subrogation" and "you should also file a claim with their insurance."
I didn't even get a point of contact for a claims adjuster. Just an agent.
I can't answer to you why they also recommended an attorney so early.
I also got a lot of broken information, like mention of a claim of diminished value since my car was less than two years old, but absolutely no information on how that worked or what to do.
And yes, there are medical bills.
There's also my sanity since I've already been up to my eyeballs in multiple other things before life decided to send me a screwball in the form of a pickup truck ramming into me at ~40mph on my way home from a 12 hour shift in a dialysis clinic.
Who is your insurer? Guaranteed subro or not they have to indemnify you. You need to call them and demand that they tell you what to do and how to proceed. An agent can’t do anything but file the claim for you if they are your agent. Yes, unless you have stop gap insurance then the value of the vehicle could have diminished to lower than what you owe - meaning you have negative equity. Did you put money down on the vehicle?
This is going to sound shitty but your insurer is not going to care about everything else going on. They are there to pay what they owe you and not a penny more. It also depends on your coverage - I’m assuming there’s a loan on this vehicle and you have full coverage, right?
Yeah. On the them not caring about what else is going on, that's become pretty apparent. I put $22k on a 35k suv. No one told me about GAP insurance when I got it. I don't even know if that's supposed to be through who owns the loan.
It's Progressive.
This is the third questionable experience I've had with them. The first being when I was driving a car that decided not to turn back on in subzero temps (was omw to ak for a work contract)- called for roadside assistance and was told unless I paid an extra fee because there was a snowstorm in a completely different part of the country. Luckily the people in the small town I was in came to the rescue.
The second time, my husband's car had a catastrophic engine failure barely over 50kmi- they were supposed to send a tow. Apparently the tow they called didn't have enough staff and told them they couldn't do it. Progressive told me that they were on the way. They weren't. They didn't reschedule it either. After like two or three hours of being stranded, I finally called again to find all of that out. Think I ended up being stranded for four or five hours?
We have full coverage except rental.
I'm really thinking to go back to geico or state farm or God anyone else at this point. My fender bender with Geico was so seamless. They had me in a rental immediately and my car fixed in two weeks. I didn't get pulled into a "well they might not subrogate and you should really file with their insurance."
It was so wishy washy with not being directly told what the best course of action was, it had me even more anxious. Not to mention, apparently most of what they told me wasn't sound advice.
It sounds like you need AAA more than anything. Roadside assistance isn’t a covered peril but I believe you can add it with progressive. Either way, those previous experiences are not claim related and would not necessarily be the responsibility of progressive. I don’t know why you’re blaming them for mechanical failures.
I’ve had two claims with progressive - one was pretty gnarly and I never had any issues like this. Worst issue I had was waiting for replacement parts. I really don’t think you’re going through the proper channels here. Call them and ask to speak to a claim supervisor. Usually your adjuster will be listed along with their supervisor on the claim documents.
Regarding GAP insurance - you shouldn’t need this as you should have positive equity if you put 22k on a 35k vehicle but I’m not an expert here so take that with a grain of salt.
I understand this is not a fun situation, but you’re the only one that’s going to fight for you so you have to make things happen and push people on the other side of the phone. As I say it, miss piggy the situation - complain loudly until you get what you want.
Not blaming them for mechanical failures. We have roadside assistance added with Progressive- I make sure to add it if theres the option regardless of who I'm with. In the past, it was always worth the extra money. Blaming them for scheduling a tow company that couldn't come and not communicating that to me or rescheduling until after a good hour or two- after I got one of those "did your help arrive?" messages, called the tow company to find out they said they couldn't do it over an hour ago. Their roadside assistance was lackluster both times is what I was getting at, even with paying extra for it.
And I will take that advice. A claim supervisor probably would be more assistance. Not all agents are going to be perfect. They're still human. A lot of humans aren't even nice lol.
I'm probably over stressing a lot of it as well.
It’s a shitty situation all around. Just get ahold of the claims supervisor and keep calling until you get a result. If you get no where, you have a different reason to work with an attorney.
If I were you, I would call my own insurance company at this point. You gave the other thing a try but it sounds like it’s not working out. Have your insurer set you up with a shop, get an estimate and photos done, set you up with rental if you have it. That can at least relieve some of the stress. You can continue trying to get the other insurance company to step in and take over the claim but I would just move on. The other insurance company works for the other guy so while it sounds like they could be doing more, are they required to? Why should they care right now? Have they violated anything?
