Car Insurance Claim - Montgomery County (Philadelphia, Erie: lawyer, house, deductible)

[PitmanGuy83]

Good evening all -

I was hoping to get some insight into the strange process of dealing with a car insurance claim here in Pennsylvania. I'm relatively new to the state. I've discovered that like all things related to automobiles here, the process of executing a claim and retrieving pertinent documentation is a drawn-out and arduous process.

A little background:

My parked car was struck in the parking lot of a local Wawa here in Hatboro this last Saturday by an elderly, distracted driver (cell phone). I was not in the vehicle when it happened, but was standing near it when the incident occurred - this was literally the only way I would have been able to get the person to stop since she fully intended on leaving the scene having not seen I had witnessed the whole incident. Upon stopping her from leaving, the other party admitted hitting my vehicle but refused to provide any identification or insurance information so that I could facilitate a claim against her insurer.

I called the local police and gave my statement. The police officers indicated to me before leaving the scene that I had to try to get the insurance information from the other party again or wait for the police report to be published in order to get her information. I once again attempted to get the information from her voluntarily, but was again rebuffed in my attempt. I called the police station today and was told that the police report was not yet available and no date could be provided as to when it would be. I was told I'd be called when it's ready. After speaking to some other people who've had some experience in this area, I learned it can take up to a month for the report to be released. I'm now stuck beginning repairs and paying my deductible or waiting for information to be released by the police department and filing a claim against the other party. Of the 6 other states I've lived in since I was 18, not once have I experienced this kind of situation where the counter-party's information was a secret until the police report was released - furthermore, I've never experienced a police report taking even this long to be made available to the involved parties. This information is normally (and should be) provided at the scene with the full account made available a short time later.

I fear losing standing in this claim having to wait up to 30 days before filing against the liable party's insurance. Furthermore, if the liable party here refuses to accept total liability at the onset, I will be responsible for paying my entire deductible and will have to pursue the other party in small claims court which I'm told has a near 2 year backlog of open cases. Another option entails I allow my insurance company to include my deductible in the subrogation proceedings, which could take even longer than the small claims process. I'm a person of meager means and cannot easily afford to cover this deductible without some significant financial wrangling. This is something I would be willing to accept if I had any part in causing the accident, but given my apparent no-fault status in this incident, I feel it patently unfair to have to part with this money even if there's a strong chance I will be compensated within 2+ years.

What's the best course of action here? If I was to pursue the small claims court option, can I claim damages beyond the deductible due to the inevitably significant waiting period to have my case heard? Can I at least sue for opportunity cost or at least market interest + damages from the day of my actual out of pocket loss? What's the best course of action here?

I appreciate any local insight anyone can provide into this situation.

[Ohiogirl81]

Let your insurance company handle it.

[Wells5]

You might want to ask for advice on a legal forum like Avvo (Avvo.com - The right attorney makes the difference).

There are no "small claims courts" per se in PA, except for the city of Philadelphia where they have a small claims division of the municipal court. There are "magisterial district courts," which are supposed to handle this type of legal problem. I have found these venues to be a joke. And you don't have to be a lawyer to be a "district justice."

Who is your insurance carrier? They should be handling this problem.

[PitmanGuy83]

Thanks for your replies and sorry for the delay in replying here - it's a been a rather hectic day.

Wells5: I am currently a customer of Progressive. I agree they should be handling this problem, but they've made it seem very likely that I will be out of my deductible for a long time if I allow them to take this through their process. In another state I was successful in pursuing a claim against the at fault party's insurance without court involvement and was made whole quickly and without a deductible by simply working directly with the at fault party's insurance company. In PA, it would seem this is option is made prohibitively difficult by way of the fact that the most basic facts of the police reports are state secrets until they get around to releasing a police report. For a borough of 7,500, I would not think this department so busy that it would take more than about an hour to do all the paperwork to finalize this issue - despite this, they won't even provide a date for its completion. It's rather frustrating to say the least...but as I said in my original post, that seems to be the case for all automobile related matters in this state for some reason.

[Wells5]

Switch to Erie Insurance. It's headquartered in PA with excellent customer service and probably cheaper than Progressive.

Please clarify a few things. Were the cops called to the scene of the accident or did you have to go to the station to file? Leaving the scene of an non-injury accident in PA is a misdemeanor, which could result in a big fine or even jail time. The driver of the car should have provided you with her license and registration number and proof of insurance. She may have been driving under a license suspension or without insurance or possibly drunk. Were there witnesses to the accident? If there were did you get their names and telephone numbers. If there were none, it's your word against hers in any court proceeding.

You may want to contact the borough council member serving the district where you reside. Sometimes that can speed things up with the police report.

[PitmanGuy83]

The police were called to the scene after the incident. The other driver attempted to leave the scene, but I stopped her before she could. After stopping her, she admitted hitting me which she also told the police, however she claimed that no damage was caused despite clear evidence to the contrary at the point of impact. I asked her for her insurance information but she refused to provide it. She did provide documents to the responding officers, but would not give me the information. I assume her documents were in order given the responding officers released her to drive away after they were finished. Unfortunately, the police took nearly 15 minutes to respond so all witnesses left the scene before their arrival. I had my hands full being berated by this woman and couldn't really get their information anyway.

Contacting the borough rep sounds like a great idea and I'll definitely try that. The police still refuse to provide a date for the report, so that's probably my best play right now.

[LibraGirl123]

Originally Posted by PitmanGuy83

The police were called to the scene after the incident. The other driver attempted to leave the scene, but I stopped her before she could. After stopping her, she admitted hitting me which she also told the police, however she claimed that no damage was caused despite clear evidence to the contrary at the point of impact. I asked her for her insurance information but she refused to provide it. She did provide documents to the responding officers, but would not give me the information. I assume her documents were in order given the responding officers released her to drive away after they were finished. Unfortunately, the police took nearly 15 minutes to respond so all witnesses left the scene before their arrival. I had my hands full being berated by this woman and couldn't really get their information anyway.

I agree with the others who recommended that you contact your insurance company. Tell them everything you've told us in this forum. I'll bet your insurance company can cut through the cr*p going on with that police department, and will be able to get their hands on that police report in short order. If it's not your fault, they're not going to want to pay out of their own pockets...they'll go after the other insurance company.

I don't understand what's up with the police in your situation. The last time someone hit me (minor fender bender), the officer had us both pull off onto a side street to free up traffic, took a short statement from both of us, and had us exchange information. It was the other person's fault, and she admitted it.

[Ohiogirl81]

The police department can't blow off your insurance company; it will have a copy of that police report within 48 hours at the most. Let them do the heavy lifting.

[Wells5]

It appears that Progressive Insurance is not well regarded by people who've dealt with them. See Top 742 Complaints and Reviews about Progressive Insurance. Let's hope that the other party's insurance carrier (assuming that she is insured) will settle your claim quickly and fairly. I don't think that you'll get much help from Progressive.

[thecoalman]

You ay for insurance, it's their job let them deal with it.

Originally Posted by Wells5

Switch to Erie Insurance. It's headquartered in PA with excellent customer service and probably cheaper than Progressive.

Great advice, we had a house fire and they were outstanding even going beyond what they had to do. I've read about some of the hassles other people have gone through with other companies, the house was still smoldering and we had a preliminary check in hand. I honestly could not say a single bad thing about them.