Hit & Run Street Racer will not reveal insurance coverag

Right after our son moved from Tucson, Arizona, to Washington state he was rear-ended by a hit andamp; run street racer at 70-75 miles an hour. Both cars were totalled. The racer and two buddies jumped out of their car and fled the scene. Luckily, my son had only minor injuries. Since the accident, the police agencies are doing nothing but bouncing our son around from the Washington State Patrol to the Pierce County Sherff's to the Puyallup Police Department. (I am married to a retired police officer and expected much more from them than that.) My son can't even get the insurance information from the owner of the car that hit him. The owner won't answer his phone or answer the door at his residence. Is there any other way to find out if this car is insured?...and if so, who it is insured by? The owner of the car told the police the car was stolen. Right! There is NO stolen car report filed. At this point, this hit andamp; run driver, who could have seriously injured or even killed my son is getting away with it. I don't like this! Our son's insurance company took care of his medical bills through his uninsured motorist bodily injury coverage, but you can't get uninsured motorist coverage in Arizona (he still had his Arizona coverage), which would have covered his totalled car. I can't express how frustrating this whole situation is. The guy driving this car needs to be held responsible for his actions. Any kind of help or advice about ANY of this would be greatly appreciated.

Dispute with Auto Insurance Appraiser

Hey everyone, I have some pretty serious questions/insurance issues that I need some help with. First a little background: About a month ago I was hit on my front left by someone who failed to yield the right of way. Her insurance company claimed liability and after 3 weeks my 2000 Ford Ranger was andquot;fixedandquot;. After bringing the truck home I noticed there was a small coolant leak. I had asked the Ford body shop to inspect the whole truck top to bottom as the impact was pretty hard. After hitting me she pushed me across a lane of traffic and we ended up in a grass area on the side of the road, and a sign was lodged under my truck Apparently Ford did not do this, thus me discovering the leak and not them. I took my truck to an very reputable mechanic in town, and right away they recognized that an impact had caused the damage. In their wordsandquot; natural wear and tear does not happen in this area, anyone who knwos engines should know this. An impact is needed to cause something like this. After contacting the insurance company, they sent the same appraiser who appraised the damage the first time. A little background about this guy. When he originally appraised the damage I asked him to look at the engine as the check engine light was on. His response was that as an appraiser he does not check the insides of vehicles, only estimates the outside damage and that he was not a mechanic. After checking my truck today, he said that in his opinion, after inspecting the engine, the damage was not caused by the accident. Everything he claims is in direct contradiction to a certified and very reputable mechanic. I asked him what exactly he was basing his opinion on, he mumbled something about a gasket and kept repeating, andquot;its my opinion and thats what I'm reporting to the insurance companyandquot;. He also claimed that a hard, front side impact in which a car that pushed a 3200 pound truck over a lane and into a grass area would have zero effect on an engine, which sounds completely ridiculous to me. So basically he had nothing to substantiate his andquot;opinionandquot;. Naturally I have contacted the insurance agency and disputed this, but now it is the weekend and I won't hear anything for a few days. So, I'm really just kind of curious how an appraiser who self admittedly is not a mechanic ,and refused to inspect an engine, comes to the conclusion that the damage is not accident related, directly contradicting a reputable mechanic. Is this their job or isn't it? I also find it interesting that with this added damage, the truck would have most certainly been a total loss as it is over $1000 in additional damage. Do I have any recourse here? I now own a truck that should have been totalled. Any help or advice would be appreciated. thanks Jon

Insurance Company Collision Guaranty? Steering issues?

