QuestionI want to know what options I have. I live in NY. 3 weeks ago my parked car and two other parked cars were hit by a drunk driver. He left the scene but was caught. The van that hit me was registered to a company. State Farm is investigating whether the driver was authorized to drive the vehicle. My car is not drivable. I have looked into a lawyer but they do not want to help as there were no injuries. The driver was arrested and the van impounded. Now for the rumors....the driver had a suspended license and the company surrendered the insurance 1 week ago. State Farm (the vans insurer) claims they are investigating whether they are liable or not. The company will not respond to them. My car sits at an auto body shop. The van only has 10,000 dollars worth of liability insurance. I only had liability because I have a 2006 toyota sienna. Do I just wait and see if State Farm ever resolves this? Do I go to small claims court? Who would I sue? The driver, the owner, the company? How long does State Farm have to investigate while I have no car? I did not rent because State Farm said as soon as the three cars goes over ten thousand if proven they are liable they wont pay over that. Of course I have the worst damage. State Farm estimates the first car at 1350...mine at 6000 dollars and the third car at 2650. I am very frustrated. I have been walking...taking taxis....etc for three weeks. please advise me.
AnswerHello Nellie,
You have several issues here. First let's look at SF's investigation. From your description, the issues are straight forward. Whether or not there is coverage - meaning that SF is obligated to pay - depends on the terms of their policy with this company. If the policy excludes unlicensed drivers or drivers with suspended licenses, there would be no coverage. Or it may not even depend on that. Perhaps they will cover only losses for specifically named drivers. However, usually a policyholder company has a given time to add drivers. The point is, all of this depends on the policy. So I'm not sure why there would be a 3 week delay. They know who the driver was, they can read the policy, so why the delay? Either there is coverage or there is not.
What you need to do here is to be very proactive with the claim. Be pleasant but persistent. Could be the claim is simply "stalled". Your job is to get it on track. If the adjuster will not answer or return calls or provide answers, your next step would be to call the company with your claim number and find out who the claims manager is. Speak directly to the manager and ask for the status of the claim. Don't go on rumors. Deal with and ask for the facts.
And, speaking of rumors, if the company "surrendered" the policy a week ago #I'm not sure what that means exactly - it is a rumor#that has no bearing on a loss that occurred 3 weeks ago. If that was allowed, you could just "surrender" your policy anytime you had to claim a liability loss. Makes no sense, does it!
Coverage is determined by the coverage on the date of loss, not on what happens 2 weeks later.
In my opinion, 3 weeks is an excessive amount of time to "investigate" what would appear to be a simple coverage decision. This is not a liability decision - clearly the drunk driver was at fault. This is a coverage decision.
Now, if there is coverage, SF should pay you a pro rated portion of the limits, apparently $6000. Even if that is inadequate to cover your loss, SF is under no obligation to pay more. They are responsible only up to the limits of the policy, which is apparently $10K.
Now as to Collision insurance ... If you had collision insurance, you would be covered in full for your damages. Your carrier would pay for repairs minus your deductible. In turn, your company would subrogate #go after# SF to reimburse them for paying your damages including your deductible - which would be reimbursed to you. A decision not to carry collision insurance should depend on whether or not you can afford the complete loss of your vehicle. In other words, could you pay for the damages or even a new car if you could not make an insurance claim? The decision is also dependent on the value of your car and whether or not you have a lienholder, which apparently you do not.
I strongly suggest you never go without Collision insurance again!!!
So what if there is no coverage, can you sue? Yes, you could sue the company in small claims court. It is highly unlikely you could sue SF. If there is no coverage - there is no coverage. And, by the way, they will need to notify you of their ultimate decision, along with the reasons for that decision, in writing.
Hope this helps. Good luck!
Jane Pytel
http://SolutionsForYourInsuranceClaim.com
http://FloridaAutoInsuranceCentral.com
