Was stopped at a red light and rear ended which then pushed me into the car in front. My car clearly got the worst of it as the others had some minor bumper damage while my trunk and front were pretty smashed in. Got a police report for the accident and the guy who hit mes insurance has agreed to take blame for both damages. Great. The problem lies in the fact they are telling me they cannot pay anything due to a "limit issue" which in my state is 20K minimum. So they are saying I have to wait for the 3rd hardly damaged car to get all their repairs done through State Farm before allowing me to proceed with repairs at all. its been almost 2 weeks and my car is sitting in the garage practically undrivable. I have received no real updates from State Farm who is repairing the 3rd car through her deductible or the at fault insurance party.
My question is what can I do to get this moving (besides use my deductible as I cannot afford it)? How long can at fault insurance legally make me wait before paying and taking me to a body shop? Why do I have to wait for the other car to get repaired first when I was the one who got hit directly and had more damages done? I also have State Farm is there anything they can do to help me besides forcing me to pay my deductible?
Notes: I am in the state of Illinois. And 20k is almost double the value of my car last i saw I can get same car used for around 11k so I dont understand why the limit would be a problem
Any and all advice is appreciated
Not At Fault in 3 Car Collision, Other Insurance Refuses to Pay Until 3rd Car is Fixed Due to "Limits Issue"
byu/thestupidhereis2much inInsurance
Posted by thestupidhereis2much
11 Comments
get your car fixed regardless. If the at fault driver’s insurance won’t cover it all, then you go after that driver personally for the remaining balance, and that will certainly include rental fees for the duration.
If you have collision coverage, file with your insurance. If you don’t all you can do is wait.
This is how it works in multi car accidents when there are limits issues. They needs to see the total of all of the repairs for all of the cars before they can pay anything out. That’s because the final payout will be on a pro-rated basis. So they don’t know what portion of the liability pot that you’re entitled to until they know the total of all of the damages and costs.
I get what you’re saying…..you think your car isn’t worth enough to come close to the policy limit. But clearly State Farm thinks it may. And keep in mind, the $20k includes all the liability coverage. Repairs. Rental cars. And even if you think the other car was hardly damaged…..something that looks minor could easily be $5-6k in repairs.
So you can wait it out, or you can file with your own carrier. Or I guess you could skip insurance and try to sue the other driver directly. But then you’re hoping they have the money/assets to pay you out of pocket.
$20k is not a lot for damage to three cars. Cars are very expensive to repair these days due to all the technology. There very well could be a limit issue at play here. Your options are to wait or file a claim on your own policy and pay the deductible you chose when you set up your policy. If you can’t afford your deductible, then perhaps you chose too high of a deductible for your financial situation.
I don’t believe there is anything you can do to expedite the process. The fact that there are multiple cars will only make this take longer and you face the possibility with the other drivers low limits that there may not be enough money available to repair your car.
Using your own insurance is the quickest way to get the car repaired it seems, but then you have your deductible issue.
You need to use your insurance
And review your policy make a financial change in deductible if you can’t afford it…you chose it
Your car gets repaired and if you incur any out of pocket expense like rental or claim loss of use (like rental without incurring the bill)
They will likely pro rata everyone’s damages
>I dont understand why the limit would be a problem
They already told you why it’s a problem. It’s a problem because they can’t pay anyone until the entirety of the damages of all claimants are known. There’s nothing you can do to be compensated faster other than use your coverage. This is why you should pick a deductible you can afford, otherwise your insurance is useless to you for 1st party coverage. You’re basically paying for comp and collision if you can’t afford to use it because you chose a high deductible.
When dealing with limits issues, since the at fault parties insurance claimed fault. Most insurance companies are willing to advance your deductible and subrogate the other insurance. Talk to your own adjuster about it. Insurances are required to make you whole first before they pay themselves.
You could wind up waiting this whole time and then still having to use your policy if there’s not enough cash for damages. I would find a way to gather up the deductible and get it moving under your policy, as you may wind up having to do so anyway.
Is there the possibility of it being totaled? If so they’d just take the deductible out of your payment.
Your only option is to open a claim with your own carrier. I understand that you would prefer not to do so, but it is what it is.
I really want to know which insurance company is issuing 10k deductibles on personal auto policies lol.