Auto Insurance Claims: 4 car pile-up, own insurance, damaged vehicles

Question
Hello.
I found myself traveling east bound on a major rd behind two cars.  It was
snowy and icy and out of the blue, a vehicle unit #1, traveling in the opposite
direction, came careening across the median into our east bound traffic.  
Vehicle #1 directly hit between vehicle #2 and #3 and I was unit#4 and could
not avoid the collision as I was in the middle lane.  The driver of vehicle #1
was driving on a revoked license and was arrested and issued a ticket for
failure to reduce speeed.  Can I be a claimant on vehicle #1's insurance?


Answer
Hi Joy,

Yes you can be a claimant on vehicle #1s insurance. However, ther are a couple of potential problems, as follows;

1) Since there are several damaged vehicles involved, Vehicle #1 may not have enough coverage for all of the damage he caused. In this case you would go to your own insurance company for the repairs. They would then negotiate a pro-rated settlement with vehicle #1s insurance.

2) Since the driver of vehicle #1 was driving on a revoked license, it his possible his insurance company may deny any claims since he was technically commiting a crime while driving.  In this case again, you would go through your own insurance company.

You should initially make the claim to the at-fault drivers insurance company. Then if it looks like ther are going to be any issues, you can file with your owne insurance company..

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh