Insurance company denial of auto claim

I was in a minor auto accident in Oregon. Unfortunately it was hours after I had reinstated my policy and my insurance company is claiming that even though I had contacted my agent and he had taken my credit card information for payment he did not run payment on card for several hours so they are refusing to pay based on the time of the accident.

When I was notified of the denial I offered to pay for the damages to the other drivers vehicle they were fairly minimal and there was no personal injury involved. Again this was a very minor accident no one claimed to be hurt at time of accident no one needed medical care.

Everyone walked away unharmed. The damage to the other vehicle required replacing only the back hatch door which I purchased out of my pocket for 500.00 because the other driver had agreed to allow me to pay to fix his car.

3 days after I paid for the door I am contacted by his insurance company regarding the claim and the denial by my company to cover. This is the last I hear from my insurance company the other drivers insurance company or the other driver.

Almost one year later I receive a bill from a collection agency for 14,000 dollars claiming that I owed 21st Century insurance for this uninsured accident. I was never notified by letter or phone when or how much was being paid out for this fraudulent claim.

Is this legal? How can a auto ins company hold me responsible for paying to them a claim for a exuberant amount. Is this legal and should I of not been notified that they were paying out a huge amount of money and what it was that was having to be paid for and that they expected me to pay back to them?

Answer:


Hello,

WOW. Okay, we are missing something here. $14,000.00! There must some kind of injury or claim that you simply do not know about.

There are lot of issues here. First on coverage: if the agent is an independent agent, you may have an issue. If the agent is an agent for one specific insurance company, the there is likely that since they took the payment, they waived their defense of no coverage.

You need to call a lawyer about that. That is the first step, the second is looking at how you settle the claim. Did the other person took payment but signed a release document? If not, you may still be liable. Also, how did the bill grow like that. You need to take a look at that closely.


Good Luck.


As always, it is very important that you talk with a local attorney!
Good Luck,
Auto Insurance Claim Advice