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NFT: Car accident/Insurance company advice

Pork Chop : 6/14/2019 3:36 pm
My wife was in an accident this week--not injured at all, a little sore but mostly gone within 24 hours. An empty school bus side-swiped her in heavy traffic on a freeway.

The bus driver got a ticket on the scene, he said he was "looking down at his radio", but the cop speculated aloud that he was on his phone. Cop and tow truck driver opined that the car is totaled.

The other insurance company is dragging feet. They said a "claim had been filed, but we can't find it" at first. They finally agreed to pay for the tow truck and rental car. They are trying to schedule an inspection of the car to determine damage now.

Anyone have experience with this? How should I handle?
Send everything (plus dr visits)  
Rocky369 : 6/14/2019 3:39 pm : link
through your insurance company. They should be the ones fighting this for you. They should also be doing an inspection of the car themselves.
Insurance Cos  
Jerry in 329 : 6/14/2019 3:57 pm : link
Rocky is right. You need the professionals at your insurance company to handle this and they have financial incentive to get the other insurance co to pay and do the job right, since your company doesn't want to be left holding the bag.
Filing an auto insurance claim - ( New Window )
Your insurance company  
GerryL : 6/14/2019 3:58 pm : link
Your insurance company should handle all of this. It is part of what you pay them for. It should also work quicker that way, they can cut through all the BS.
Make sure you get your own estimates of damage  
montanagiant : 6/14/2019 4:09 pm : link
By your own choice of Body Shops.
Who is your insurance  
mitch300 : 6/14/2019 4:25 pm : link
Company. Doesn’t sound like good service.
Do you have Collision coverage  
nochance : 6/14/2019 4:55 pm : link
If you only have minimal coverage your insurance company won't
fight for your property damage. If it's 100% the other party's
fault you might have to hire an attorney.If you have full coverage file a collision claim.
If your own insurance company  
Mike from SI : 6/14/2019 4:59 pm : link
isn't fighting for you, you may want to hire a cheap attorney who specializes in this kind of thing.
Sounds like they are handling it just slowly.  
Bubba : 6/14/2019 5:43 pm : link
Stay after them and get your own estimate as well. I would hold off filing a claim with your carrier as it will go on your record as an accident even though it is not your fault. Plus you may wait up to 6 months to get your deductible back assuming you have collision. If you have an agent you can get them involved but just don't report it to your insurance company yet.
Friend got hit by a school bus  
Gmen88 : 6/14/2019 6:58 pm : link
They notoriously try to drag things along because the insurance is through the township. Your insurance needs to be aggressive and fighting this fight for you. May have to light a fire under them.
This exact same thing just happened to my wife and son  
bradshaw44 : 6/14/2019 10:21 pm : link
The Friday of Memorial Day. The woman at faults insurance company dragged their feet for a full week before my wife got ahold of them again. Initially the day of, the Erie insurance agent told my wife that they would have things set up for her tomorrow (the Saturday of Memorial Day) and my wife asked if they would be working. They said we are 24/7. Well surprise surprise when my wife called the Saturday morning they said only customer service was 24/7. Not agents. And then it took until the following Friday to get an agent on the phone.

When we called Geico the first day they said they would do all the leg work and deal with Erie. But we had to pay our deductible. And they would make Erie reimburse it. So to those saying your insurance will handle
It, Geico wanted the deductible. And even though we would get it back, they said it could take weeks to get it back.

Just an FYI from my experience.
i had experience in january  
GiantsFan84 : 6/15/2019 3:30 pm : link
i had all-state and called them first as they were my insurance company. they handled the tow and rental car. they have me an estimate as my car was totaled. but they said if i go through them my rates would go up even though i got rear-ended and the other driver got a ticket for being on his phone

so i called geico, his insurance company. they sent someone out to look at the car and give an estimate. they estimate ended up being higher than my insurance company so i settled the claim through them

overall it was a fairly easy process but it takes some time. my advice is to get a quote from each insurance company involved
If you have collision coverage  
Giant John : 6/15/2019 4:57 pm : link
Go through your own carrier. Why sweat the details and they will send you back your deductible.
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