Has any vehicle owner reading this forum ever been aided by a guaranty from the insurer on your collision claim? Did you find that a company that had agents were able to be of more help in resolving your repair issues? Did you find that you recieved more attention to your issues from a company that only sold their insurance online or from one that sold from local agents? What were you instructed to do when you complained about your repair to the insurance company? Did they offer to let you take the problem to a different shop or did they just simply tell you that you must take it to the original shop that made the original poor repair? Did you feel like you had no choice and the insurer insisted that you must use their preferred shop? Do you regret letting your insurance company select your repair shop or regret that you did not assert your preferred selection of a shop? What did the insurer or person on the 800 claim reporting number tell you when you said you already had a shop? When you informed the insurer that you already have a shop to do your repairs or that you had made a choice, were you talked out of it or told that they: 1. Could not work with that shop 2. That shop was not on their preferred list 3. If you choose that shop, we may not be able to get an adjuster out for a week or longer 4. We have had problems with that shop 5. We can not guaranty that shops work 6. If they charge more than we estimate, we MAY not pay more and you MAY be responsible for additional expenses 7. That shop takes to long on repairs 8. Your shop will have to pay for rental expenses if the repair takes to long. 9. We have had complaints on that shop. 10. That shop will not work from our estimates. 11. We can't trust that shop's quality 12. That shop has no Icar qualified technician with certificates 13. That shop does not have some equipment that we require. 14. Our guaranty only applies if you select one of our shops. 15. Anything not mentioned above If you answered yes to any of these statements, you have been a victim of steering. Insurers use this technique to get you to use a shop of their preference. Some insurers will say, we simply trust these shops. Many of these shops offer discounts on parts and labor back to the insurer; why would the insurer receive a discount on your repair? Many of these shops are required to use a certain percentage of used and cheaper imitation parts to remain on the insurer preferred list. Have you had problem that continued with the vehicle and taken it back to the insurer's preferred shop and have been told, we are finished with the work, the problem is in the loose nut behind the wheel? When you went back to the insurer did they help with their guaranty or did they simply tell you that you chose that shop from their list, they are not responsible? Did anyone have to go to an attorney or different shop to find the problem before the insurer would admit it should have been repaired? This one is a stretch but did anyone have any success filing a complaint to your department of insurance to force the insurer to allow you make the insurer pay for repairs at another shop to correct a deficient repair at the insurer preferred shop?

Did I mess up with my auto accident treatment?

Back in October I was the 4th car hit in a 5 vehicle accident over 1 hr from home. Immediately I had whiplash symptoms (very sore neck, headache). The next couple days got even worse. I refused treatment on the spot because I was heading home from a weekend workshop and it was my son's birthday. I talked to the police, the responsible party's insurance co, and even some of the other insurance co's when they called me. I had told all I was injured and that I would seek treatment. The responsible party was underinsured, so I contacted my own co and decided to use the pip for my injuries. But I really didn't understand it. They had made it clear that they couldn't guarantee it would not raise my insurance rates, although they said it very well may not. I did some research and found that was true for TX. With that, I went to a chiropractor recommended by a colleague. This place was different than others I have been to. The chiro gave me some paperwork and told me to get some xrays done. I was going in to see her 3 times/week. What with the accident and other things going on in our lives (including my husband's health issues) I completely forgot to do the xrays and she never reminded me, never mentioned them again. After about 10 visits I quit going to see her. I did feel so much better finally and was also worried. I knew my pip covered only up to $1500 and I thought we were about there. I was afraid to go over. Also, I ended up with a lot of anxiety about our insurance rates going up, and that was a huge influence on my not going anymore. It turned out that all that was billed and paid by my ins was $960. Then my insurance closed the claim, when I told them that I was feeling better, just some residual soreness now and then. They said that usually for soft tissue injury there are more visits. I said that I could resume them. She said that after a lapse (this was back in Dec, so only a month or so after I stopped going) the ins co may not pay for the treatments. So I decided not to do it. Anyways, I called the other day to see about negotiating a settlement, since right after the accident the responsible party's rep told me to do this when my treatment was done/I was ready. I realize it won't be a lot, but something. But then it finally popped back into my head about the x-rays. So I am just wondering if I will be able to get any settlement if x-rays weren't done. I would think so, just because many companies out there actually try to settle before a person even gets any treatment or care at all, even before x-rays are done. But then again, now after the fact, the ball is more in their court because they know what you have done and can see how limited it is if you have only had x amount of treatments, etc... So I am just wondering if anybody has any advice or ideas about this? I don't need to hear that I handled it badly. I already know it could be better. I can't go back and change the past. I should have been more proactive. I am not used to such a laid back chiropractor. I have always had my x-rays done on site and usually they remind you when they don't see them. Also, the anxiety I had about the insurance going up may have been silly, but legit, when they couldn't guarantee me it wouldn't happen. I don't want my rates to go up when the accident wasn't my fault! But I still think I should get something for my suffering and when my pip paid almost $1000. Thanks!