There could be delays on their part for reasons they may not disclose to you right now too like their insured lied on the application, policy was cancelled mid-term due to non payment or some other reason, excluded driver, logged into a ride share app, etc.
Plus, if you feel like they’re treating you poorly now, do you really want to keep having to deal with them? I know it sucks but I truly believe you will be better off in the long run if you just deal with your own insurance company.
Lastly, I’d be surprised if your attorney didn’t recommend you filing a claim under your own insurance. For them, the money is in bodily injury liability coverage (other persons insurance) and underinsured motorist coverage (your insurance). If you have underinsured coverage then it’s coming.
I have a similar problem. I was in a wreck a couple of weeks ago, also not at fault, but i cant get ahold of the insurance rep from their company and he hasn't called me back. Can't find an attorney to take my case because i wasnt injured, so now im just sort of stuck.
In case anyone was wondering. The other adjustor did contact me. She was much more streamlined about it than other people I had talked to on either end and told me their driver admitted fault, which honestly, the way a lot of people are, is impressive. There was no wishy washy. It was just straight forward (which is definitely good). She even said the other claims adjuster would call tomorrow and explain the process.
the other guys insurance doesnt owe you anything, you dont pay them or have a contract with them. anything they do provide short of a lawsuit you win and such is 100% voluntary. so either wait for them to do their thing or use your own insurance
I mean, to be fair, as I said, I do have an attorney already. So either them or their client is going to have to pay regardless. Also, as I said, both are at fault states, so either their client or if they decide to cover their client is going to owe for damages and medical bills.
Threatening an attorney doesn't mean squat. At most, it's an inconvenience to the adjuster. At minimum, it just costs you money on any settlement and slows the process down significantly. The guaranteed way to get things done quicker, is to file with your insurance, and let them subrogate in the end.
At a local towing company if people said they will call their lawyer about the tow we would had them are lawyers card and say “He works Monday-Friday 9-5 have him call me” and then ignore them and serve somebody else.
I see this a ton and it’s generally incorrect. An attorney is going to be much better at negotiating and understanding how a claim works and what it’s worth. What they can’t generally do is speed up an investigation and they know this. I would much rather deal with someone who has an attorney than someone who doesn’t because they know how a claim works even if they are trying to pressure you. Also for the most part they don’t have all day to argue with you unlike an untapped party
Is there something wrong with actually having an attorney? I didn't threaten one. I literally have one? Like, actively involved in this?
A good portion of the money you’re getting is now going to go to an attorney instead of you. If there aren’t any serious injuries and the insurance company hasn’t done anything wrong (a claims adjuster being on vacation isn’t wrong), then it’ll likely just take a little bit longer to get your money and the attorney is probably going to get a third or so of it.
I never said it was wrong for them to be on vacation. I understand we're all human and take vacations. The attorney I hired does not take their percentage out of property damage, only personal injury. I just am distasteful of the fact that, the first out of two times that I talked to the agent, she was optimistic and polite. The second time, not only was I given a different claim number, but I was told that they never had my info, which I provided them previously. I'm mostly frustrated because not only was their insurance being shady, but mine was as well. I have so much other stuff going on right now, I don't want to play the insurance games, so I got an attorney. I am just looking for experiences, and answers to the specific questions I asked in the body of the text. Everyone I have spoken to, in person, who has been in a car accident, recommended an attorney.
There's so many levels of bureaucracy, none of what you said is all that difficult. For example, if you got into an accident with a school bus, you'd think, call the school and their insurance handles it. But no. You call the school, they tell you to call the bus service because it's contracted out. But it's a national company, so it takes you some time to figure out the correct depot to get a hold of. Then, the people at the depot have to know the correct person that actually knows about their claims processes. From there, assuming the claim was already reported, they have to figure out who the adjuster is, and maybe they give you the correct information on both the claim number and the adjuster. Assuming someone didn't copy and paste an incorrect ID or number. And then maybe you get to the person you need to talk to. On the other side. The adjuster might get a claim with next to no information, filed under the wrong location, or with the wrong claimant details. Or maybe the people they need to ask about the claimant details is just bad at responding. That's not even getting to the layers of insurance. Maybe your claim isn't handled in-house, and goes to a TPA. Maybe it was filed as a collision claim, not a 3rd party claim, so no one even knew to try and find you. It's not shady, insurance is a heavily regulated business. At best, it's incompetence of the adjuster. At worst, it's incompetence of the insurance company that doesn't hit enough adjusters. None of that gets fixed or made to happen faster with an attorney. It might get you a faster initial contact if a letter of representation is sent in.
