Auto accident claim question

O

Orange&White

1,000+ Posts
How long should it take to investigate an auto accident and make a decision on fault?

I was on McNiel Rd heading east. I went underneath I35 and was going to turn left onto the northbound frontage road. I was in the right lane. I had the option to go straight or turn left. The woman in the left lane could only turn left. She went straight and t-boned my car on the driver side.

There were two sets of arrows painted on the road and there were two signs on the side of the road and the stoplights showed her a turn only arrow. She was issued tickets for failing to follow the sign and not having a drivers license. There were two witnesses who stopped and gave statements backing what happened. The police report clearly shows what happened.

It has been 21 days since the accident and I still don't have a rental car and my car is not in the shop getting repaired where I've been told will take at least 2 weeks. They have not even detirmined who is at fault yet.

Is this normal? Does it normally take this long to figure this out? It all seems so blatantly obvious that I cannot fathom the amount of time wasted already.

Part of the problem is that I am insured by the same company as the girl who hit me. (Allstate). So they actually assign two separate adjusters to the individual sides and come to their own conclusions and discuss with a supervisor and make a final detimination. That all seems logical, but three weeks is pissing me off?

So, insurance people, am I just being impatient or is this taking way too long?
 
It might be that she did not bother to report the incident herself, and that fact might keep the proces from going forward.
This happened to me. I was not at fault, and the whole claim was on hold due to this.
 
You should have a rental and you should be charging Allstate for it every day. It's part of her liability for hitting you. You should not have to wait, and at this point since you've been without a vehicle for 21 days, you should be negotiating with the adjustor for extra $$$ to make up for the trouble of being without your vehicle.

The reality of Allstate's claims process doesn't square with their commercials very well, does it? Allstate sucks.
 
Allstate knew about the accident without her having to tell them about it.

I got her insurance information from the Officer on the scene who also turned that info in with his report, which Allstate received. It actually only took 3 days before I had spoken to both adjusters working on the case. They just have not resolved in the 18 days since then.

At first I was being told that nothing could happen in the case until both adjusters had contacted the girl driving the other vehicle, and she was not returning calls. I asked how long would they keep trying before moving on and they all acted like a I was stupid for even thinking that the girl would not call back.

I politely explained that she was not a citizen, had no drivers license, driving a car that did not belong to her and ha lied to the officer on the scene, and that she might not possibly call back.

To this I was told that they could just use the police report and witnesses. So I asked, why don't you just do that now? Why wait? I got no answer.

Now, I was given the option to start a claim on my policy and getting $25/day in rental coverage. However, no rental costs $25/day and I would have to pay my deductible. THey said that once it was "official" that the other driver was at fault, I would be reimbursed for my deductible and the total amount of rental coverage would be paid. I was skeptical that I would be reimbursed in a timely manner and that the rental car payment would work out smoothly.

I have actually been driving my car, but it is pretty smashed up and one of the tires is in pretty bad shape.

I am just more pissed off about the horrible timing and slowness of the process than anything. And I HATE driving around in a dinged up car.

While I've got insurance people on board here, I have another question.

Is there a magical percentage in determining when to "total" a car? My car is worth about $12K. The first estimate written was for $6200, but it was a very rough estimate that was using cheaper aftermarket doors and panels. I think that once I require that they use genuine Honda parts, the estimate may get close to $7500 - $8k. At this point, I found out that there is damage on the uni-body and would actually prefer that it be totaled if possible. Is this a possibility?
 
Great info guys. I really appreciate it. Few more questions now.

If the car has to be put on the frame machine, which it looks like it does, does that not show up on a sales (CarFax) report and what are the chances of getting Diminished Value (DOV)? I know that they do not have to payout to a first party claim, and even though I am insured by the same company, but I am filing as a third party claimant on the other girls policy.

I know that I won't have the option to request it to be totaled. But I am curious about what the total payout on my claim will be before they total it.

As I mentioned, the original estimate was $6200. Once I demand to use genuine Honda parts rather then aftermarket parts from Mexico, I guess that it will get up to $7500 - $8000. Then factor in 3 weeks worth of rental coverage and I am going to strongly push for $1500 in DOV. The current KBB value is ~$12k. Similar cars are selling around Austin now for about $14,500 at dealerships and private party.

How would you see it panning out?

If this would have been resolved in a reasonable time frame, I probably would have been a little more lenient on the insurance company. But their general lack of action and attitude towards my claim have kinda pissed me off and allowed me some time to research this and I am going to be a little more of an ******* about it.

Thanks again to everyone for responding.
 
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