Auto Insurance Claims: Special Investigation, state insurance commissioners, unfortunate circumstances

Question
I recently was involved in an incident that occurred under very unfortunate circumstances. Due to these circumstances and the potential size of the claim, the insurance company sent a "Special Investigator" to grill me regarding the incident. The Investigator asked me about everything under the sun, including financial status, income level, past claims, etc. I answered everything and gave names of witnesses, yet it has been 30 days since the incident and I just received an "extension" from the adjustor stating that they need more time. Just how much time do they have and is there anything that I can do to expedite the processing?

Answer
Hi Harry,

In most cases the insurance company has 30 days to investigate and either pay or deny the claim. However, in unusual situations the insurance company can extend that time frame by sending you a letter as they did. Once they have sent you an extention letter, they can take as much time as is reasonably necessary to complete their investigation. In most cases an additional 30 days would be considered reasonable. If it starts to get beyond that you may want to file a complaint with your state insurance commissioners office.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh