Was involved in a rear end accident, was in the middle was pushed into a suv in front of me. The SUV driver eventually left before the police came, my car hit his bumper little to no damage. Police saw him but by the time they turned around he was gone, my car was totaled today and her insurance admitted fault. In California how long do they have to locate this ghost driver, I can’t even get a rental car. Please help
Posted by Party_Reception5269
9 Comments
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This was sent from an attorneys office, I assume your attorney?
There really isn’t a set time frame, but they do have a duty to not settle their client’s entire limits immediately when a known vehicle is out there.
You should go through your own insurance if you have it.
This sounds like they have a limits issue possibly. Meaning they have a low property damage limit and they don’t think they’ll be able to cover both vehicles. You would have to go through your own insurance in the meantime. Getting an attorney isn’t going to change this fact. There is no set time frame for an investigation, they just have to keep you updated every 30-45 days.
Just go through your own insurance for now and let them subrogate against the at fault driver.
The carrier for the vehicle that rear ended you is telling you that it might not have sufficient limits to pay for 100% of the damage to your vehicle.
Your best strategy is to present a Collision claim with your carrier. They will pay for 100% of the cost to repair/total your vehicle less deductible. They will then look to the at fault carrier for reimbursement.
If you do not have Collision or Underinsured Motorist coverage, then you have fewer choices. You would need to wait until the other carrier has confirmed the amount of all property damage claims being made against the wrongdoer. If the limits are insufficient, then you are going to be offered only a percentage of your damages. You will be required to sign a release to get the mo ey that is being offered. Once you sign that release, you cannot make a claim directly against the wrongdoer for the remainder of your claim not paid by wrongdoer’s insurance.
If you want, you can tell the wrongdoer’s carrier that you do not want the offer immediately. Instead, you can try to collect what the insurer won’t pay directly from the wrongdoer. Once you collect from the wrongdoer, you can then accept the money and sign the release.
Unless the wrongdoer is willing to voluntarily pay you, the only option that you will have is to sue the wrongdoer. While you will likely prevail at court, you will still need to collect the judgment amount from the wrongdoer. The court will not assist you with the collection work.
This is going to take months if you don’t file through your own insurance.
My car value to me is 9k. Insurance may say 7/8k. Not trying to lose that. Love my car she ran perfectly
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Before the accident comps going for 9/10k. 150k miles just did water pump timing belt etc. drove 100 miles daily in her.