Took her out for a Sunday evening stroll and a drunk driver decides he wants to turn in my lane going in the opposite direction and kill my front passenger corner. Not only did he hit me but he decides to run and hit another truck head on. Now his insurance company, the little lizard, is telling me that he only has the MD minimum of 15k and that they have to divide that up between myself and the other guy. My estimate so far is 4862.75. I'm pretty sure the other guys truck will be between the same and 7k. They are telling me that they have to prorate the repairs and that I may have to file with my insurance. WTH! I wasn't the one drinking and driving....is this right? Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.

 

Let your insurance company fight it out . . .that's what you pay them to do. Get a copy of the accident report when its available.

Your insurance company should fix your car to the standard you require - - -they will subrograte the claim to his insurance company - - -if he was underinsured, your insurance company goes after them - - should not be your problem.

You didn't say - - but hope you're OK?

 

Sorry to hear of the accident.
Glad you're ok. You had me going with "... the opposite direction and kill my front passenger...."
Hope it works out. Others on the board will bring advice I'm sure.

 

Yes me and my passenger were just fine. We were the only ones able to drive away. I just don't understand how 15k can be the minimum of coverage for someone. The cost of cars these days, the minimum of liability should be 20k.

 

Technically speaking if there was distance between him hitting you and then hitting the truck, it is considered two separate accidents. Since your crash occurred first his insurance is responsible for your crash first. Also the 15k limit is probably 15k per crash. If the police did their job right and were not lazy, they would have written two crash reports. Especially as you describe it. I get the picture that he hit you and then fled the scene in an attempt to escape. If he came to a stop after hitting you then took off then that's most certainly two crashes. If he hit you then continued controlled driving and subsequently hit the truck, that's two crashes. If he hit you and slid out of control a short distance and struck the truck, that is one crash. If the police wrote two crash reports then you get all 15k. If they didn't then you can sue the insurance company and get a judge to declare the crashes as separate.

 

Hasty reading had me thinking you said that he killed your passenger. Glad to hear otherwise and that everyone is alright.

 

I would have an extra expensive for cleaning all vomit off the inside of my car......I know how picky most of us are about our "babies" so sorry man. Why the hell are vettes crash magnets.....Fight for your right!

 

Sorry about your car...man that just sucks.

Glad nobody was hurt.

I don't know the relevant laws of your state, but one thing you can absolutely count on - the insurance company is going to try to get out of this as cheaply as possible, no matter who gets screwed in the process.

If you start to get the vibe that you are going to be on the receiving end of their screw job, I'd be calling an attorney...

 

Glad to hear everyone is OK, car can be repaired. May want to consult a legal type person to see what your options are on the insurance deal.

 

^^ This! ^^

 

Let the ins company take him to court for whatever he may still owe to get your car fixed.

 

Be thankful it's just a door! A G.D. drunk driver ran over and killed my son on November 1st 1985. I hope he rots in hell for what he did.
I am sorry to hear about your car though as it could have been a lot worse.

 

I LOVE THIS FORUM! Crosis -- I took what you said about this should be handled as two separate accidents and call the insurance company back and explained what happen and they agreed that it is definitely 2 separate accidents and now I will be taken care of without worries of shortages. I was the first car he hit and he drove off and hit another vehicle 200 yards away. I appreciate all of your input and sorry for those who lost a hell-of-a lot more than I in an accident. Thanks again for each of your input. You guys

 

Glad you got a handle on this and every thing will be taken care of that's all good. Insurance is a bug a boo to deal with sometimes, mostly because we just don't understand it.

His Min coverage liability is him taking out insurance on your car in the case there is an accident, and to satisfy the Law that says he has to do that. Bones Crosis had it exactly right with the Two Separate Accidents and you are lucky that his insurance company agreed with that once it was brought to there attention. Other wise it would have been decided in the court.

If you have full coverage Insurance that is you taking out insurance on your own car just in this case were he might not have coverage for all of the cars in the accident. That is what Comprehensive and Collision coverage is for. They are to protect you in case something like this happens.

In this case thank God there were no injury's and so the medical part of insurance did not come into play. However in those cases we must protect ourselves and always purchase Uninsured Motor Vehicle Insurance. This will protect you from people who only carry the Minimum insurance in the case there is bodily damage. It only applies to Medical Coverage and not to the vehicle but it is something we all need every time we drive.

RS

 

Hope you get it all figured out. Do you carry 'uninsured/underinsured drivers' insurance by chance? If not, you may want to add it to your policy. It's relatively cheap considering it covers a lot of scenarios. I don't know where you are at but there are always tons of people running around with no insurance here. If you're unlucky enough to get hit by someone who is not legal to be in the country, they might even run from the accident. A lady I worked with once had a son that had a C4. He got hit and the driver jumped out of the car and started running away on foot

 

He probably knew he could outrun the C4 on foot !

 

Black 02 offers great advice for anyone reading this thread. Wife and I were in an accident a few years ago caused by the other driver. Wife's medical bills came to more than the max amount of the other ddriver's policy. Fortunately our policy paid for the rest because we carried under insured driver on our policy.

 

In this case Black02 "'uninsured/underinsured drivers' insurance " would not have helped. It only applies to Medical, and doesn't do anything for the car or property. It is in this day and age almost a must have though.

RS

 

Thanks for the clarification, I didn't know that

 

...Couldn't have said it better myself. This is two different accidents. Being a retired Deputy Sheriff in Ohio I would have written it up as two separate accidents..Don't agree with the lazy part though..