Value Variance for Totaled 1979 Mercedes

Hello - My name is Scott and I'm trying to help my Mother with an insurance claim. She has a pristine 1979 Mercedes-Benz 450 SLC, which was in an accident. It was not her fault, and she has witnesses that support her. Although she is 80+ years old, thankfully she was not injured, other than a bruised knee. However the car suffered substantial front-end damage and was called a total loss by her insurance. She bought the car new, it has 86,000 miles, and is in excellent condition. Her insurance company originally offered $4,500 and when she protested they offered $7,879.67. So she asked me if I would check to see what the real value of the car is. It's tricky since there are so few of these on the used car market. The NADA price is between $13,000 average and $17,900 high. The Gold Book of Classic Cars says $12,000 average and $16,000 excellent. The few used cars I found online were mostly in fair shape and selling for $6-7K. A couple in excellent condition were asking $12-19K but had only 30-50K miles. The insurance company says they do not use pricing guides, but pay according to the information they receive from CCC Information Services. They took their price, looked around for any used models they could find, and adjusted for mileage. The price they offered is firm and our only alternative is to exercise the Independent Adjuster clause in the insurance contract. I don't think of the car as collectable, but would like to get $10K or $11K which is only slightly more than the almost 8K offered. I would appreciate any guidance or suggestions on how to proceed. Of if this is most likely a fair offer. Thanks in advance.

Auto Insurance and who is at fault?

Hi All, I got questions for anyone or experts in auto insurance. My brother was involved in an accident a week ago. It was snowing pretty bad and my brother hit a lady in front of him who was trying to avoid another collision in front of her. She slammed the brakes and she was able to avoid the collision and my brother was not so lucky so he end up tapping her. She didnt have any damage on her car but my brother was left with cracked bumper. My brother reported to her insurance company since she suggested to call her insurance if there is any damage. Her insurance adjuster left a voicemail and said to fax the estimate of the damage. At this point, we were glad as we assumed she would handle the responsibility of this accident. We were gonna fax her the estimate today until we received a phone call from her stating that we should claim to our own insurance. Basically, she was telling us that it is not her client's fault that her client was only responsible for her own vehicle when she was trying to avoid the collision in front of her. In other words, its not her client's fault. So who is at fault then? what did she want to have the estimate in the first place? Can anyone help? Thank you.

I didn't know that GEICO deleted my comprehensive coverage

I bough my certified 2003 Toyota Corolla on April 24th 2007, and I insured my car with GEICO for 6-month comprehensive coverage, and indicated that the car is financed when I request the quota. As a general rule, any financed vehicle should take comprehensive coverage. On 9/9/2007, the policy was renewed automatically. And I always paid the premium online. On 2/13/2008and#65292; my car skidded on the snowy road (a pile of snow left on the middle of the road) and hit into the barrier, and evaluated at total loss by body shop. Police came and filed the accident, then I reported claim to GEICO---------- All at a sudden, I was told that I donÂ't have a comprehensive /collision coverage!! After further inquiry, they explained that they deleted the comprehensive /collision coverage for lack of photo inspection! How can they do that without noticing me! MY God, I never knew that I had been left unprotected until the accident happened! Nobody has ever informed me the change of coverage!! GEICO insisted that they sent mail to my previous address requesting photo inspection, but I moved from Binghamton to Kirkwood. And before my move, I did receive several GEICO advertising mail with Â"important informationÂ" printed on the envelope. Possibly, I ignored one or two mails from GEICO after I received the insurance package which included my coverage in detail. Definitely, there is no page requesting photo inspection in the insurance package! or any this kind of reminder is included in the package. what should I do now? please send advice to my email: shijun_bu[at]yahoo.com. thanks very much. *e-mail id deactivated for your security Lakemen

