Auto Insurance Claims: Other partys insurance refusing to pay saying the insured was not at the time..., letter in the mail, collision coverage

Question
I was in an auto accident exactly one month ago today. I was on my way to work and a van pulled out in front of me, completely stopped, and when I came to a complete stop I was rear-ended by a car that was doing about 45. The car that hit me and I exchanged info, and I went to work. The next day their insurance company called me, took down some specific information, and sent out an adjuster to check over the damage to my car a few days later. He sent me an estimate the next week, as he said he would, and had told me that a check would be sent out four to five days later. Weeks go by, and no check... I emailed and called the company who couldn't even find the claim in their system and were very rude to me. Today I received a letter in the mail that states that at the time of the accident their insured's policy was cancelled. This doesn't seem right to me. Their policy holder was the one to make the claim, their company contacted me and sent out an adjuster who later sent me an estimate for the damage to my car... does that seem like something a company would do when their policy holder's policy is cancelled? Also, the letter that the company sent me has incorrect information. It says that the accident was on July 29, not October 29, and has a claim number that is very different than the one that is on the estimate. What can I do? I do not have collision coverage on my policy since my car is a 1990 and I am unable to carry that coverage on it.

Answer
Hi Pamela,

You need to contact the company and inform them that the date of loss and the claim number on your letter are incorrect. It may have just been a mistake. It is possible that the claims department did not have access to the cancellation information until some time afte the claim was reported. The fact that they sent out an appraiser to assess the damage does not obligate them to pay the claim if they later found out that the coverage was cancelled. If the coverage was cancelled, they will need to send you a new claim denial letter with the correct date of loss and claim number. You would then need to file a lawsuit against the at-fault driver to get a judgement against them.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh