Is this insurance situation shady? Because it feels kind of shady.

So, we were recently involved in a 3 car accident. We were stopped at an intersection, and a car was t-boned in front of us. The T-boned car then spun and contacted the front of our vehicle. Light damage to our vehicle (body shop estimate of $1500-ish) but the other 2 vehicles were totalled.

So, three cars, three insurance companies, three claims. Things seemed to be stalled out regarding any progress with payment or repairs so I called the insurance claim representative for the responsible party. He told me that the responsible party would be paying out of pocket for repairs, but he would contact the claim representative for my insurance company to let them know what was going on. Fast forward to today, and my insurance company is telling me to basically email the responsible party and work it out on our own. Why did we all file claims if this was going to be taken care of out-of-pocket? Why am I paying an insurance company if they're basically going to just tell me to handle it myself? Im sure there was a better way to have handled this from the start, but this all seems like a really unusual way to work things out.

Adding to my feelings of sketchiness: The responsible party is related to a former public official that had numerous ethical investigations while in office as well as their personal career. They would be the one actually footing the bill. I feel weird just emailing a disgraced public official (and total stranger) a body shop repair estimate and waiting for them to cut a check. How can this go wrong, and how do I keep it from getting to that point?

Unfortunately, this is how it starts.  They owe you, so do not feel uncomfortable about asking for what is due you.  You can have them pay directly to the body shop if that is how you want ot work it out.  Since claims have been filed, your legal rights are protected.  You have recourse to go to the insurance company if that responsible party does not pay you. 

Mrs. trucke got hit by a DUI on September 26.  We had to work with their insurance company to get resolution.  Yesterday we finally came to an agreement on value.  It ain't fun.

I know insurance up here is different, but just exactly how this situation is your problem is beyond me.  Your insurance company should pay to make your car right, and THEY should then collect from the deadbeat.

This would be why you pay an extortionate amount of money to your insurance company.

File a claim with your company and let them subrogate against the responsible individual/insurance company.

Streetwiseguy said:

I know insurance up here is different, but just exactly how this situation is your problem is beyond me.  Your insurance company should pay to make your car right, and THEY should then collect from the deadbeat.

This is what I do.  Collect under my own collision policy and let the insurance company worry about how to recover funds from the responsible party.  Doesn't affect my rates, the only impact that I'm out the deductible until/unless they collect (at which point they refund it).

Some people don't have collision policies or are worried that a collision claim for which they are not at fault will increase their rates.  That's not the case in my state, but these things do vary.

I was in a similar situation a few years back. I was able to stop in time to avoid hitting the car in front of me, but was hit by the car #2, who in turn was hit by car #3.  The insurance company of car #2 claimed that car #3 hit them before they hit me, so those insurance companies duked it out in arbitration, which took over 6 months to finally settle.  I filed a claim with my insurance company, received a check for damage (less my deductible), and then was refunded my deductible 6 months later after my insurance company collected it from the other two companies.

It should be your insurance agent's responsibility to deal with the other companies for you.

My many insurance foibles are well-documented here. Follow the advice about making a claim with YOUR company. You’ll get your money and the BS will be on them.

I agree with the others.  If your insurance company wants to let their insurance company off the hook, that's their business, but you don't have to let your insurance off the hook.  If your insurance company is ok with letting the responsible person bypass his insurance, file an uninsured motorist claim with your insurance carrier.

There's something missing here.  I'm not saying you're hiding anything or lying about anything OP, but there has to be something more that maybe you aren't aware of or something like that.  A few things come to mind...if you were sitting there and were an innocent bystander to an accident between two other cars, it's possible the carriers for the two other cars are pointing fingers at each other and neither wants to pay for damage to your car.  That's not all that uncommon.  If one of the carriers has accepted liability, then they can't simply say that their policy holder wants to pay out of pocket.  Even if their policyholder does want to pay out of pocket, if you don't want to do that, then the carrier is obligated to handle your damages.  The policyholder can then reimburse their carrier if he/she wishes.  So that's why I say that something is missing here.

Yes, the "easy button" answer is to go to your carrier, pay your deductible and let them subrogate against the other carrier(s).

You cannot file an uninsured motorist claim with your carrier based on what info is in here.  Nor will your insurance company pursue the other companies if you haven't filed a claim through them (your carrier)...they can't.

Has one of the carriers told you they accepted liability?  What state are you in (it matters)?  Did you tell the other carrier that you didn't want their policyholder to pay you, and you wanted to file through them?

Klayfish said:

There's something missing here.  I'm not saying you're hiding anything or lying about anything OP, but there has to be something more that maybe you aren't aware of or something like that.  A few things come to mind...if you were sitting there and were an innocent bystander to an accident between two other cars, it's possible the carriers for the two other cars are pointing fingers at each other and neither wants to pay for damage to your car.  That's not all that uncommon.  If one of the carriers has accepted liability, then they can't simply say that their policy holder wants to pay out of pocket.  Even if their policyholder does want to pay out of pocket, if you don't want to do that, then the carrier is obligated to handle your damages.  The policyholder can then reimburse their carrier if he/she wishes.  So that's why I say that something is missing here.

Yes, the "easy button" answer is to go to your carrier, pay your deductible and let them subrogate against the other carrier(s).

You cannot file an uninsured motorist claim with your carrier based on what info is in here.  Nor will your insurance company pursue the other companies if you haven't filed a claim through them (your carrier)...they can't.

Has one of the carriers told you they accepted liability?  What state are you in (it matters)?  Did you tell the other carrier that you didn't want their policyholder to pay you, and you wanted to file through them?

