OT: Police/Accident Repot

GTR

Active member
How long should it take to be able to get a copy of an accident report through the Sheriff's department?

My oldest Son, Daughter-in-law and their baby were in an accident last Monday. The under age female driver (19) was cuffed and taken away for being "under the influence". We have no idea what she was on, nor does it really matter.
The problem is her insurance should be taking care of things and my Son's insurance company is saying it might take 2-3 weeks to get the report. During this limbo period my Son has lost the use of his Blazer and the body shop tells him it should be declared a total loss since it has more than 10K damage.

SteveU
 
Usually 7 days, from my experience, butyour insurance co. can get it quicker, but you usually have to push them to do it.
 
the officer should give you a DR number ( report ) and a phone number, call them and ask. It should takes about 1-2 weeks.
 
Go to The precint where the report was taking and tell them ..usually about 10 dollars..but insurance companygets it for free .Its usually ready in 1 day.
 
Your insurance company should provide you with a rental car. The other drivers insurance will reimburse them. Did the other person have insurance and do you have uninsured motorist coverage.
 
I been throught his 1000's of times. SO let me tell you from experience, not cause i cant drive but because i owned a body shop once upon a time. This is what typicall happens and is text book.

Customer gets into accident and gives me a call

If they dont have a second form of transportation I arrange them or tell them to go to a rent a center and pay for everthing and will be reinbursed.

Customer brings damaged vehicle in to shop

Both me and customer contacts ins company and schedual a appointment, usually 3 wait max.

If your shop is saying 10k damage, yes that is probabally going to be a total loss.

Be smart and get a rent a car because this usually gets them moving faster.

After inspection date you will usually know within a few days the outcome of vehicle. In some rare cases they may have the shop repair the car if total damage is not assesed over 60-70% of vehicles value, depending on company, vehicle, make and model.

insurance usually take 3-4 weeks to issue a insurance check if you are not liable. If you are liable they tend to take longer. Again it really depends what ins your dealing with.

Most insurance companys will pay for a rental untill they issue you a check and not a day more.

I think that is about it. If i left anything out please let me know. Oh yeah police reports only proves who is at fault but if you have a good company and policy not liability then the ball is infact rolling. They may seem lik ethey are sitting on their butts twittling their thumbs but this is big money and they get really serious when its their money. I love farmers, Allstate, 21 centrury. Dealiing with them was always a pleasure for both me and my client. However insurace companys like Liberty mutaul, mecury or some cheap companys are really cheap and try to take advantage of poor customers who dont know better.

Another thing is get a attorney. They will get things done fast and it wont cost you a dime. ALso have your family go see a chiropractor. Damages may not seem to be there but will bit you in the butt 5-10 years down the line. Good Luck.

quick aswer, the insurance company will take 2-3 weeks to finish up the case. Ask them which company they they deal with when it comes to rentals and what you are entitled to. This makes things a lot easier. Im just rambling now. Any ??? please ask.
 
Steve,
Is everybody ok?

I've been in a few fender benders, never my fault;) Regardless who's fault it is your son's probably going to have to pony up some cash or a credit card and rent a car. If its my daughters fault (she has wrecked my truck a few times) I get the cheapest POS car I can because my rental insurance doesn't pay all that much. If its the other guys fault I get a truck or car that equals what I was driving.
 
Thanks all...

Mark they were all fine, even the VW driver and passenger that rolled down the embankment on three wheels backwards (one wheel laying in the middle of the road). The other occupants had a couple cuts but my family was just shaken up. This could have been much worse and could have been head-on or as they say "offset frontal crash", 60mph or so vs 40mph. Both cars went left and the VW lost control, they impacted on the passenger sides. As my son rounded the turn the VW was in his lane and it looked like they'd hit head on.

They keep getting the run around from the Sheriff's department and their insurance company (I think AIS). Not sure what the coverage was for uninsured motorists but the driver (or her father) had insurance. This is all hush-hush I think due to the fact she was hauled away in cuffs and has her "rights". ;(

Several people have told us they should just retain an attorney but so far the call for financial help hasn't come. :lol:

Another interesting thing they were told by the police is that the baby's car seat "Must" be replaced regardless of it's condition since it was involved in an accident and could be compromised.

We had 21st Century when it was 20th Century but we switched to State Farm to get commercial coverage on my truck and have an agent that handles all our coverage and might be a little more aggressive meeting our needs. We had a couple claims with 20th Century and though they paid they were a pain to deal with.

SteveU
 
First thing first...The report should be available within 10-14 days unless you know someone and it would be a couple.

Second, If I understood you correctly, the other driver was arrested. If this was the case, charges must be filed within 48 hours of the arrest, not including weekends if he/she remains in custody and has not been O.R.'d or posted bail. If that had happened a return date would be given, anywhere from 7-30days and the case must be filed by them if there are criminal charges. Again if this is the case, the reports may not be complete awaiting most likely for blood results. If the arrest was unrelated to the accident, this should not effect the report.

