Not at fault, totaled car, driver hit 6 cars and had 50k in insurance.

[bonitabaggett]

At fault driver was responsible for totaling my parked car, along with 5 others, one of which was a head on collision. That driver was taken to the hospital but from what I hear ended up being ok. As my car was pretty old I didn’t carry collision on it. The at fault driver’s insurance company claimed responsibility for the accident and deemed my car a total loss valuing my car at $10k. After all of this the insurance company tells me that the at fault driver only had the state minimum for insurance ($50k) and they’ll likely not pay anything out.

About 8 months later I receive a letter saying the claim will pay me out $4700 but they need responses from all the involved parties to initiate the payout. As it’s me and 5 dealerships/car companies(?) there seems to be no hurry to settle the claim by the other parties. Not sure what to do but it’s now been 14 months since the accident.

Do I have any legal recourse here? How long can an insurance company take to settle a claim? Should I just take this to small claims court? Thanks in advance

 

[skikid52]

@bonitabaggett The at-fault party’s insurance is trying to settle within limits to shield their insured from you and the other parties suing their insured. If your car is worth 10k, you want the 10k, and the at fault party has recourse to pay you back, you can sue them. If not, take your 4.7k and call it a day. But even if it’s an old car, add UM/UIM coverages to your policy with a decent limit. It’s pretty cheap and will protect you in instances like this.

 

[bonitabaggett]

@skikid52 Thank you for the response. Do you know how long they have to settle? Can this go on for years?

 

[skikid52]

@bonitabaggett That’s state specific. You’d need to look up state statutes to determine that.

 

[adrian99]

@bonitabaggett There may not be enough money to go around. If tortfeasor only has $50,000 and there is $75,000 worth of damage total, they are going to do their best to settle what they can.

My advice in those types of cases was to seek to settle with the folks that were either uninsured or underinsured first, and then direct the other parties to their own UIM coverage. That way, the various insurers would attempt to fund the damages and minimize the out of pocket damages to their individual customers. You can't get blood out of a turnip.

Property damage adds up very quickly. If one of those vehicles was say a Mercedes, then it would be very easy to exhaust $50,000, particularly if one car was hit head on. This is why it is wise to carry as much UMPD coverage as you can afford.

caveat: Not all states, etc...