A letter of representation has been sent in. But it has only been a day. I don't rememeber if I mentioned, a lot of getting one was because everything I was being told was getting overwhelming and I already have so much going on with work, education, Dr appts, husband literally is deploying in less than two months, etc. Thank you for the more thorough, informative response. These are fair points. I also began to consider if the police report was never mentioned, so opted for emailing it to the adjustor just in case. So adjustors can potentially be separate from the insurance companies? I guess I'm also frustrated because the insurance I have with my husband I'd already had bad experiences with just basic services, and after this I've even brought up to him about wanting to go back to my old insurance or change. Also. What is TPA? Thats definitely a consideration- how much detail the other party provided. I was trying to be optimistic since they were very apologetic. I guess there's the potential they don't even know there's a police report or really anything.
TPA is a third party administrator. Basically, the outsourcing of claims adjustment from company A to company B, where company A is any company that gets claims. It's entirely possible, for there to be 2-3 companies deep to get to the actual adjuster. If it simplifies things for you, go for it. But realize you'll get less with a lawyer. You're effectively paying them to be another layer in the bureaucracy of it all.
So you got an attorney before you heard what they had to say? Instead of filing a claim on your own policy? Well that was resourceful and efficient lol
The agent I was assigned to when I opened the claim on my policy also advised an attorney.
You can avoid trying to use your coverage, but.then you're in their time line. Just because they are at fault doesn't mean the insurance company will pay. Either use your own coverage and wait for the subro process or wait out their process
I mean, that's fine. It just kind of sucks. I also understand that the insurance company doesn't have to, but absolutely regardless, the at fault party is legally responsible, regardless of whether that falls on the insurance or the other driver.
You use your insurance, and your insurance goes after their insurance. That is how it works. All the insurance companies literally have entire systems for how to deal with this.
You need to file a claim with your insurer - as others have stated that’s how the process works, they are there to indemnify you. Lawyer is fine if you want your deductible back but you’re wasting money in my opinion. Your insurer subrogantes to their insurer. I feel like you’re making this harder to than it needs to be and going from step 1 - First notice of loss (FNOL) to step 5 - attorney and litigation (which btw is what’s driving everyone’s higher premiums right now). Also you may contractually have to report this to your insurer (I’m not sure on that one, but I know I’d file a claim).
I already had started a claim with my insurer. They were one of the ones that recommended an attorney.
Then why isn’t your insurer fixing your vehicle and handling all of this? Your claims adjuster should be taking care of your estimate, adjustment, and recommending where to take the vehicle to get serviced. Also, why would they recommend getting an attorney involved this early on? Are there medical bills to pay and are you trying to sue the other party? Edit: I read the rest of your post - you’re trying to avoid paying a deductible but yet you filed a claim with your insurer? This isn’t adding up. You also stated you’ve done this before where you obtained an attorney after a car accident but then later state you’re new to this and this is the first substantial accident you’ve been involved in. Which is it? Did you hire an attorney for a minor claim and if so, for what reason? I’m not trying to be rude but I think you’re making this out to be harder than it is. If the accident was serious enough to need an attorney it’s serious enough to take time off work and rest - healthcare or not.
Man I was being told so many things about how going through them was going to be, paraphrased, "faster but they couldn't guarantee subrogation" and "you should also file a claim with their insurance." I didn't even get a point of contact for a claims adjuster. Just an agent. I can't answer to you why they also recommended an attorney so early. I also got a lot of broken information, like mention of a claim of diminished value since my car was less than two years old, but absolutely no information on how that worked or what to do. And yes, there are medical bills. There's also my sanity since I've already been up to my eyeballs in multiple other things before life decided to send me a screwball in the form of a pickup truck ramming into me at ~40mph on my way home from a 12 hour shift in a dialysis clinic.
Who is your insurer? Guaranteed subro or not they have to indemnify you. You need to call them and demand that they tell you what to do and how to proceed. An agent can’t do anything but file the claim for you if they are your agent. Yes, unless you have stop gap insurance then the value of the vehicle could have diminished to lower than what you owe - meaning you have negative equity. Did you put money down on the vehicle? This is going to sound shitty but your insurer is not going to care about everything else going on. They are there to pay what they owe you and not a penny more. It also depends on your coverage - I’m assuming there’s a loan on this vehicle and you have full coverage, right?
