Auto Insurance Claims: hit and run, hit and run

Question
My brother in law recently got his car hit at night by a driver, and the driver fled on foot. My brother in law does not have insurance. He got the plate number off the car and have a police report stating it was a hit and run. is there anyway that he can find the name of the insurance company of the fault driver? how had is it to file a claim and get something for damages to his vehicle?

Answer
Robert,

  There are many ways to locate this type of information, but most of the time it requires privilege.  As a claims investigator and insurance adjuster, my company can locate information such as title records which will reflect the lienholder information.  Then I would call the lienholder and find out what the insurance carrier information is.  Also there are risk pools which might provide you with some information on a whim if the other party happens to be a high risk driver who got insurance through the assigned risk pool in your area.  Just look up your state and the assigned risk pool for auto insurance.  Third, you could call the department of motor vehicles in your state.  Most of the time, if you are a party to an accident, then the dmv may provide you the name of the insurance company that was provided at the time the vehicle was registered, if it was provided at that time like it was supposed to be.  

   There are also other ways, like begging the police and finding out who the victim coordinator is and trying to get them to help you but we'll leave it at that for now.

   If you luck into insurance information, then simply file the claim and come back here if you get stuck.  Make a demand against the policy and see what their response is.

   I hope that helps.