by mgoddess101 » Wed Dec 24, 2014 01:02 am
My car was uninsured but parked in front of my house. I was asleep as it was 1:45 am and a guy hit my car to avoid hitting another driver on the road. He totaled my car but his insurance company and hers will not pay for my vehicle. What are my options. i have no money to get a car not even a temp rental and both insurance company's are saying their driver was not at fault. I'm w/o a car and don't know what to do to get justification. Both drivers should have gotten tickets as they were both coming from a bar and neither one was. Insurance won't pay and my car was totaled and no attorney takes cases where you were not injured due to an accident but I'm sick and my nerves are frazzled and I have no options as my car sits in a storage lot accumulating more fees every day plus tow costs as I was told if I didn't have my car towed I would get a ticket. Both drivers were free to go on their way and I am w/o a car and bills piling up daily. What can I do.
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 01:47 am Post Subject:
He totaled my car but his insurance company and hers will not pay for my vehicle
The million dollar question... why won't they pay for the damage? Have they sent you a written denial?
What state are you in? Some state may bar recovery for property damage, to a certain extent, if you don't have insurance on your vehicle.
You mention that both drivers should have been issues tickets. This leads me to think that each person's carrier is saying the other driver was at fault so nether are addressing your loss. If this is the case, file suit in small claims court and name them both. Each carrier can plead their case to the judge but regardless, you will be granted 100% of your loss. The judge will just need to figure out which of the other drivers pays what percentage.
_You_ need to get your vehicle out of storage. No other carrier is going to pay for excessive storage charges. My guess is you are going to say you can't afford it. What about all of that money you saved by not paying for insurance? If you can't afford to be responsible for the use of your own vehicle then perhaps you should not own it.
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 02:19 am Post Subject:
My insurance had just lapsed. I was planning to pay it but not now. I'm in Philadelphia, pa and I do not have the money financially to pay storage for this pos and I will get a ticket if left on the street as per police officer. Neither insurance will claim fault and will not give me other drivers information so I can do anything. Small claim wants a fee to process my claim which I do not have and it is not illegal to park an uninsured car on the street. Insurance company's will only deny me over the phone and only when I call them as neither will return any calls and if your not an attorney who can help me why bother posting me I'm asking for help not judgement as Im getting that from both insurance company's and how do you sue in small claims w/o any info who you are suing. Info is on the DC report and yet I'm 1 1/2 away from police station and I've already walked there twice in the rain and cold. If you can not or will not help me I advise you to not judge me. You do not know my life and you do not walk in my shoes but thank you for being the pessimist I needed to help me thru a great holiday.
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 04:50 am Post Subject:
Neither insurance will claim fault and will not give me other drivers information so I can do anything
When there is an accident each party is required by law to exchange contact and insurance information. If there was police involved then they obtain this information for you. You know who they are insured with but you don't know who they are?
Small claim wants a fee to process my claim which I do not have and it is not illegal to park an uninsured car on the street
If the vehicle is on a public street it's required to have a tag/registration and therefore its required to have insurance. If you don't have the $100 or so to file in court and then another $100 or so to serve the parties involved then you don't really have much choice but to wait and see what happens.Insurance company's will only deny me over the phone and only when I call them as neither will return any calls and if your not an attorney who can help me why bother posting
If they have not denied your claim in writing, then it's not been denied. If they tell you they won't pay and won't send a denial in writing then file a complaint with your states Dept of Insurance. This may only get you a denial in writing but at least you will have their final answer on the matter. You won't get a reply here from an attorney and an attorney can't help you any more in a post anyway. [/quote] Info is on the DC report and yet I'm 1 1/2 away from police station and I've already walked there twice in the rain and cold.[/quote] You walked there in order to get a copy of the police report... twice... but you still don't have one? Why not?My suggestion... call the police dept and make sure they can release the police report to you. Get to the dept and pick up a copy. Go online and download the paperwork to file in small claims court. Complete the forms but _both_ of the drivers (it's one for and you just name both of the drivers). The tricky part that you need to know the cost to repair your vehicle which you don't know. You may want to leave that open but mention that it's to be determined. Include the filing fees for court, towing/storage and loss of use. Draft up a cover letter to each carrier and let them know you will file in 30 days unless they can work something out. You don't need to actually filed... just wait and hope they don't call your bluff about filing.
What you may also want to do is contact each carrier and see about giving them a discount on liability in return for you signing a release of their insured. That is... you know you should be getting 100%. Call each carrier and see if they will offer something like 40% or 30% each. This means you would get paid 80% or 70% of your loss but at least you'd get something. In return each carrier may get a slight discount on what they really owe. They may still offer nothing. You _might_ be able to find an attorney to handle your case but be warned, they are going to take at least 33% plus expenses of your settlement. So you trying to get each carrier to pay 40% of your loss may be the better deal.
Other than that, I'd recommend that you see about borrowing the money from someone to actually file in small claims and to pay someone to serve each of the other parties. If you file, you can also ask for your filing and service fees.
Also, you are still going to be responsible for any "excessive" storage fees. If you don't pick up your vehicle then the towing company will sell it to recover all of their fees. If it's not worth the towing/storage charges then you may want to contact the towing company and agree to sign it over to them for the salvage value. If you don't, they will threaten to pursue you for those charges. But I've never heard of a towing company following through with that threat.
I can promise you, if you sit back and don't do anything than nothing will happen.
Posted: Wed Dec 24, 2014 08:46 am Post Subject:
Thank you. At least that was helpful. I am pursuing this.
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