Yeah, I did-- another wrecked TL for the forum.
Stupid lady pulled out in front of me, trying to cross busy highway from a side street. She was at fault, cops wrote her a 'failed to yield/right of way' ticket.




Need some advise:
I have State Farm. She has Progressive. My State Farm rep says, 'if she's at fault, and you want her insurance to pay for it, then you contact Progressive and work with them. If you want to get involved, we can start a claim on your behalf, but you have a $1000 deductable and would have to pay that if we get involved."
Accident was at 9am. Progressive starts the claim at the scene (over phone). I ask them 'do I give the tow service the claim number? I need a car to get to work, what do I need to give the rental company to get this taken care of?'. They say, 'we have a claim number started, but until an adjuster investigates there's nothing we can do' (which, yes, makes sense).
Problem: 12 noon. Still no adjuster I can get a hold of. State Farm advises that I pay the $135 wrecker charge, and to pay for the rental car, and then I'll just have to get reimbursed from Progressive.
4pm- After many phone calls, the local adjuster for Progressive is investigating, but tells me, 'We have tried repeatedly to contact our driver, and have had no luck. Until I get her statement and verify info, we can not issue a Rental authorization, or approve any reimbursements'.

State Farm says they can't do a 'direct bill' to Enterprise RentaCar unless I file a claim with them, and I can't file a claim with them without 'clouding the liability issue' and also being liable for the $1000 deductable. Enterprise says they do it all the time, and them the other company (Progressive in this case) will 'take over' the responsibility of the direct bill once they issue a 'Rental Authorization'. Enterprise RentaCar is a little confused at my State Farm response.

In the past, I had two accidents where I was at fault, and State Farm did an AMAZING job at handling everything for me. Now that I'm NOT at fault, they won't even get involved unless i'm 'ready to pay'? WTF? They said they could go after Progressive to recoup their losses (including getting my deductable back to me), but 'it could take 6 months to a year' and 'there's no guarantee', so their advise is to deal with Progressive directly.

So, I need advise on how to navigate the insurance waters (Progressive is NOT being friendly or helpful, and has potentially already told me two lies- that I have no recourse on any Medical issues after 14 days (been told it's 3 years?) and they are not authorized to tell me their driver's coverage limits or if the driver's insurance policy is sufficient to cover me in a total loss scenario (State Farm says this isn't true?)

Also, based on the damage in the pics..... what should I do about the car?
Thanks everyone.

 

1) Cool your jets and wait until Monday for a Progressive claim number-- it's been less than a work day.
Unlikely, but you might get a return call today or Sunday if it has adjusters working like Allstate does.

You can expect a request to give a recorded statement too. If you were injured, see 5) below, and follow the lawyer's advice on giving any statement.

2) Ask the police dept when the accident report will be ready, and get a report number or copy of the report if it's ready.

3) Follow State Farm's advice. If you need a car, rent one now and tell Enterprise of the issue.

4) Take the car and pieces home or to a body shop that you like, but do not do anything or authorize anything to be done to the car until an adjuster does an estimate.

5) If you feel any physical injuries or issues, get a lawyer. The lawyer will also be able to guide you through the property damage claim process.

:ibmoveto3GTL:

 

I have State Farm and your agent is either lazy or an idiot.

File a claim with State Farm and they'll go after Progressive on your behalf. Yeah, it's probably $1000 out right now but you can use SF to go after Progressive as they'll want that money back. They'll likely go to arbitration and if that fails they'll go to court. All you have to do is show up and cooperate and they'll take care of it for you.

I'm going to court for being sued by a guy that hit me with his door (the parking lot incident with my old BMW) and State Farm has been awesome.

 

This. File your claim with State Farm, pay the deductible up front, let State Farm do all the work with Progressive, and they'll get you your deductible back. I have State Farm and that's how I did it when I got rear ended on the freeway.

Just tell them you want to file your claim with them and then tell them you want them to "subrogate" against Progressive.

 

Airbags didn't deploy, can't tell if it's enough damage to Total or not. If they do, I want my aftermarket parts off of it, listed in my signature, which i'd then sell.
The Tein SA's are about 2 years old w/~25000 on them. The tires are 50% on front Potenza S-04 245/35s @ 50%, 25% on rear Nitto Invo 225/35.

 

I'll be honest, none of that is worth very much.

 

@ Enterprise Rent A Car , You can get the rental and try to have Progressive pay for it and if they cant get Progessive to pay for the rental you will then be responsible . There would also be a 250.00 deposit which will be returned at the end of the rental. I Live in NJ but in other places there are different rules . But you should let them know about your situation nd see what they can do . You should also try to get a full size or Premium size vehicle as that would be similar to what you have/had . Premium would be Accord , Genesis , Hybrids etc.

 

i always use the guilty parties' insurance.

 

I really disliked dealing with SF over the deer hit we had, they are terrible as of late.

 

damn that looks bad....

 

Really? How recent? They have been nothing but a cake walk for me. 1 hit and run claim (I knew the perp), 1 dog, 2 deer, and a three car accident on my fault, and all I ever had to do was make 1 call. Everything fell seamlessly into place after making the claim.


To the OP, always make the claim through the other party's insurance unless you are getting no where. If you are in such a bind that you can't handle a few days without a car, bite the bullet and go after a reimbursement. Right now, it doesn't make sense to pay $1000 to get a rental car.

 

Best excuse I've ever seen...Time for a new ride.

 

Bluescreenofdeath - I recently was in a wreck that wasn't my fault - rear-ended. I was super pissed and wanted to get the work done as promptly as I could just because. I was going to file with my own insurance company (State Farm) and let them go after GEICO. BUT then I spoke to my agent and he made an interesting point. True, the accident wasn't my fault and they would pay no problem and go after GEICO for their money. However it appears on your insurance record as an accident. It would not appear on your insurance record if you filed a claim straight at GEICO skipping over State Farm. Also, it'd take up to 6 - 8 months before I was able to get my money back. Seemed reasonable to me so I waited to get the police report (which was available online after one day for a $3 fee) and did the dirty work. My car was fixed within three weeks of the accident.

My opinion - State Farm is going to total your car. Not sure about any issues with framework and such but the pictures describe an ugly hit.

 

Some bitch fails to yield, I'll fail to brake.. and ram it through her ass.

CGTZINE!

 

something she may enjoy greatly

 

thanks for everyone's feedback.
I kept dealing with Progressive directly on it, not using my own insurance.
They are not totalling the car, the repair bill is currently around $7k.
I will be following up with a diminished value claim after repairs are complete.

 

Agree.

 

I'm not sure. I would go through mine, pay the deductible and get it back. Of course the other insurance isn't going to total your car.

 

Ouch glad your ok.

 

Great advice. I had the same advice provided by my carrier a few years ago.