Hit and run legal question

[AnniePokely]

if someone hit me from behind causing damage to my vehicle, and they were listed as the "at fault" driver by the police, how long do I have to legally give them to pay me for the damages once I've sent them a certified letter with the estimates of damages from several body shops?
She is military, and was driving without insurance. Not the first time for reckless driving on her behalf. Records on her.
I sent her a certified letter with estimates asking her to pay my damages within 14 days or I would have to take action in the courts.

She's now making demands in return.

"I'm not paying you directly, I will only pay a shop. In person. Myself."
"Fourteen days isn't reasonable."
"My mechanic will look at it."

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[hollywood]

There is no specific time line. Your first step could have been to file a court action against her and you would have been well within your legal rights.

You really want her to pay up? Tell her you're calling her base commander!

You're not obligated to follow her whims on this, a couple (perhaps 3 to be on the safe side) of legit estimates is all a small claims court would likely deem necessary, coupled with some photos of the damage, to establish the amount due you.

The other issue here, if she truly was driving recklessly - you could probably convince a judge to hit her with some punitives (especially, when she was violating state law by driving without insurance.)

 

[inspoke]

if someone hit me from behind causing damage to my vehicle, and they were listed as the "at fault" driver by the police, how long do I have to legally give them to pay me for the damages once I've sent them a certified letter with the estimates of damages from several body shops?
She is military, and was driving without insurance. Not the first time for reckless driving on her behalf. Records on her.
I sent her a certified letter with estimates asking her to pay my damages within 14 days or I would have to take action in the courts.

She's now making demands in return.

"I'm not paying you directly, I will only pay a shop. In person. Myself."
"Fourteen days isn't reasonable."
"My mechanic will look at it."

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

She shouldn't care if you ever get the damage fixed. She should only care that you sign a document that she has paid for the damage she caused. There is no good reason for "her" mechanic to look at it. As Wood suggested, a call to the base commander would probably get her moving in the right direction. I doubt you see any money in a timely manner without that or a court order.
Were you injured? If you were in the car when it was damaged, an insurance company would likely pay you to sign that you weren't injured. She would be responsible for those expenses as well.

 

[AnniePokely]

I don't know how to find out who her base commander is. Any idea how I could go about that? I'm sure this would go much smoother.
She said she's leaving for two weeks on " military order"
The police report says US Army but nothing else.

No injuries.
I don't want to turn it in on my insurance and pay my deductable. She had no insurance.

 

[inspoke]

I don't know how to find out who her base commander is. Any idea how I could go about that? I'm sure this would go much smoother.
She said she's leaving for two weeks on " military order"
The police report says US Army but nothing else.

No injuries.
I don't want to turn it in on my insurance and pay my deductable. She had no insurance.

Just a guess but she is probably Army Reserve if she is doing a two week military stint. I don't have any suggestions on figuring out where she is based other than googling her name along with Army Reserve and her hometown. Her hometown newspaper probably printed an announcement that she graduated from Army Basic Training and there may be some info on which base she works at in that article.

 

[FMPoke]

Best thing to do is filed an uninsured motorist claim with your insurance company. They will pay for the damages and then pursue her. They have much more resources to handle this type of thing. Once they recover from her they will reimburse you for your deductible. It well worth it to avoid the hassle of dealing with it yourself. If she refuses to pay, particularly if she lives in another state, it's going to be a long and hard battle to collect. You shouldn't have to wait even 14 days to get your car fixed. You pay for insurance use it.

 

[WAHOOS14]

Agree with fm poke. If you have uninsured/underinsured, use it and let the insurer surrogate directly against her. No deductible payment could possibly be more than the hassle of small claims court.

Isn't it a crime not to have insurance? Not that I'm into idle threats, but her employer and/or the military couldn't be tickled about that...

