need advice - car accident

[haele]

77. You didn't make a claim for your damages with your agent?

It may be different depending on the states, but calling your agent to report the damage to your car can move the process along quicker than waiting on their agent to get moving. Especially if you needed to get towed or get a rental car to tide you over until your car gets repaired or you get the money to replace it.
If your insurance company is good, their lawyers will ensure you are covered for medical and property, then agressively pursue the other policy holder for whatever you needed to claim. If the drunk does not have insurance, your policy should cover what you need without penalizing you.
The only problem you may run into is if you don't have a good insurance company, or the drunk and you have the same insurance company. Then you definately need a lawyer to get involved.

The reason I suggest calling fiancee's insurance agent is from experiance. Our mini-van got totalled in a weird situation - at the crest of a hill, a guy in a beat-up pick-up who threw on his breaks right in front of my husband, causing him to rear-end the guy hard enough to drop the radiator and deploy the airbags. There was a police car across the street, and the pick-up driver was the first to show his licence, reg, and insurance - but just left the scene without getting out of his truck and exchanging his insurance policy to us as required by law if there was more than $500 in damages when the cop walked back to ask if my husband if he was okay and needed a tow truck.
Not only did he leave the scene, guy never made a claim - weird, as the bed of his truck was damaged - and the police report indicated mutual fault (Laz said the guy didn't have break lights), so our insurance company treated it as an uninsured driver situation and covered us for all the medical, the mini-van, the tow, the rental car, and the four hours lost wages for me trying to coordinate the tow truck and getting out to where Laz was with the rental car to get him to Urgent Care for his pain, bruises and cuts. There was no issue with any of the medical and follow-on treatment from that accident, the tow-truck and lot was paid quickly, and we were given a check for the mini-van and lost wages within two weeks of the investigation by the insurance company.


Haele