How Long to Settle Accident Claim

[Belle & Ariel]

Our car was in an accident last week on Tuesday. It was towed to an auto repair place. Our state does not allow the people to exchange info but wait for police report.
It came out Friday late afternoon. The woman who caused it admitted it was her fault to everyone involved and police report states this too.
Monday morning I called her insurance to start claim. They said adjuster would call us within 24 hours. We had not heard and called back Tuesday morning and again afternoon. Finally got Tuesday midafternoon. They said they had to talk to witness and their driver now says it was not her fault.
We did not think to ask for rental car then, still don't have one. They have not called back.
Is this typical?
What should we do to get things rolling?

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

Contact your own agent and get the ball rolling that way.

 

[Belle & Ariel]

Contact your own agent and get the ball rolling that way.

If we do that, doesn't it count as an accident on our record?

 

[barkley]

If we do that, doesn't it count as an accident on our record?

not if you are not at fault. if you submit it to your company to handle they will have you pay your deductible which will be reimbursed back to you when they collect from the other insurer.

we've done this and had it settled in less than a month-more recently it was about 6 months b/c the other person's insurer claimed they couldn't have done the damage (claimed it was partially preexisting) so it went to arbitration btwn. the 2 companies. arbitrator sided w/us so our company got paid, we got reimbursed.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I don't understand. You should have immediately reported this to your own insurance company. They will take care of dealing with the other driver's insurance.

 

[powellrj]

It all depends, we have had accidents over the years and they were settled within days. I had a major one a few years ago that took 2 years to settle and we weren't even asking for anything other than our medical bills and car expenses.

 

[powellrj]

I meant to add, let your insurance handle it for you. They will pay and then go after the other insurance if they find in your favor. If it's not your fault, it will not go against your insurance. Call your agent and let them handle everything, they can get things done faster.

 

[Sadie22]

If there's just property damage, things should go fairly quickly. Always report every accident to your own insurance company right away so they can have your statement on file, including whether or not the other driver claimed to have any pain or injury. If there are medical claims, that part of the matter will last until a period of time after the injured person(s) have achieved maximum improvement.

 

[BellePrincessBelle]

If we do that, doesn't it count as an accident on our record?

No it does not.

 

[MomToOne]

As PPs have said, report it to your insurance company. You should always do this right away no matter who is at fault.

If you have collision coverage, your company will take care of your car right away - except for your deductible - and then seek reimbursement from the responsible party's insurance company (this process is called "subrogation"). If/when they pay, you will then be reimbursed your deductible.

If you have just liability insurance, your company will not take care of you, but you are still required to notify them, in case people start changing their stories for who's at fault (as you are now experiencing).

As far as timeframes go, my car was totaled in a wreck about a year and a half ago. I was rear-ended at a stop light, so I was clearly not at fault at all. I had collision coverage, so my insurance company quickly - within 5 days - got me a check for my car, minus my $500 deductible. Because my policy does not have rental car coverage, I had to arrange and pay for that up front myself and submit it to the insurance company for the person who was at fault. Thankfully since my insurance company moved so quickly to get a payout to me, I only had a rental for a week before I was able to buy a new car.

Because the person who was at fault was seriously underinsured, I still have not been reimbursed my deductible or rental car costs. My insurance company is currently suing their insurance company/the individual personally to recover all costs of the accident. When that settles, I should eventually get paid because in my state the individual gets "made whole" before the insurance company, meaning that if my company is ultimately not able to recover all costs but recovers some, then first I get all my costs repaid out of whatever they do recover and they then get whatever is left. But it may very well be another year or two before I see the money.

 

[Pesky]

Report it to your insurance agent now. Let them handle it. They will act as the go-between with the other insurance company. I would think the police report would be dispositive as to liability. As for the time to wrap it up, depends on your state's statute of limitations laws that apply to the claim. Your insurance agent should be able to tell you that information or you can google it. Best of luck for an easy process and hope no one was injured.

 

[tvguy]

If we do that, doesn't it count as an accident on our record?

Yes, it will count as an accident on your record. But not as an "at fault" accident. It should not raise your rates, HOWEVER there are a few insurance companies that do raise rates even if your are not at fault and even if they don't pay out anything. And your policy may even require you to report the accident is it did over a certain amount of damage. And in some states, the Police report gets sent to you insurance anyway even if you don't file a claim.
But this is one of the things you pay your insurance company to do with your premiums, handle any claims you have to file with other insurance companies.

I had someone hit my parked car, and due to a whole lot of circumstances, the person who hit my car did not report the accident to their insurance until after I had tried to file a claim with them. Actually I tried calling them for 3 days and they refused to take my claim until they heard from their insured. My insurance gave them 7 days to settle or my insurance would pay up and wait for reimbursement. They finally called their insured and got the claim filed (he says he forgot to call). I had my settlement check 2 days later after they balked at how much I wanted to fix my car. I had three estimates, and was willing to go with the lowest estimate, but even that was 4 times what their initial offer was. So I suspect my insurance stepping in put some pressure on them to settle.