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General advice needed after auto wreck. . . what do we need to do to ensure we are protected?

episodic

episodic

Lifer
Facts:

4 way stop.
Wife stopped as she should have.
Wife proceeded after stopping
Truck blew through the intersection.
Wife turned out of way to avoid broadside.
the truck hit and probably totaled car (hit in engine area).
Man admits all fault.
2 witnesses confirm it is all his fault.
Cops confirm it is all his fault.


Bad news:

Car is a 7 year old station wagon (albeit in perfect condition - as I had fixed almost everything in it at least once a while ago). We bought it used 4 years ago for $3500. We probably have put 2000 in work into it. . .

We only have liability only coverage (which of course was in effect).

Car was our primary vehicle. We have a truck -- but nothing we leave town in - old workhorse dodge with alot of problems.

Man's insurance card was expired (but he swears he had insurance). . .

Man is from another state.

Cops wrote him a large ticket and are giving him to Monday to bring by proof of insurance. Of course, if he doesn't have it - this is going to be a huge problem (for us it seems). . .

Now that we are home the wife is sore and stuff. . . and all she has for insurance till August is a 'limited medical plan' - so we have no hospitalization on her. She is on the 'waiting period' for insurance from her employer. . .

I can't think straight now and have no experience with this.

I figured some ppl here could give some advice.

Yes, I know - we should've had uninsured motorist coverage. We didn't. Yes, I'm a dummy - so lets get that over with.

reason I'm asking for advice is neither of us have really "ANY" experience with this.


 
You might want to call your insurance company. They have lawyers that handle this sort of thing, no?

If the guy doesn't have insurance, you will have to sue him, and if he doesn't have money, it could be hard getting it.

 
Call your insurance company.

It's entirely possible he had an expired card and valid insurance- I've ran into that more than once...people forget to put their new cards in the car, etc.
 
The biggest concern to me is that car to us was worth at least 3500-4000$ . . . will they try to jerk us around? Can we get a rental from his insurance? For how long? Being the weekend, it is really hard to figure out all of this. If my wife is sore and ends up being hurt how do we prove it? She told the officers she was very stiff. . . is that enough? We are both understandably concerned that if she goes to the ER this weekend and he doesn't have insurance, we will be stuck with the bill. . . If it is a week later and she starts to have pain, etc, needs time off work. We are already financially strapped. . .
 
Call your insurance company! The agent is there to answer all of your questions. You pay them! Ask them. They can tell you what to do.
 
Here's what the insurance rep will tell you. "Sir, since you're too cheap to buy two way coverage, you're boned."
 
Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Call your insurance company! The agent is there to answer all of your questions. You pay them! Ask them. They can tell you what to do.
Click to expand...

Well they are only there M-F - so I was just looking for a 'preview' of what we would probably have to deal with . . .
 
Originally posted by: episodic
The biggest concern to me is that car to us was worth at least 3500-4000$ . . . will they try to jerk us around? Can we get a rental from his insurance? For how long? Being the weekend, it is really hard to figure out all of this. If my wife is sore and ends up being hurt how do we prove it? She told the officers she was very stiff. . . is that enough? We are both understandably concerned that if she goes to the ER this weekend and he doesn't have insurance, we will be stuck with the bill. . . If it is a week later and she starts to have pain, etc, needs time off work. We are already financially strapped. . .
Click to expand...

The insurance company is going to offer you comparable worth. They do a search of cars for sale in your area of same age/condition and offer you a amount based on that. It really does not matter to them how much you think it is worth, they are going to look at market values. If you have receipts of the repairs and maintenance you may be able to get an adjustment of the offer. YMMV.

Check with his insurance company about the rental. Your car is not drivable, so the should offer a rental. Call them. If you wife needs to see someone about pain, then go and see them. I would avoid the emergency room and look for a urgent care place or a general provider. Your uninsured, under insured coverage should kick in for the medical payments, provided you have the coverage and the offending party is uninsured.

 
Originally posted by: episodic
Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Call your insurance company! The agent is there to answer all of your questions. You pay them! Ask them. They can tell you what to do.
Click to expand...

Well they are only there M-F - so I was just looking for a 'preview' of what we would probably have to deal with . . .
Click to expand...

the phone umber on your card will get you in contact with the national claims office. Usually someone is on the line 24/7 for you.
 
Bummer.
Because of so many people not carrying insurance or not carrying proper insurance, my state requires Uninsured coverage in addition to liability.
Sucks that because of so many bums I end up having to pay more. But at least it protects me from shit like this.

And your insurance company should have lawyers to make people like this pay one way or the other. Even if you didnt have full protection they may be able to pay for a rental car for a couple of weeks.
 
MD has an uninsured motorists fund that I think you can collect from. I don't know how common that is with other states.
 
Call your insurance. You may have no fault or medical which means that your wife is covered even if the vehicle is not. She's the big concern here, you can sort out the problems with the car later.
 
1. Call your insurance to see if you have medical payments coverage.
2. Call his insurance and open a claim (at least verify he has coverage).
3. Get medical assistance (and documentation) as soon as possible.
4. His insurance should cover rentals at least until your car is declared a total loss. At that point you can choose to keep it with a salvage title or give it to his insurance. Also if you have any receipt to argue the value, start getting them together.
 
Officer took all the insurance information from both parties. . .we can get the report on Monday.

It wasn't too friendly as my wife was pissed and not completely very nice to this guy (not that I blame her). . . the officer assured me he had all of the information and that we could get it on Monday, but that his insurance card was expired. The gave him what they said was a 'large' ticket. Hopefully, he was telling the truth and just did not have an updated card. Officer is personally going to check the insurance on Monday and call us he said. He made no mistake that the accident was 100% the other guy's fault. So there should not be an issue there. Wife seems better. A little stiff. Hopefully, it is nothing. We definately don't have medical on the policy. We called the national office, but you have to deal with the local office through the week.

My state, the insurance is part of when you run the tag - the officer can tell if you have it or not. The state this guy came from - not so much. That is what has me pissed - he is from another state, so if he doesn't have insurance, I take it that it will be much harder to serve him and collect for any small claims case. I guess we'll just have to wait till Monday, it seems. He was talking about the fact that his wife just left him, so I suspect that we will be pretty low on his financial totem pole. This is going to be a messed up situation if he has no insurance.



 
FYI, just because someone is found at fault and ticketed by the police officer, it doesn't always translate into the other insurance company accepting 100% liability. Make sure you get the witness info.
 
"Now that we are home the wife is sore and stuff. . . and all she has for insurance till August is a 'limited medical plan' - so we have no hospitalization on her. She is on the 'waiting period' for insurance from her employer. . . "

One trip to ER will total more than the $4K. Start phoning Insurance agents & make sure you have medical coverage.
 
Originally posted by: lxskllr
MD has an uninsured motorists fund that I think you can collect from. I don't know how common that is with other states.
Click to expand...

Even though I have full coverage, I totally got screwed on this one. A new Benz rearended me on the DC beltway, cops refused to come out since the cars were still mobile, found out later the person lied and had a terminated insurance policy and my insurance company refused to help me because no police report was written up, even though I called the sheriffs office and they offered to fax documentation to my company stating that they would not have made the trip out to write a report. Allstate sucks.

If the OP takes the guy to small claims court, wouldn't it have to be in the same jurisdiction as the scene of the accident. Would the other guy be forced to show up, or forfeit....or can be weasle his way out of it since he's out of state? Sorry you and your wife are going through this 🙁
 
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