SE United States
Wife was t-boned last weekend by a person who ran their red light. Wife was spun into a car next to her, so 3-car incident. The red-light-runner was ticketed. Trooper took everyone's info at the scene and gave us a form with the other 2 people's VINs, insurance info, phones, addresses etc. Wife is thankfully going to be OK, but we spent the day in the ER and the car will certainly be totaled.
We contacted our insurance Monday, who recommended we go through the "at-fault" person's insurance. We contacted them, and they said they have no record of that person, that VIN, and the number we were provided is "too long for our system." These are all big-name insurance companies.
We understand there's still a chance this is a misunderstanding, this person was also just in a crash and may have grabbed an old card, or the trooper may have made a data-entry mistake. Lots of ways this could be fine, but for where we're sitting right now, is it worthwhile to talk to lawyers? What could talking to a lawyer this week protect us from, or make sure gets taken care of "better"?
Thank you!
Do I need a lawyer/what can a lawyer do for us?
byu/MattSolo734 inInsurance
Posted by MattSolo734
7 Comments
At this point, they aren’t going to add anything. They can’t force that insurance company to find the client and they don’t have any access to insurance databases that might help them find insurance.
Do you carry Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury on your policy?
You should call your insurance back, tell them what happened, begin the claim process, and see if they can help find the other persons insurance.
If the other person has no insurance, a lawyer probably won’t even take the case unless the other person is rich.
“can’t get blood from a stone” as they say. Lawyers won’t bother unless *they* have a way to get paid (that’s what they care about the most).
For now: 1) make sure your wife gets any medical treatment she needs. Don’t wait for auto insurance matters. Her health is most important. 2) file the claim with your insurance company and let them handle it from here. 3) If the other driver does, in fact, have insurance, you can certainly revisit your question about hiring a lawyer….but we’re not able to provide you legal advice otherwise.
You let your insurance provider know of the situation, depending on what type of insurance coverage you have (full, liability, uninsured motorist, etc) they will make you whole and then will go after the at fault party to get reimbursed.
File with your company, give them all the information you have, they’ll take care of the claim, get your car fixed, etc. And they’ll try to go after the at fault party to recoup their money, and if possible, your deductible. There’s nothing else you can do in this situation. Additionally, even if you were able to go after the at fault party, there were multiple cars involved and it’s highly probable the person didn’t carry enough insurance to cover it all, so, you’d probably wind up back at your carrier anyway.
At this point I’d suggest pursuing a collision claim (as well as Medical Payments/Pip claim) under your policy, as the insurance info the at fault driver provided is invalid. It’s possible your insurer can run the VIN thru their databases to see if they can locate a carrier.
You may also want to contact the reporting police agency to advise the insurance info on the at fault driver is invalid, they may (or may not) ticket them.
As someone who’s been in a devastating car wreck, settle the car by yourself, then get a lawyer for personal injuries
‘SE United States?’ What state?
Do you have collision coverage and uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage?
If yes, call your insurance and have them handle your claims. If you run into a problem, you can get an attorney at any time. Do not settle any injury claim until your injuries and treatment have resolved and you have all your medical bills.
If you do not have these coverages, you should review your situation with an attorney, but you’ll be in a tough spot.