I recently transferred the title of a relative's car under

Another question is, in the state of Hawaii, who is liable in the case of a 3 car accident? In my statement, the person in front of my was at a stop, and as I was slowly approaching to stop behind him, the car behind me hit me and i propelled forward and hit the car. More damages were made to the front of my car and only scratches to the back but the insurance rep of the car behind me stated that my damages were inconsistent and that maybe i was the one who hit the car in front of me first and then the car hit me from behind. If that was the case, why didn't the person in front of me have more damages to their rear bumper (they only had minor damages)? Of course, I would get the most damages since I was right smack in the middle of the accident. Under my relative's insurance (GEICO), they want to investigate whether or not I was covered under the insurance, and if I wasn't covered, then if the fault was blamed on me then they wouldn't have to cover any damages. The other thing is that the insurance representative of the car behind me is also from GEICO and he had stated that they were going to be liable for my damages and told me to get an estimate. Now that they've seen my damages which is a total loss, they're claiming that my damages were inconsistent. This has really been stressing me out since I feel that I am getting screwed around with. Anyone, please help on what I should do now. Thank you!

I am presently on the receiving end of a claim

I was rear-ended while stopped at a light by a woman chatting on a cell phone as she hit me traveling in excess of 45 mph. Her big Buick had the front end smashed all the way back to the firewall. My foot was on the brake of my car, and when I noticed the skid marks from my tires, I realized her hit was hard enough to leave five-foot long skid marks from my tires. Progressive has assigned two patronizing ladies to andquot;helpandquot; me. They have detailed information from my doctors describing my injuries, and pay logs showing that I lost thousands of dollars in lost earnings. The first nit-picked my loss of income, and she asked me for andquot;more informationandquot;. andquot;What specific information do you need?andquot; andquot;I don't know, I don't understand how your industry operates, nor how you get paid.andquot; andquot;Well, perhaps Progressive needs to assign a rep who understands my business.andquot; andquot;Are you questioning my intelligence??!!??andquot; andquot;Hey, you just said you don't have the knowledge or experience to understand how I get paid.andquot; andquot;Well Mr. (Me), you simply have not proven to me that you incurred a loss of income.andquot; andquot;Even if I gave you every document showing how I get paid, you have already said that you won't understand.andquot; andquot;WATCH WHAT YOU SAY Mr. (Me). Think verrrrry carefully before you say anything more.andquot; andquot;Your office can be seen from my office window. I shall grab my pay logs and meet you in your office in ten minutes. You may freely browse the file until you find the specific items you need.andquot; andquot;Mr. (Me) I have already told you that I don't know what documents I need because I don't understand your industry. Stay away from my office. I will not see you if you come over. If you set foot inside our office, I shall have the police arrest you for trespassing.andquot; Is that how a cheerful and helpful adjuster andquot;works hardandquot; to make me whole? Do I suffer from wrong thinking.

