Exactly, there has to be a known driver, and another vehicle, if not then the comprehensive portion of the policy takes over.

 

Not necessarily, and it probably depends on the particular insurance company and how the policy is worded. In the case of my policy as I noted earlier, "uninsured" driver and "unknown" driver are treated the same, and that makes sense as, in both cases, the damage is caused by another vehicle, and the driver of that vehicle's insurance, whether because he doesn't have any insurance or because he can't be identified, doesn't come into play.

"Comprehensive" coverage usually means damage to YOUR car from causes OTHER THAN being hit being hit by another vehicle. Hail damage, tree limb falling on the car, grocery cart running into it in the parking lot, that sort of thing.

In this case, the damage was apparently caused by another car hitting the OP's stationary vehicle and then leaving the area. In other words, a classic hit-and-run. That's not normally something covered under the comprehensive section of the policy. But it might be in some cases.

The bottom line here is, whether it's under the uninsured motorist section or the comprehensive section, the OP's damage should, if there is a just God in the universe (and he actually has the coverage), be covered.

 

In my reading, most state insurance (it differs from state to state) for underinsured/ uninsured, applies only to injuries, not the vehicle. In order to have a vehicle claim there must be a known driver, or vehicle.

 

This certainly was not the case for my Aunt, who is a resident of New York and whose situation I described earlier in this thread. She was hit on the freeway by a truck cutting in front of her, and she had no information about the other driver other than that it was "a big, long truck." She was not injured, but the other driver could not be identified and was long gone.

Her insurance company didn't bat an eyelash. They sent an appraiser over to look at her car, came up with a value for the damage, subtracted the deductible, and mailed her a check. From date of accident to check-in-hand was less than a week. I don't know if it was covered under her uninsured motorist clause or under the comprehensive clause, but it really doesn't matter. The point is, it was covered.

The OP's damage should be covered under some section of his policy as well. Otherwise, it's a worthless policy.

 

...and what state they're in...

I believe California requires all car insurance to contain some UI that does cover 'Unknown' drivers. BUT, its a kind of UI that just covers injury/medical..and then it covers you only after the limit of the offender's insurance (if under ins'd) is reached.

Vehicle damage from Unknowns is covered under Comp......which I'm not sure that the OP had.....

 

At this juncture, please allow me to interject that Auto insurance, and, in fact, all insurance, is ridiculously, unnecessarily, complicated and difficult to understand.

We have a bunch of experienced, reasonably intelligent people here, and nobody is able to even come close to knowing what the truth of the situation is.

There's only one thing for certain: The insurance companies do not lose money.

- Eric

 

By design...

Just wait until you look at the variations across the states. Some states have the goofiest, most pointlessly over-complex mandates for some Ins types (FL's PIP/no-fault for example..) Also, keep in mind that most of the mandatory insurance laws were crafted by the Ins Co's......for a rea$on....

Hopefully the OP will update us with some happy news that something in his policy will cover, or at least help to cover, his damages.....Or that the scumbag who hit him was caught...

 

Back when I first moved to Texas, insurance was not a requirement in 1980. When they were pushing to make it mandatory they said it would be better and cheaper to do this than their current system. Now look, it's more expensive and complicated than ever, but most disturbing they never came up with a system to address the same old problem of uninsured motorists that existed 32 years ago.

In Maryland, the insurance companies back in 1980 were required to notify the state if your insurance lapsed, the state in turn would notify the vehicle owner that if they do not carry insurance, the car license plates needed to be returned.

 

In NYS, if your insurance is cancelled, your registration is cancelled, and you get a letter telling you that as of that date, it is illegal to drive your car (It's printed in large capital letters).

If you don't straighten it out, and you get stopped, you're driving an unregistered vehicle, and will have to get out and walk, and pick it up at the impound.

If you keep the plates and do not fix your insurance within about a month, they suspend your license, so that if you get stopped, you get a free ride to the nice policeman's station.

- Eric

 

The laws keep honest people honest!

 

Florida is same crap. Must carry insurance and if you don't they suspend your license or some crap. When I lived in Florida I had all my cars plated in Indiana since I had a house there as well. Indiana you are required to have insurance however they do not suspend or require to turn anything in if you drop it. Some people only insure vehichles at certain points of the year like classic cars, or even motorcycles. My bike only gets insured during riding months. Makes it way cheaper to keep full coverage on it. I guess in states where you don't have seasons where riding or classic cars get salt that you are required to have insurance year around. I just think it sucks that if i want to have my car registered and plated and leave it in my garage for a year and not want to pay costly insurance that I have to turn my plates in is complete crap.

