A driver destroyed my parked car and their insurance has been giving the runaround for weeks - what do I do?

[u/wakka54]

The other cars insurance (Farmers) said they accept responsibility but not much else, and have left my car in paid city street parking, leaking oil, both axles snapped in half. It's only a matter of time until parking tickets and a $600 tow to impound occurs. I've missed days of work and have to get rides to work from friends. I only have liability insurance (AAA), so when I called my insurance they said they couldn't help whatsoever.

I feel like Farmers is ignoring me as a bullying tactic before lowballing some settlement, hoping I'm exhausted. I don't know what to do.

[u/lancepioch]

They don't, that's not how it works. When you file a claim with your own insurance company, you pay a deductible and then they go after the other insurance company and/or driver through what's called subrogation. Basically when you have full insurance, that's part of what you're paying for.

While this may depend on state laws, in general I doubt it's legal for a company to sue on your behalf (subrogate) without you signing the contract that goes with more than just liability insurance.

Liability insurance only covers other people's cars because you save money by not having to cover your own vehicle. If an insurance company is paying for your car out of their pocket but not charging you more money than liability, then they are overcharging you.

Honestly my guess is that you either have more than liability (maybe not full coverage) or have simply forgotten. Less likely (but still possible I suppose) is the insurance company screwed up and put you as more than liability and ate the loss without increasing your rates.

[u/Michael-the-Great → u/lancepioch]

I don't know what to tell you about the legalities. I had no collision or comprehensive. That's why I didn't call my insurance till two days later and they confirmed I had no collision or comprehensive. But they said they would still support me through the process. I don't remember what they called what they were doing.

I don't know that they took any legal action, but they did pay me directly and I am sure they got paid by the other insurance. I don't know if the total matched up. I don't remember if they said what would happen if it didn't match up. They said it wouldn't affect my insurance because I wasn't at fault.

[u/Hingedmosquito → u/Michael-the-Great]

Did you get paid for a rental car up front?

I had Horace Mann and all they would do is reimburse me for a rental car. I didn't have full coverage. They did deal directly with all the other insurance companies for me. But they didn't pay me. I had to wait for the other company to pay me. Took about a month.

[u/Michael-the-Great → u/Hingedmosquito]

No. I didn't have rental car reimbursement at the time and they did not give me that. I guess I could be wrong about where the check came from. But I know they negotiated the amount and everything. No, I just checked the check came from Horace Mann.