Totaled! Less than 4 months old and <4K miles

The set-up: Minnesota 2007 Toyota Tundra purchased NEW 10/07 andlt;4K miles The accident: At work I park in a 2 level parking garage run by a valet service. The valet parks my truck in the basement level. There is a steep 40' ramp that connects the two levels. On the day of the accident, the valet drove my truck up the ramp, stopped at the top of the ramp, threw it in park (he thought), jumped out, and the truck immediately started backing up towards the ramp!!! The truck was in REVERSE! The truck raced down the full length of the ramp, all the way to the bottom where it wrapped the rear end around a 3' wide concrete pillar. The Parking Garage is taking FULL responsibility, and has turned it over to their insurance company. Estimate: Toyota Collision shop estimated repairs at $20,200 (replacing entire frame), and he says it came up as a total loss warning on his system. Now the Parking Garage Insurance adjuster wants to take a look for himself. I have a friend who works for Progressive who gave me a value of $30,900 using their system. 70% = $21,630 My questions: 1) I WANT this totaled. If the insurance adjuster decides not to total it, is there anything I can do? 2) If it is totaled, am I legally entitled to a settlement which puts me back in a BRAND NEW truck, since a similiar model with equal mileage isn't available in my area? 3) If it is totaled, am I legally entitled to a settlement which reimburses me for the aftermarket items (topper and bedliner) which I have reciepts for? 4) If it is totaled, am I legally entitled to a settlement which reimburses me for the difference between the old truck payoff, and the new truck financed (assuming its an equal truck)? Meaning, regardless of current financing rates, my payments would be the same and for the same number of remaining months. Thanks for any advice! NB

if the second driver admits fault or is found at fault will

help, we live in california, my 18 yr old daughter has had her license for 2 wks and has had 2 accidents. the first was at a 4 wy stop when she pulled out she thought the driver facing her was going straight also but unfortunately she was turning left in front of my daughter, pretty simple, my daughters fault right and our insurance pays. luckily not alot of damage on our car. the second accident was another 4 way intersection but no stop signs my daughter was getting ready to make a left hand turn and stopped for oncoming car, the other car stopped also and waived my daughter on, the other driver then turned around to talk to her passengers and then without looking back at the road first ran into my daughter after she had already started to make her turn, my daughter and neither of the other drivers called the police either time unfortunately. can my daughter have her license pulled? if the second driver admits fault or is found at fault will her insurance cover the damage to my car even though it had some superficial damage from first accident? is my daughters new license and/or previous accident a liability in second accident as i suspect? can my loan company decide to take back my car? can our insurance drop me? how do they determine fault if the other driver denies it?

Field inspector- meet at home or mechanic

Hi everyone... i was hoping for some advice on the following. I was just in an accident, it was the other person's fault and her insurance is going to pay for it, 21st insurance i think. I have a body shop that is owned by my best friends father. I am new to the area and know he will do a good job. He is not on the list of preffered shops, but i trust him. The field inspector was originally going to come to my work to look at the car, but my friend said as this was not my own insurance i was dealing with, i should have them come to the car repair shop to make sure they are going to be fair. This seemed like a plausible idea, as i have never been involved in an accident before and have no idea what I'm doing. Heres the wird part, after i called back to ask them to meet me at the shop, they stopped calling back. I havent heard anything about setting up an appointment, and then i got a call the other day from the other insurance saying they were looking into liability that i might share some fault (which i clearly don't). What is going on, and what should i do? Their reaction was very wierd. Should i not have asked them to go to the mechanic and just meet me at work?

Hit At Pump, Salvage Certificate of Title, Please Help

Hello, I'm Ark and new to the message board and have a question that maybe someone may be able to answer for me please. I have a 1994 Ford Van in good condition that we use for everyday use to and from work, grocery shopping, heck it's our only vehicle, so it's used for everything we do. I went get gas for my van and parked it at the gas pumps. I went into the store to pay and a car backed into my van. She had insurance and we filed the claim on the damage with her insurance company the following day and an insurance adjuster come out to our house to make an estimate on the damage. The adjuster left and told us she would call us on the next day to give us what they estimated the damage to be. The estimated the damage to be 1500.00 but would only pay 700.00 because of the age of the van and this insurance company says that the van is considered a total lost. Anyway, we disagree with their opinion and told the insurance company we wanted full payment for the damage so we could fix our vehicle...insurance company refuses and sent us this letter along with a check for 700.00. Dear Mr. John Doe, Enclosed please find a draft in the amount of $700.00, which represents the actual cash value of your vehicle, less the salvage value of $401.19. Since you have chosen to retain salvage to your vehicle, per House Bills 2151 and 2599, Progressive Insurance Company must notify the State of Texas that you have done so. The State of Texas will not allow transfer of title to your vehicle until a (specify either: Salvage Certificate of Title or Non repairable Certificate of Title) is issued. If you choose to repair the vehicle and apply for a new title, you must have the vehicle inspected at the DPS inspection station and pay a $120.00 inspection fee. Once you have the document, you will be allowed to obtain a new title which will state the vehicle was previously in salvaged condition. If you have any questions, please call me or call the Department of Transportation. Sincerely, XXXX XXXXXX Claims Representative XXXX XXXXX Insurance My questions is: This Insurance company can't do this can they? We have not signed any papers or the check. This is not their vehicle, nor do they own it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank You, Ark