 

I wonder how long before we end up with a "Every citzen now will have goverment insurance for cars.. Were gonna call it Obamasurance". Then everyone will have some form of auto insurance and in any wreck your always covered.

 

... And only honest people.

I lost my '71 Skylark convertible that way.

I was in NYC, a guy (with NY plates) pulled a U-turn right in font of me out of the slow lane on 2-lane-each-direction road. Smashed my bumper and fender, pointed the headlights the wrong way. Cop showed up right away, took the report. Guy was wrong, 100%.

It was fall. I waited over a month before the insurance company could tell me anything, but I figured it was okay because in the end I'd get my car fixed up, because the other guy was flagrantly wrong.
Finally they told me that the car was registered at an address where nobody had heard of the guy, there was a different address on his license, another on on the insurance, and the insurance had lapsed anyway.
He had no coverage, and nobody could find him.

By then there was snow on the ground, so I wasn't fixing nothin'.

Come spring, the car was all rusty (I also found some frame rust I hadn't known about), and did you ever try to find Skylark parts before the age of the internet?
I would up selling it to a kid for a few hundred bucks, just to get rid of it.

So, as you say, I had insurance because I was required to, and I obey the law, but this other guy (with a heavy foreign accent) did not, because he was violating the law just by being here.

Good thing so many of my tax dollars went into the NYS no-fault insurance pool over the years.

- Eric

 

The sad part to all this is the owner most likely could have gotten a comprehensive collector car policy for what he paid a standard insurace company for just liability.

 

I went thru something similar years ago & with a UI slant...

I had comp/collision on my car ('88 Cutlass Int'l) and did have UI coverage. I was hit while stopped & he took off, but I managed to catch & stop the a-hole and get his info...which turned out to be mostly bogus. I forwarded all of his info to my Ins Co. They said I had to use my Comp w/ a $500 deductible (est. fix was $1200 & I was poor). My UI had no deductible and that's what should apply. BUT, my Ins Co said I had to PROVE he didn't have insurance to cover me under UI.

The guy who hit me was a transient scumbag who had a long rap sheet & a dozen addresses depending on what paperwork you were looking at. None of them were valid anymore.

I spent weeks trying to track him down (met an ex-wife who said she'd pay for the damage if I'd kick his azz and drag him to her !), pulling his BMV record, & contacting every Ins Co that he had ever listed to get confirmations that he either never had a policy or it was lapsed. He'd do the typical scumbag thing of get Ins. for a month to get plates and then never pay again. Then my Ins Co said "Well, he may have coverage that you don't know about."

It all culminated in me walking into the Ins Co offices (they luckily were in Indy & I knew the layout because I had previously fixed copiers there), finding my jagoff adjuster's cubicle, plopping a folder full of doc on his desk, telling him who I was, and that we were going to resolve this now.

A short time later I got a check for $1200 in the mail & got my car fixed.

Recently, my truck was rearended by another UI scumbag. Cops showed up & the guy has expired license, made all kinds of claims/excuses, & finally scrawls a Ins Co name & policy number on a scrap of paper as 'proof'. Cop smirked, did nothing, and scumbag drove his crumpled POS away afterwards. My Ins Co ended up paying everything as scumbag was in the wind.

Mandatory insurance is a joke. The who really should have it, don't. And the cops/courts do nothing to them (at least here in IN).

[/rant]

 

soon enough i should have an answer from the security company that is hired by the property management company and they have their own cameras in the parking lot. the grocery store has a front shot of his/her vehicle but again resolution was so low they couldn't get the plate number. and they are claiming that once i have the plate numbers i will have uninsured/underinsured coverage which i think if a bunch of bs. i feel like once they have the numbers i will be told to **** off. i asked for their denial of my claim in writing and they transferred me to the manager but no answer, now i have to wait till Monday to call back. on another note does anybody know where i can get the front bumper for a decent price? just a driver not a show quality, possibly even fiberglass.

 

I feel your pain on the hit and run. My daughter had driven my 72 CS to work one night. She was on the way out of the door to the restaurant, heard a lot of screeching tires and revving engines. A drunken idiot was doing donuts in the parking lot of which she parked. Yup, you guessed it.... he slammed into the drivers side fender and bumper of my car, sat a few seconds, then took off. They got the make, but not the tag. Luckily, the ins. covered it. She called me crying, all upset. Told her as long as she was ok was the main thing. Why people feel the need to do this is beyond me. Sorry for your pain and suffering!!!

 

The question that immediately pops into my mind is why are you letting your daughter drive your pride and joy to work in the first place? No daily driver available?

