tl;dr It is possible your state's insurance commission can help get things moving with an insurance agency whose client is refusing contact.
A woman bumped into my 1-year-old Honda van at a stoplight. The screw head on her front license plate made a neat if disconcerting hexagonal-shaped hole in the plastic bumper, otherwise the resulting scrape might not have been anything to have repaired. But I didn't want a hole in my bumper.
We exchanged information. Based on anectdotal evidence from past experience, I didn't call the police for this extremely minor problem. I still think I was right not to bother them with it.
I had the bumper looked at; it was going to cost $500-$800 to take the bumper off, repair the hole, paint the bumper, and put it back on. And I would need to leave the van with them 2-3 days, since paint had to dry, etc.
I told the woman who hit me, and offered to let her pay for it instead of involving the insurance company; I didn't care which way she did this, and believe that her premiums would almost certainly go up at least the amount of the repair. She said she didn't have $800, and that she would get in touch with her insurance company.
I didn't hear anything for a week or so, tried to call her back, got no answer. Tried from my home phone (which number she did not have) and she did answer, sounded disconcerted to realize it was me, said she had contacted her insurance company, they would be getting in touch.
Waited a few more days; she did not answer calls from either number, and did not return messages.
I called my insurance company; they said my insurance would cover it if I cared to make a claim there, but that I could also just open a claim with HER insurance company. So I called and did that; the person I talked with said they had no record of the accident, took the information, and said they would contact her and get back in touch.
Another week; the insurance company says they have not been able to get in touch with the insured.
Another week and a half, same thing. Either something catastrophic has happened to her or she's avoiding talking with both the insurance company and me. I asked the insurance company what they intended to do about it, they said they have to talk to their insured before they can do anything. How convenient.
My wife suggests I talk to the state insurance commission; in NC, where we are, this is a state agency that regulates the insurance companies here. So I called and explained what was going on; they said they couldn't help much in terms of getting things moving UNLESS 30 days passed from the time I opened the claim without any action on their part. There is a regulation, you see, that they have to respond to the claim in 30 days.
So at 30 days + 1 I call the commission again to let them know the insurance company took my claim over 30 days previous and has not offered any information, let alone resolution, since then. The next morning, the insurance company called (was it my imagination they were being much more solicitous?) and said they were accepting responsibility, let's set up an appointment with one of our adjusters, etc. Appointment was made and kept, damage assessed, check cut, all within a few days. I could have gotten a rental as well, but had access to a car to borrow and decided against it.
I'm sorry for this woman who drifted into my car and doesn't have $800; I could have been much more accomodating if she had just worked with me. But I wanted PF to know that state agencies can be a help when it seems the normal commercial methods of things break down.
Submitted November 07, 2017 at 09:22AM by arghvark http://ift.tt/2j8u3ZE
