Question
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Followup To
Question -
My 23 year old son was driving our car when it was hit by a car that ran a red light and then took off. However, they slowed down long enough for my son to get the license plate number. There were four passenger witnesses and a pedestrian witness who gave my son his name, address and phone #. There is a police report and the police ran the license, so we know the owner. We've filed a claim with the owner's insurance company. The owner had already filed, claiming a ONE car accident. She denies being in the area at the time of the accident. We don't have collision on this car, but it is an old Mercedes and has value (blue book is about $14,000.00). The insurance company adjuster estimates $5800.00 worth of damage. He also states that our car has blue paint at the damage site (the car that hit our car is blue). The driver's insurance company has refused to acknowledge liability. What should we do at this point?
Answer -
This is very interesting. Not because it's a hit and run but because she had already filed a single vehicle accident claim with her insurance company. That is actually very unsual in hit and run cases. What most people do is ignore the situation in hopes that it will just go away, but a number of folks tend to falsly report their car as stolen to resolve themselves of any responsability.
By reporting the single vehicle accident, she has thrown her a possible "stolen car" defense out the window and she's also admitting that her car has been involved in an accident. Can you clarify exactly what you mean by "The driver's insurance company has refused to acknowledge liability"? Does this mean that they told you to pound sand or that they are continuing to investigate the situation? Once you've clarified this, I can then advise you on what to do.
Thanks.
Thank you very much for taking the time to discuss this with me and for answering so quickly. Here is the relevant part of the letter we received: " I am in receipt of your claim submitted to us for property damage caused to your vehicle. After conducting a full investigation of the facts of this loss, I am not able to honor your claim. The reason is that our insured denies being in Boston at the time of this accident. Please understand that we can make no payments to you for towing or rental.”
The last sentence is in reference to the fact that I had been given a verbal okay to rent a car by a different adjuster before being notified that my claim was being “investigated”. I spoke to a supervisor today, who told me that the owner of the vehicle that hit our car claims that she hit a guard rail. The appraiser had stated that the damage to this vehicle “demonstrates two incidents”. (I don’t have a copy of this. I was told this over the phone during my first conversation with this company). Her explanation is that the car spun around and hit the rail twice. I, of course, think it was an attempt to hide the damage from the first accident. The owner also claims that no one else drove the car that night. So, what should we do? Thanks again for your advice!
AnswerGiven that this person has damage on her vehicle and there is an idependent witness that has identified her as the person who hit your car, I believe that this insurance company seems to have their head where the sun doesn't shed much light. Though I'm no expert on MA claims, tort or criminal law, something seems to be very wrong here, to the point that I'm willing to talk to these folks myself.
I have no new advice as I'm a little perplexed. If you would like me to look into this further, please send me another message with your email address. Mark it as a "Private" question and I will respond VIA email to get more specific info and we'll see what can be done.
