JeremyTA

Well title says it all. Took my 65 f85 out first time in 4 months and within 10 minutes at a local starbucks a security guard came asking if I owned a yellow Oldsmobile.. long story short it may not seem like a lot of damage to some but I certainly can't afford to fix it and my insurance company won't cover me without a plate number. Pics will be up asap

JeremyTA

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JeremyTA

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Troys Toy 70

That's awful, That was not just a bump, had to know they hit it. Does the Starbucks have a security cameras?

esisson

Some people just suck. My daily driver, GMC Yukon with a crunched quarter panel - came out from work one day and found it that way. No note, no nothing but a $500 deductible and big old dent. That happened two years ago and see it every day. Some people just suck..... Nothing else to say.

JeremyTA

There's a starbucks, CVS pharmacy, chase bank, fed ex, and a grocery store and a security company with cameras but Ralph's will let me know tomorrow, security company will review footage Friday. CVS got the truck but no plate numbers.

JeremyTA

I couldn't believe the bank doesn't have cameras.

oldcutlass

What kind of insurance do you have? Luckily it's not a lot of damage and the parts are easy to get. People really do suk!

ah64pilot

This sucks, and I too know the feeling. At least your car isn't totaled...hope you get it fixed soon!

I had this happen a few years back, only I wasn't so lucky...they bent the frame.

JeremyTA

MERCURY, where could I get a bumper for cheap? I've got so much going on right now it took 4 months just to get front tires on her

jaunty75

What? Plate schmate. This is crap. This is what "uninsured" or "underinsured" motorist coverage is for. It's one of the most common forms of coverage there is. It shouldn't matter that the other guy can't be identified.

About a month ago, my aunt was sideswiped on the freeway by a large truck that probably didn't even know he had hit her. She didn't get the plate number or anything, but the insurance still covered the damage.

I'd check your policy carefully to verify that you're really not covered, and, if not, and even though it won't do you any good in this case, I'd drop this policy like a hot potato and go out and find real insurance from a real insurance company.

JeremyTA

thats my plan, i'm switching and going full coverage. i have uninsured motorist and they said only if i get the plate number. i'm going to go over my whole policy tonight

Lady72nRob71

EXACTLY!
Both myself and my mom claimed on unid'ed H&R's. Check that policy well. Who do you have?

jaunty75

That's baloney. Accidents where the other driver can't be identified happen all the time. My guess is that they're full of **** and will ultimately cover the damage. If not, call your state's attorney general's office or regulator of insurance.

JeremyTA

I will most definitely be going.through everything possible

tru-blue 442

X2! That is a bunch of BS!
Who's your carrier?

Lady72nRob71

Of course the company is just doing its job, trying to avoid having to pay the insured...

66luvr

Sorry to hear about this, good luck.

Creativeindy

Jesus christ man...wtfover!!! Drunk driver? How the hell does someone go into a persons drive and hit a car into a truck and push both a heavy olds and a huge *** truck over that far!!! Sheesh. Hope insurance covered all that! Homeowners possibly?

Creativeindy

Hopefully you get some good news and they have the truck on camera. Make the police go get the scum who did this. More than likely they have no insurance. No one would run away from a hit like that if they had insurance. That much damage they had to know they hit you.

MaxDog

Jaunty's right. That sounds like BS. Ask your insurance company to put their denial of coverage in writing, and they will have to quote the specific policy language they are relying on. That you give a basis to write them a letter saying why you think it is covered. CC the letter to your state's commissioner of insurance.

Redog

I hope it works out for you.

If you would have gotten a plate number, you should have called the cops. Here you loose your license for a hit and run

Aceshigh

A) Are you saying YOUR Car had no plate number ??
Or

B) are you saying the car that hit you , you didn't get a plate number ??

If it's A, well.....I don't need to state the obvious.
If it's B, see below.
If your car had legal registration, and you were current on your insurance payments and they deny you.
Call your California Dept of Insurance and file a fraud complaint against your insurance company.

oldcutlass

I believe what he is trying to say is he only has liability insurance on it, no comp, no collision.

jaunty75

This doesn't make complete sense, though, because then his insurance company should have explained to him in detail that they won't be involved and that if he wants restitution, he needs to identify the other driver and the other driver's insurance company, or he's out of luck. Maybe they did tell him this, and we got the condensed version.

But, in thinking about this, I think there are a couple of other questions that need to be answered before we continue to condemn the insurance company as their requirement is otherwise so outrageous.

First, does he actually have "uninsured" or "underinsured" motorist coverage? I said above that this is common, but I also think it is usually an extra-cost option. It's usually so inexpensive, though, relative to the total cost of the policy that everyone gets it, and with good reason.

Second, does he have conventional automobile insurance on this car, or was it insured as an antique or collectible car, meaning that he might have had restrictions on the car's use? If he has this kind of insurance, then parking the car unattended in a public place, which is apparently what he did, might have violated the terms of the policy. But then, again, his insurance company should have told him this instead of telling him that needs a license plate number or he's not covered. There is no circumstance I've ever heard of where this is a legitimate requirement by an insurance company.

JeremyTA

Aces to answer you first: i have plates and current registration, i did not get the plate number for the vehicle that hit me.

jaunty they told me if i get the plate number they can claim uninsured/underinsured motorist. which make zero sense to me. i have conventional insurance, and i will be asking them for denial of coverage in writing.

oldcutlass

Conventional as in comp and collision, or just liability?

BIGJERR

Either way that sucks..............

jaunty75

It sounds like you have done everything right, and you are being wronged big time.

I checked the policy I have on my two collector cars just now, and uninsured motorist coverage costs about $15 per year per car on a policy that costs, in total, for liability, medical payments, uninsured motorist, and damage to the car whether by collision or something else, about $85 per year per car.