PROTECT LOVED ONES

As we all wish to do, protecting those nearest and dearest to us is usually most important. Think about this for a second you just took out a $300,000 loan (which now a days is the lower end for homes especially in the NY area) to be paid off during a 30 year term. All sounds great until however tragedy strikes the family and the breadwinner either mom or dad fall victim to a heartattack, car accident etc. Banks may have lowered the rates on loans but unfortunately they will not be as sentimental to your current situation. So now you ask how will the family pay for this...Good thing at the time of closing their loan they spoke with their Insurance Broker about Mortgage Protection Insurance. This is basically a Term Life insurance policy that is geared to both the amount of your loan and the term in which it was taken for, or the amount of time left on it depending on when you decide to get it. This way if a loved one were to die the beneficiary usually either the significant other or eldest child can either pay off the balance of the loan, or re-invest the amount they just received from the Mortgage Protection policy. Premiums even for people in their later years of life are very low and are of course always worth the protection of family and loved ones. If you have any questions about this further please feel free to contact me.

Who is at fault? I was hit, but my fault by technicality???

Who is liable in this case? Both in error. She hit me, but insurance wants out on a technicality. What happened: I pulled into a side street to enter a parking lot. There were two entrances one directly on the corner and one roughly 2-3 car lengths down. I took the 2nd entrance. It turns out that it was one-way, but was not well marked. I did not know until i had entered the lot. I pulled in slowly, only as far in as, maybe 2 car lengths. I realized it was one way, so I was planning to simply back into a spot on my right. This is when the incident occurred. I was stopped and a woman in one of the parking spots to my left, backed out, without even looking, right into my drivers side door. It hit right where my door meets the body of my car (2 door honda) Her car was fine. Mine was not. It should be roughly 800-1000 in damages as it is a new car. This was my first accident. She admitted liability at the scene, but there was no witness. We exchanged info and i called my insurance right away. I took a picture and emailed it to her that night. It was private property so no police. At first her insurance said they would take care of it. Now, her insurance is saying it is entirely my fault b/c of one-way parking lot, but she hit me! I did enter the wrong way, but i was not moving and had she looked in her rear view, i was directly behind her. She would have hit me regardless of the direction i was facing at the time. What rules/laws/regulations can i cite or find to say who is at fault? Even if it says I am. I just want to know. I agree that i was indeed in error as far as traffic laws... However, as for the actual accident, it had nothing to do with what way i was going. She had a clear view of me, and a clear view of the street i came from, it was a very open parking lot, and it wouldn't have mattered what way i was heading. She simply did not look behind her and backed up.

auto accident, rear ended

HI! I am from Iowa. On January 23rd of this year I was rear ended. I had just picked up my husband from work and was waiting at the stop lights. It was an intersection where you are able to turn right on red. However I am sure my light had just turned green. I looked both ways before pulling out into the intersection and saw nothing coming. After I cleared the intersection and was down the road a ways we were rearended. His van pushed us for a little while. I tried to get out of his way in to the median and then he t-boned us on the drivers side. My insurance company and every one else I have talked to said this was not my fault. However because a proper police report was not filled out his insurance is saying it was my fault. that I pulled out in front of him and refuse to pay anything. Is there anything legally I can do? If so who do I report his insurance company to. Because the other driver clearly hit me. Sincerely, Varb