 

[inspoke]

In OK, it won't be an Uninsured Motorist(UM) claim. UM does not cover your vehicle. It only covers your body, wages and pain and suffering. It will be a Collision claim. If we are talking about a small fender bender, it is VERY unlikely that OP will get her deductible back because the insurance company won't put much effort into recovering its money. And, if she does get her deductible back, it could be years before she gets it.

If memory serves, OP is in the body shop or vehicle repair business? Is that correct?

 

[FMPoke]

Uninsured motorist absolutely covers your vehicle. I was rear ended about three years ago on 135 south of OKC by a guy who had fallen asleep in his rental car. He gave me the rental contract and said they would cover it. The rental car company claimed they weren't liable because he hadn't paid for the insurance. I filed a claim with my Company GIECO. They told me to go ahead get it repaired and pay the deductible. Before my the repair was completed they had tracked town the rental company and recovered from them. I never even had to pay the deductible. This is what insurance company's do. They aren't going to take a $5,000 loss just because the other party comes up with some b.s. to makes it difficult.

 

[hollywood]

FMPoke,

Sorry, you're wrong. Your Insurance Company covered the damage under the provisions of your Collision Policy. In Oklahoma, by law, an uninsured motorist policy ONLY covers personal injury, it does NOT cover property damage.

Here it is straight from the Horses Mouth: from the State Insurance Commissioner's FAQ page at this address: http://www.ok.gov/oid/faqs.html#q1320

5. What does Uninsured Motorist Coverage pay for?

"UM pays you, resident members of your family, and occupants of your auto for personal injuries caused by an uninsured motorist, an underinsured motorist or a hit and run driver. It does not pay for damages to your car! If an uninsured motorist damages your car, repairs would be paid for under your Collision coverage. If you carry Liability only, there would be no insurance coverage available to repair your car."

 

[inspoke]

Uninsured motorist absolutely covers your vehicle. I was rear ended about three years ago on 135 south of OKC by a guy who had fallen asleep in his rental car. He gave me the rental contract and said they would cover it. The rental car company claimed they weren't liable because he hadn't paid for the insurance. I filed a claim with my Company GIECO. They told me to go ahead get it repaired and pay the deductible. Before my the repair was completed they had tracked town the rental company and recovered from them. I never even had to pay the deductible. This is what insurance company's do. They aren't going to take a $5,000 loss just because the other party comes up with some b.s. to makes it difficult.

The term "subrogation" refers to the process GEICO used to get your money back from the sleeping driver.
The driver's personal auto policy likely would have covered the damage he did to your vehicle. Just a guess but I would say he had GEICO too as that would seem to be the only way the money was recovered so quickly. I have had several clients over the years who never got their deductible back or only got a portion back several years later because that was all subrogation was able to get for them.

I will say it again, if it's a small fender bender, there is no way OP's insurer will spend much time on subrogation. They will probably send a couple of letters and that's it. 20-30% of drivers in OK are uninsured. Large insurers have literally dozens of uninsured accidents everyday to subrogate. The old saying "can't get blood from a turnip" applies here. If they don't have insurance, they probably don't have any money to pay the damages they caused.

The one thing that can be done is the insurer can report the delinquent driver to the state and the state will suspend his driver's license until reparations are made. But that likely won't stop the driver from driving.

 

[boxter]

I'm in the same boat sort of.
Daughter was hit by a guy in Dallas 10 days ago. The other driver ran a red light and hit my daughters car driving it into a pole. All airbags deployed and she couldn't get out of her car. The other driver admitted fault to her then lied to Dallas PD claiming daughter was at fault. Geico is the other drivers insurance.

We get the Dallas PD report and it's their fault. Geico needs time to determine if it's their claim. Daughter has rented a car for 10 days.

My insurance agent, State Farm, said we could file a claim and they would handle it but I don't want a claim on my policy.

Geico gal called and are excepting responsibility

 

[boxter]

But no dough has been received since it looks like it's totaled.

I've been through a total before. They usually want to settle less than what your car is worth. We'll see.
Thank God my daughter is all right.