Of course, no one deserves what happened to you and your daughter, but discretion is the better part of valor and all of that. Glad your insurance covered it.

 

Sorry for taking forever I didn't really feel like coming back with bad news..so I didn't. My insurance is covering me! I couldn't have done it without you folks here! Thank you everybody who gave advice it really made a difference and now soon enough Ican drive my baby again!

 

Details, man, we need details!

This is great news, of course, but what changed things? Did you finally identify the other driver? Or did the insurance company have a change of heart? Under what provision of your policy are they covering you? Uninsured motorist? Comprehensive?

 

X2. What happened? Do tell!!!!!!

 

no idea what changed things, seems to me like it was "i would like a written letter stating denial of my coverage" seemed like they started taking me serious at that point. the other driver was never identified and its probably for the best considering i'm young, dumb, and would have probably flipped his truck upside down. i am covered under uninsured motorist, and will pay nothing out of my pocket. i'm only covered up to $3500 but thats enough to fix my car and more.

 

Typically, ins co's always try the easy way out to deny a claim. When they realize they are not dealing with a pushover, they tend to get a bit more ethical and do what they are supposed to do.
In short, I hate them and view them as crooks.
But glad to know they will cover your car. I am surprised about the no OOP, as most uninsured claims have a 250 deductible. However that will vary amongst co's...

 

Deductibles apply when covered under comprehensive or collision, and it involves what your insurance company will pay you if you have damage to your car that isn't the fault of someone else.

In this case, however, had the other driver been identified, the damage to JeremyTA's car would have been FULLY covered by the other guy's insurance. No deductible comes into play. Because the idea of uninsured/underinsured coverage is that it replaces what would normally cover you when someone else is at fault, again no deductible comes into play.


I don't think this is typical at all. I've had numerous dealings with several different name-brand insurance companies over the course of my life, and never once have they been anything other than friendly, fast, and thorough in their dealings with me.

I'm guessing that we really don't know the full story in the case here. I'm sure JeremyTA has not kept anything from us as far as his dealings go, but I would really like to know which insurance company we're dealing with here and what their specific response was. In other words, I'd like to hear their side of the story before condemning them.

 

What is the reason for this limit? I'm guessing this is the value of your car, and the insurance won't give you more than the car is worth. No insurance company would do that.

 

It's a sham when you did nothing and everything is your problem. ... Someone hit my quarter with thier door the other day. What made me mad was I know they knew they hit it because you can see where they tried rubbing thier paint off my car! And I parked away from everyone just so that wouldn't happen. Thats why we have insurance is to cover accidents. Thats a bum wrap to hope and pray they payout.

 

State farm must be different. Both my mom and i use them and both times when we claimed against UI, we had to pay 250 ded. We argued with them but did no good.

 

Actually, I think you're right, and I take back what I said above.

I mentioned earlier in this thread my aunt's situation where her sideswipe by a truck on the freeway was covered under her uninsured/underinsured policy. In her case, a deductible DID apply.

Perhaps the OP in the case here didn't have a deductible because his policy was set up that way. The more you're willing to pay in premiums, the lower the deductible, all the way down to $0 if you're willing to pay enough. That's true for comprehensive and collision as well.

 

They told me the ded was there to prevent people from claiming every parking lot ding and scratch, which i can understand to an extent. Personally I think that the ded should go away if the damage is bad enough to not be a piddly claim. Oh well...

 

Jeremy,
All everybody wants to know is do you have just liability or do you have liability and comp and collision?
If you only have liability you would not be covered unless the othe driver can be identified and you make the claim on hid ins.
the fact they your inssurance company is taking care of it means you might have full coverage.

 

In my experience, if you can come up with the parts to fix it, you'll get it back MUCH sooner!
Most body shops will have NO CLUE where to get your parts, and charge way more to straighten them out - unless it's a specialty shop.
You can sell the parts to them, and possibly mark them up to cover your deductable, too.
If you've the paint code, or any paint left from the repaint, that'd also be a great help.
Advertise here for your parts, and you'd be surprised how many people will help!

 

Rawdeal...with any luck your hit and run guy hit a wall later or drove off a cliff!! Can you see if any other incidences were reported around the same time? I may have missed it reading...was there a police report and indecent # submitted?

 

i do not have full coverage, the only thing have besides plain liability is uninsured/unidentified motorist coverage. sorry it took me so long i got tired of using my phone to reply, also wanted to wait till i had good news..should have a check within the week does anybody know where to find a good bumper?

 

Sorry to hear that it took so long to get this straightened out. Hopefully your ride will be fixed soon and back on the road.

 

check should be here tomorrow