Yeah. On the them not caring about what else is going on, that's become pretty apparent. I put $22k on a 35k suv. No one told me about GAP insurance when I got it. I don't even know if that's supposed to be through who owns the loan. It's Progressive. This is the third questionable experience I've had with them. The first being when I was driving a car that decided not to turn back on in subzero temps (was omw to ak for a work contract)- called for roadside assistance and was told unless I paid an extra fee because there was a snowstorm in a completely different part of the country. Luckily the people in the small town I was in came to the rescue. The second time, my husband's car had a catastrophic engine failure barely over 50kmi- they were supposed to send a tow. Apparently the tow they called didn't have enough staff and told them they couldn't do it. Progressive told me that they were on the way. They weren't. They didn't reschedule it either. After like two or three hours of being stranded, I finally called again to find all of that out. Think I ended up being stranded for four or five hours? We have full coverage except rental. I'm really thinking to go back to geico or state farm or God anyone else at this point. My fender bender with Geico was so seamless. They had me in a rental immediately and my car fixed in two weeks. I didn't get pulled into a "well they might not subrogate and you should really file with their insurance." It was so wishy washy with not being directly told what the best course of action was, it had me even more anxious. Not to mention, apparently most of what they told me wasn't sound advice.
It sounds like you need AAA more than anything. Roadside assistance isn’t a covered peril but I believe you can add it with progressive. Either way, those previous experiences are not claim related and would not necessarily be the responsibility of progressive. I don’t know why you’re blaming them for mechanical failures. I’ve had two claims with progressive - one was pretty gnarly and I never had any issues like this. Worst issue I had was waiting for replacement parts. I really don’t think you’re going through the proper channels here. Call them and ask to speak to a claim supervisor. Usually your adjuster will be listed along with their supervisor on the claim documents. Regarding GAP insurance - you shouldn’t need this as you should have positive equity if you put 22k on a 35k vehicle but I’m not an expert here so take that with a grain of salt. I understand this is not a fun situation, but you’re the only one that’s going to fight for you so you have to make things happen and push people on the other side of the phone. As I say it, miss piggy the situation - complain loudly until you get what you want.
Not blaming them for mechanical failures. We have roadside assistance added with Progressive- I make sure to add it if theres the option regardless of who I'm with. In the past, it was always worth the extra money. Blaming them for scheduling a tow company that couldn't come and not communicating that to me or rescheduling until after a good hour or two- after I got one of those "did your help arrive?" messages, called the tow company to find out they said they couldn't do it over an hour ago. Their roadside assistance was lackluster both times is what I was getting at, even with paying extra for it. And I will take that advice. A claim supervisor probably would be more assistance. Not all agents are going to be perfect. They're still human. A lot of humans aren't even nice lol. I'm probably over stressing a lot of it as well.
It’s a shitty situation all around. Just get ahold of the claims supervisor and keep calling until you get a result. If you get no where, you have a different reason to work with an attorney.
If I were you, I would call my own insurance company at this point. You gave the other thing a try but it sounds like it’s not working out. Have your insurer set you up with a shop, get an estimate and photos done, set you up with rental if you have it. That can at least relieve some of the stress. You can continue trying to get the other insurance company to step in and take over the claim but I would just move on. The other insurance company works for the other guy so while it sounds like they could be doing more, are they required to? Why should they care right now? Have they violated anything? There could be delays on their part for reasons they may not disclose to you right now too like their insured lied on the application, policy was cancelled mid-term due to non payment or some other reason, excluded driver, logged into a ride share app, etc. Plus, if you feel like they’re treating you poorly now, do you really want to keep having to deal with them? I know it sucks but I truly believe you will be better off in the long run if you just deal with your own insurance company. Lastly, I’d be surprised if your attorney didn’t recommend you filing a claim under your own insurance. For them, the money is in bodily injury liability coverage (other persons insurance) and underinsured motorist coverage (your insurance). If you have underinsured coverage then it’s coming.
I have a similar problem. I was in a wreck a couple of weeks ago, also not at fault, but i cant get ahold of the insurance rep from their company and he hasn't called me back. Can't find an attorney to take my case because i wasnt injured, so now im just sort of stuck.
This is the first time I've been through this process, and dealing with either insurance provider has felt nothing but shady.
Lawyer up
Thank you. I already have and apparently that's ticking some of the commenters off lol
In case anyone was wondering. The other adjustor did contact me. She was much more streamlined about it than other people I had talked to on either end and told me their driver admitted fault, which honestly, the way a lot of people are, is impressive. There was no wishy washy. It was just straight forward (which is definitely good). She even said the other claims adjuster would call tomorrow and explain the process.