The language under the Uninsured Motorists Coverage couldn't be more specific or plain:

"We will pay compensatory damages which an "insured" is legally entitled to recover from the owner or operator of an "uninsured motor vehicle."

Further down the page, it gets right to the point applicable here:

"'Uninsured Motor Vehicle' means a land motor vehicle or trailer of any type which is a hit-and-run vehicle whose operator or owner cannot be identified and which hits your covered auto." (Emphasis is mine)

In other words, the kind of damage your car sustained and the circumstances under which it was sustained would be covered under my policy.

Again, I think you need to review your policy carefully and look for the specific language that deals with uninsured motorists. If you have that coverage, the damage you sustained should be covered if your insurance company has a shred of decency.

I have my collector car policy from J. C. Taylor.



I also checked the coverages on my daily drivers, which I have insured through State Farm. That section of the policy is actually titled "Uninsured and Unknown Motorist." Can't get more applicable than that. They're acknowledging right there in the title of that section that you might not be able to identify who hit you. No one has eyes on their cars 24 hours a day/7 days a week, especially their daily drivers, which might often be parked in a shopping mall parking lot or in a parking lot where you work. To expect you to always be able to identify who struck your vehicle is ludicrous.

One thing I did notice, though, on the daily driver policy is that the cost of the uninsured motorist coverage is more than I had thought. It's about 1/3 of the total insurance premium and is the most expensive single part, being a few dollars more than the liability portion. But it's there!

MDchanic

... Unless, as OldCutlass said, he's only got minimum liability.

- Eric

jaunty75

But apparently he has more than this. He says they're willing to cover it under uninsured/underinsured, but only if he can identify the other guy. That's wrong. If he has uninsured coverage, he should be covered here regardless of whether or not the guy who hit him can be identified. That's what this kind of insurance is specifically for.

Aceshigh

My suggestion,
hire an accident attorney and have him review your insurance policy. Insurance companies love to screw people over and force you to hire attorney's to get what's coming to you. They gamble that over 80% of people won't go after them, and they're usually right.

It appears California is one of the states that MANDATES that your Liability coverages also carry Uninsured Motorist coverages. So you have to be covered. http://www.geklaw.com/news_uninsured_motorist.htm

MaxDog

Very few lawyers are going to be willing to take his case on contingency though, he did not suffer any bodily injuries. There was only property damage and it sounds like it occured on private property in a parking lot. He will have to pay someone hourly, probably a $5000 retainer. The costs for the attorneys fees will probably not be justified by the amount of his potential recovery.

His best bet is to get the insurance company to issue a written coverage denial. He can then take that and a copy of his insurance policy to an attorney that practices "bad faith litigation" against insurance companies. Often times, they will represent him on a contingent fee basis, whithout him having to pay upfront retainer fee. They will also usually give a free consultation to let him know whether he has a decent claim that is worth pursuing or whether he should just say screw it. Or in the alternative, he can take a copy of the denial letter and a copy of his policy to his state's commissioner of insurance and file a complaint. This is free and is likely the easiest solution.

Just the act of him requesting the denial be put in writing is likely to force the insurance adjuster to behave and honor the claim. If not, he can go to the next step. It makes no sense for him to hire an attorney now.

MDchanic

All well and good, but my point is that he may not actually know what kind of insurance he's got. He may think he does, but really have no idea.

His interpretation of what he heard may be as you stated, but the reality may be that they told him that he's not covered at all, but that he might collect from the other guy's company if he could identify who the other guy is.

I think there may be some confusion here.
The mandatory Uninsured Motorist Coverage in this case may not be Collision coverage in case the OP's car is damaged, but may instead be Liability coverage in case either a. an uninsured motorist injures him or his passengers, or b. an uninsured motorist is injured in an accident with him.

We really don't know any of the salient information at this point.

- Eric

Nilsson

If he has just liability insurance he is screwed.

Indy_68_S

The OP's Ins Co's position may be that you have to identify the offending a-hole to prove lack of coverage. An unknown person could have coverage which would negate his Ins Co's UI obligation.

I went thru somthing similar years ago when a transient scumbag hit my car.....

jaunty75

No no no!!! The whole point of uninsured coverage is that there might be times where you don't know who hit you and NEVER WILL!

One of the PRIMARY purposes of uninsured motorist coverage is to reimburse you if your car is damaged by a person unknown in another car.

If we as car owners and insurance buyers had to be able to identify who hit our cars when we weren't present AND prove that they don't have insurance, uninsured motorist coverage would be practically worthless! You could never leave your car unattended in a parking lot at the mall, where you work, or anywhere because it might be damaged by someone hitting it who leaves the area without leaving his name, and you'd never know who did it. It's ridiculous to think that insurance only covers your car if you are driving in it or have your eyes on it 24 hours a day.

jaunty75

I think you still are confused here.

Uninsured motorist coverage is there to protect YOU in case you are in an accident with another motorist, HE is at fault, and he has no insurance. Period. It reimburses you for damage to your car and/or injury to you or your passengers that would normally be paid by the other guy's insurance company were he not uninsured. It has no bearing on the other guy or his car at any time. It does not reimburse the other guy. This includes situations like the OP is currently in, where the other guy is not only at fault, but can't be identified.

Liability coverage on the part of the OP would only be relevant if the OP was at fault and caused damage to the other guy's car and/or injury to the people in it. This is what your letter (b) above is referring to, and it would be the OP's liability coverage that would reimburse the other guy, not the OP's uninsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist coverage does not come into play in situations where the purchaser of the uninsured coverage is also the person at fault.

Indy_68_S

As it was explained to me by my Ins Co at the time, there's a big difference between Un-insured/Under-insured and Unknown drivers. Typical UI insurance covers the former; comprehensive covers the latter.

That's what comprehensive is for...