I have a rental that will be at Allstate's expense if they accept liability. At this point, I'm going to end up paying for the rental and waiting to get reimbursed by my insurance when/if Allstate or the woman that hit me ever pays up. I don't have rental coverage on my own insurance, so most likely I'm going to end up paying for it myself from what I can tell.

 

i'm confused .. the mother stole the car then? Surely the cop took her license, just send the report saying it was the mother of the insured so there was no way it was stolen, unless of course the mom stole the car ...

 

Actually, I'm not 100% sure it was her mother. These were some shady folks, and I think I made up the mother/daughter part. Report didn't mention relation of one person to another anyway...and the whole stolen car thing...wouldn't the cop have run the plates and made sure to notify the owner???

 

Now it sounds like you're forced to go through your insurance. You'll probably have to pay the deductible up front and pay for the rental up front. They'll do their investigation and keep in touch with the police regarding her "alleged" stolen car (what a bunch of crap, as you said she files it 30 days later). The officer "should" have run both yours and her plate with his/her dispatcher to verify neither car was stolen prior to making the report. Hopefully that was done, which will only aid in disproving their stolen car BS nonsense.

You may or may not get either of the two back, so you may be forced to sue the driver/vehicle owner in court to recoup the fees.

 

They are likely ignoring you precisely because you haven't gotten your insurance company involved.

I know there's no Insurance 101 course we get with a car, but this is a good example of using your carrier, and more specifically a local agent, to ride the other party and get this done. The first call you make HAS to be to your insurance. You're not going to pay your deductible, they will force the other company to cover the costs of repair and rental. You would likely have had your car back two weeks ago.

If you go the rental on your own, expecting to be reimburse, you are likely screwed on that as well unless by some stroke of good luck you used the same firm Allstate would have.

I just can't imagine letting someone jerk me around for a month on something like this. I'm not trying to beat on the OP, but what exactly was your motivation? You mentioned the deductible (which shouldn't be an issue) but were you also hoping to "avoid" you carrier knowing you had an accident, albeit not your fault? Between the accident report filing and the possible eventual renewal questionnaire I don't think that's happening.

Get your agent involved and get some resolution. Best of luck with the repairs - that has to hurt just to look at!

BTW - where have you stored the car all this time?

 

Like you said G354me, there is no insurance 101 course, but I'm now learning quickly.

In my mind, I always thought that the minute my insurance got involved, my rates would go up. So to me, it makes more sense to keep my insurance out of it and have the at-fault insurance take care of it. I still think that this may affect my rates, as even a not-at-fault accident implies that I live in an area where accidents are more likely. We'll see what happens that way.

I did rent from Enterprise, as directed by the Allstate agent. At this point, I fully expect that part to be lost, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised after my insurance beats up on Allstate.

My agent is now involved and it looks like it'll be another two or so weeks before I get my car back. The shop that is doing the work has been holding the car all this time. I actually was surprised that they haven't threatened any charges for holding on to it.

 

I think in most states the idea of keeping our insurance company in the dark (which I completely understand - trust me!) goes out the window once a report is filed. I may be wrong.

I missed your later post about already getting your agent involved and the estimated time - hey, my timeline was close though. Thank goodness Allstate pointed you toward Enterprise, and given their delay I bet your carrier will get them to cover that too.

Good luck with the repairs and pursuit of the other party. Hope it doesn't turn out to be more damaged than estimated. The stolen car BS won't stand I'll bet so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

 

Also...depending on what state you are in you can also file a "diminished value claim" if you own the car....but not if you lease. Basically this is asking for compensation due to the fact that your car is now marked on carfax as wrecked...and is not worth substantially less even after the repairs. I did this on my 2007 Jeep SRT8 and I got 5500.00.

FYI - even if you are out your deductible initially - your insurance company will go after that when they settle the bill with Allstate - and then refund it back based on your policy terms.

Best of luck and glad you're ok.

-s-

 

I was in an accident and it was the other drivers fault. I had progressive and the other driver had Allstate. The other passengers in my car started a lawsuit. 2 months after the accident Allstate offered me $1500, I accepted. I asked my Progressive rep about my deductible of $500. Progressive cut me a check for $500 months and months after the accident, they said they would get that from Allstate.

Anyhow long story short, 3+ years later the passengers in my car finally got some $ (they went to physical therapy etc). Allstate was a PITA to deal with. Im glad I settled early on, the headache of the lawsuit wasnt worth it. On the police report it was the Allstate drivers fault he failed to yield oncoming traffic but Allstate "determined" I was 30% at fault b/c I was driving 45 instead of 40 (which they have no proof of). Sorry you are dealing with this.

 

Aren't DOV (diminisment of value) claims/checks only a GA thing?

As for reporting claims. They don't go up because of a not-at-fault (as long as that is what it is determined). If you file a lot of not-at-fault or comp claims in a short timespan, only then will it be affected.

or so I'm told...