popsiclestand
New Member
- 2
Howdy folks!
I have a question about what my options are regarding a claim with my insurance company State Farm. Sorry about the long story, but it's kind of complicated.
I reside in Los Angeles, CA and have had State Farm as my auto insurer for many many years. Perfect driving record, zero claims...until now.
Last November, my parked car was involved in a massive hit and run. Basically, an irresponsible driver careened into the car in front of me completely totalling it. This pushed that car into my car parked behind it and did some small damage to my front bumper. Even though the accident happened at like 3AM, the police were kind enough to track me down that night and give me a copy of the police report.
I double-checked my coverage and filed a claim with State Farm the next day. A few days later I was informed by state farm that the damages to my car would fall under my collision insurance which has a rather high deductible of $1,000. However, I explained to them that I also have uninsured motorist coverage up to $1,000 to cover my collision deductible in just such an occasion. They then informed me that in the State of California (and only 5 other states) the law is that an anonymous hit and run driver is not deemed "uninsured" because they cannot verify that they are uninsured. I also could not lay claim to the driver of the actual car that pushed into mine since they too were not present during the time of the accident.
I was a bit pissed naturally since I have had State Farm coverage previously in SC and this would not have been a problem there, but I chucked it up to me being uninformed. It burned, but I understood.
Cut to, March. The police called me and informed me that they had actually tracked down the driver of the hit and run vehicle after some thorough investigation. I (and State Farm) were super surprised. I was elated. They had the name and contact info of the driver, the make, model, and tag of the car. They verified that the driver was not only uninsured at the time, but that she also had a suspended license (explains hitting and running I guess). I gave all of this info to State Farm and they promised to pursue things. They asked me to get an estimate for my damages at one of their facilities. It turned out that not only was there minor paint damage, but possibly damages throughout the structure of the front bumper so I was happy that I took it in.
After not hearing from them for several weeks, I logged into their website to see the status of my claim and was surprised to find it CLOSED. I called immediately and the claims rep told me that while they had the police report, and had tracked the car down to a garage that towed the car, they had not been able to get in contact with the owner of the car as she never picked up the towed car which had been there since November. When I pointed out that the police said she was uninsured, they said that was not good enough -- they needed to speak with the owner because the car might have been insured under someone else's name. Basically, they said in one breath that the insurance status of the owner didn't matter, but in the next breath said that they needed to talk with her to ascertain the status of her insurance coverage, something the cops had already done.
From my perspective it looks like they haven't done ANY work regarding solving this. They said they called her and were simply waiting on her to call back??????? As an experiment, I called her number (the police gave it to me) and she picked up on the third ring. How is this supposed to be solved and what are my options? It seems like State Farm is looking for any excuse not to pay out by setting a bar that is impossible to reach. I cannot be sure that they are actually investigating because they have no incentive to do so. I've paid them more than $10,000 in premiums over the lifetime of my coverage and they're going to put me through the ringer for an $800 claim???? I even asked them if I needed to hire my own private investigator to track down a woman they clearly can easily contact lol as they seem to be unmotivated to do so.
I have a question about what my options are regarding a claim with my insurance company State Farm. Sorry about the long story, but it's kind of complicated.
I reside in Los Angeles, CA and have had State Farm as my auto insurer for many many years. Perfect driving record, zero claims...until now.
Last November, my parked car was involved in a massive hit and run. Basically, an irresponsible driver careened into the car in front of me completely totalling it. This pushed that car into my car parked behind it and did some small damage to my front bumper. Even though the accident happened at like 3AM, the police were kind enough to track me down that night and give me a copy of the police report.
I double-checked my coverage and filed a claim with State Farm the next day. A few days later I was informed by state farm that the damages to my car would fall under my collision insurance which has a rather high deductible of $1,000. However, I explained to them that I also have uninsured motorist coverage up to $1,000 to cover my collision deductible in just such an occasion. They then informed me that in the State of California (and only 5 other states) the law is that an anonymous hit and run driver is not deemed "uninsured" because they cannot verify that they are uninsured. I also could not lay claim to the driver of the actual car that pushed into mine since they too were not present during the time of the accident.
I was a bit pissed naturally since I have had State Farm coverage previously in SC and this would not have been a problem there, but I chucked it up to me being uninformed. It burned, but I understood.
Cut to, March. The police called me and informed me that they had actually tracked down the driver of the hit and run vehicle after some thorough investigation. I (and State Farm) were super surprised. I was elated. They had the name and contact info of the driver, the make, model, and tag of the car. They verified that the driver was not only uninsured at the time, but that she also had a suspended license (explains hitting and running I guess). I gave all of this info to State Farm and they promised to pursue things. They asked me to get an estimate for my damages at one of their facilities. It turned out that not only was there minor paint damage, but possibly damages throughout the structure of the front bumper so I was happy that I took it in.
After not hearing from them for several weeks, I logged into their website to see the status of my claim and was surprised to find it CLOSED. I called immediately and the claims rep told me that while they had the police report, and had tracked the car down to a garage that towed the car, they had not been able to get in contact with the owner of the car as she never picked up the towed car which had been there since November. When I pointed out that the police said she was uninsured, they said that was not good enough -- they needed to speak with the owner because the car might have been insured under someone else's name. Basically, they said in one breath that the insurance status of the owner didn't matter, but in the next breath said that they needed to talk with her to ascertain the status of her insurance coverage, something the cops had already done.
From my perspective it looks like they haven't done ANY work regarding solving this. They said they called her and were simply waiting on her to call back??????? As an experiment, I called her number (the police gave it to me) and she picked up on the third ring. How is this supposed to be solved and what are my options? It seems like State Farm is looking for any excuse not to pay out by setting a bar that is impossible to reach. I cannot be sure that they are actually investigating because they have no incentive to do so. I've paid them more than $10,000 in premiums over the lifetime of my coverage and they're going to put me through the ringer for an $800 claim???? I even asked them if I needed to hire my own private investigator to track down a woman they clearly can easily contact lol as they seem to be unmotivated to do so.