Thanks for chiming in. We're in Indiana. I don't know if one of the other carriers has officially accepted liability, but I was verbally told by the responsible party's claim rep that they knew their client was at fault when I reached out a couple of days ago. We filed a claim with our insurance within a couple of hours of the accident. We selected a body shop from our insurance company's list of "preferred partners", and had them work up an estimate, and then forward the estimate to our insurance company.

This is my wife's vehicle, so initially I left most of the decision making and insurance communication up to her but I've now been called in to pick up the pieces and deal with the parts that she no longer wants to deal with. So, based on what she's telling me, it sounds like she told our insurance claim rep that she didn't want to have to pay anything out of pocket, including the deductible. I wasn't part of that decision making process or that communication, but if that's correct, then that's where the hang up is.

We've also been in communication with the Former Public Servant and they seem agreeable to paying us, or the body shop in whatever method we feel most comfortable with as well as covering the cost of a replacement car seat. I've spoken with the owner of the 3rd car, and he's already been compensated by the Former Public Servant and has pretty much closed the book on this deal. The reason the FPS gave for wanting to pay out of pocket is that the responsible party is a new driver, and they don't want the accident on their claim history or something. I'm not sure if that's a valid reason or not, but MrsSTM's vehicle is scheduled to go into the body shop next week. I'll report back when everything is behind us.

Good deal.  I'd get clarification if either carrier has actually accepted liability.  That may be the hold up there, as they may be fighting it out.  You are an innocent party and have no liability.  But it has something to do with what is called joint and several liability.  I believe Indiana law (not 100% sure) is that as far as your damages go, each of the two other cars involved only owe for their share of liability.  Therefore, if they don't agree on liability it can be an issue. 

However, I'd just file with your carrier.  They'll pay, less your deductible, and then turn to the other two carriers.  Between the other two carriers, they'll get all the money back, including your deductible.

Or you can just let the public servant pay you directly if you want.

The not filing with the insurance to keep it off the drivers record sounds sketchy. In my state if damages from an accident exceed $1,000 then by law you have to file a police report. This will then go on the record as I think that is turned over to the dmv. Doubly so if the driver was cited. In many cases in my state if a new driver gets cited it is automatic loss of license.

I don’t know the political pull of the other person but from what you have said I would hold fast with getting paid by your insurance and stay clear of that persons situation. You never know what will come up later and what unwanted attention it could get you down the road.  

I wonder if the small amount of damage to your car is under your coverage deductible?  In that case as your insurer wouldn't have to pay out anything even if it were 100% your fault, I could see them stepping back.

Streetwiseguy said:

I know insurance up here is different, but just exactly how this situation is your problem is beyond me.  Your insurance company should pay to make your car right, and THEY should then collect from the deadbeat.

This would be why you pay an extortionate amount of money to your insurance company.

This.  They have teams of people just for this task.  You're already paying them to do it for you!

If the Former Public Servant pays you, I think you need a legal document to memorialize the agreement between you two.   In my experience Public Servants are very often attorneys, and attorneys know the law and how to screw you.  [I didn't say all attorneys will, but they do know how.]

I don’t think they are trying to screw the op. They do however have an agenda that involves not reporting a multi vehicle car accident.  If you happen to get caught up in something because you agree to play along with them they will not care. 

Have you looked in to if you are required by law to file a police report?  We’re the police on scene of the accident?  

What do you have to gain by covering for them?  What do you have to loose by covering for them?  Answer these questions and the path you should take should be clear. 

dean1484 said:

I don’t think they are trying to screw the op. They do however have an agenda that involves not reporting a multi vehicle car accident.  If you happen to get caught up in something because you agree to play along with them they will not care. 

Have you looked in to if you are required by law to file a police report?  We’re the police on scene of the accident?  

What do you have to gain by covering for them?  What do you have to loose by covering for them?  Answer these questions and the path you should take should be clear. 

There is a police report. Each of the 3 vehicles involved notified their insurance company. I've got claim numbers for all three vehicles. I'm not sure what the responsible party actually gains by not going through their insurance, but all MrsSTM really cares about is getting her vehicle repaired and replacing the car seat. As long as she's not paying for it, she doesn't care where the money comes from. 

All of the important correspondence with the FPS has been through email, so I feel like everybody's being fairly transparent and it's "on the record" if we need to prove something. Unless the body shop finds something serious when they take it apart, our repairs should cost the FPS under $2000. Although they have some questionable actions in their history, $2k isn't a big deal to them. I'm not sure they'd screw somebody over for less than a challenge car. They've got too much to lose and the gain would be a drop in the bucket.

Sounds like you have it under control. Obviously my view from the internet is much narrower and is lacking many much smaller yet important details. 

Just to wrap this up, there was a miscommunication with the bodyshop on the original estimate, and it had to go back to get some additional work done. The extra work was a couple of hundred more $$, and when we broke that news to the FPS, they were so understanding that they texted us their credit card info (insert wide-eyed disbelief face here) so that we could just take care of it and stop bothering them. They also cut a check to reimburse us for a new carseat, sent us a Christmas card, and at one point in our communication suggested some podcasts that they like to listen to. It's been a weird experience, but seems to have ended with nobody getting sued or whacked or anything so I'm calling it a happy ending.

z31maniac said:

File a claim with your company and let them subrogate against the responsible individual/insurance company.

Do this and only this. It protects you from shenanigans. 

Edit looks like it worked out. But man.  So sketchy.