You have insurance and an agent. Make them do the work for you. Have them buy the report and get you a copy.

Also try giving the accident investigation detail a call and get the insurance company's name and policy number if there was one and call them yourself to get the ball rolling. If uninsured, you policy should take over and your insurance company will deal with it.

Lastly pay the extra $12 a year (for me at least) for tow/rental reimbursement. Have not used it myself (knock on wood), but it should help in these matters.

Another lastly. Its an accident. Hopefully no one was hurt that can't heal. The property can be replace/repaired. It usually works out in the end, bur KEEP up on it with your insurance agent/agency because you are not the only one to them. This is where the squeaky wheel gets the grease!!!.

By the way I have Wawanesa Insurance (say that 3 times fast) and they have ben great for me. 1 car stolen and totaled. paid off fair market quickly. 3 claims with home and not problems there, Rates are great and have never increased after claims. Granted not all the same time/year. Only thing that sucks is there is no agent, you deal directly with them and that's why the rates are better. Also top rated in the industry, just not publicized.

Mark (Golfish) wheres those tank pics you promised!!!???

Good luck
Tony
 
Steve, you have an Ins agent, let them do the work for you as that's why you pay the premiums.

Wife was involved in an accident, another girl hit her. I tried to be nice and start to work with her insurance company until they said my wife turned left and hit her. NOPE, wife was going straight down the alley to our house and girl turned left into her on her side of the alley. I called my ins. company, 21st century at the time, and they took care of everything. They fixed the truck and went after the other ins company to get reembursed.

That's why we pay them. Let them do the leg work.
 
My Son's insurance company said they can do nothing until they get a copy of the report which they say may be delayed due to the possibility there will be criminal charges filed against the girl at fault.

Protect the guilty and punish the innocent. :rolleyes:

SteveU
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7501385#post7501385 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gtrestoration
My Son's insurance company said they can do nothing until they get a copy of the report

I'm not an insurance expert, but can only speak from experience. Your son's insurance company should get the ball rolling no matter whose fault it is. That is what he is paying the premiums for.
It is their job to collect from the other party when their fault is determined (they have some term for this that I can't remember at this time.)
 
But can't he at least get a rental car for the time being. Like stated before, unless he has rental coverage, he may have to pay for it for now and collect from their Ins company later.
 
OK.. some information came out yesterday. The Sheriff's office gave my Daughter-in-law some of the needed information from the report. The car was registered to the Father of the female driver and is insured by State Farm. The driver was not listed on the policy which should not be a problem unless their was valid named driver exclusion on file for her. We've had those in the past on our cars and still do on my business truck since it reduces my rate considerably on the commercial policy.
State Farm has no record of the involved/insured party starting the claims process or filing a report with them.
The driver was 20 and a college student somewhere in the NW. At the scene she failed a field sobriety test and then failed on on-scene breathalyzer. Not sure what her BAC was but for someone <21 the legal maximum is .01 or what they call "Zero Tolerance".


Based on how the accident happened everyone involved should be thankful they all walked away from it. It was very close to being a head-on seeing as how they where headed in opposite directions and yet the damage was done on the passenger side of both vehicles. My family should soon be back to normal with a replacement car with compensation that at least puts them back in their original position. Sometimes due to the condition of the auto loan you don't always end up where you were.
This 20 year old girl though will have to deal with the consequences of DUI for some time to come.

SteveU
 
I used to be in Insurance agent and here are a few things to know.

Tony, Wawanesa is the highest ranked insurance company in terms of customer satisfaction and service. They also have the least amount of complaints with the Dept. of Insurance.

For Steve: AIS is an Insurance Brokerage which sells dozens of insurance companies. Most insurance brokerages (I worked a few) sells substandard insurance polcies to substandard drivers. You will not get a great of a policy and service compared to State Farm, Allstate, 21st Century, etc. When you get into an accident you file a claim with AIS which in turn forwards that info to the insurance company they placed you with so basically AIS is sort of the middleman.

For all those who are getting insurance, if you have 1 minor violation or less then stick with the main insurance carriers ie. State Farm, Farmers, Allstate, etc. and stay away from Insurance Brokerages like AIS, Eastwood, Survival, etc. Most insurance brokerage agents are more like a used car salesman. Thats why I left that industry.
 
I switched from 20th Century to State Farm because they wouldn't give me clarification that I'd be covered in the event of a loss since the vehicle's use is truly commercial. I called them at least three times and got three different answers so I shopped it around and ended up with State Farm for only slightly more but with 1,000,000 in liability coverage. I don't need someone taking everything I own and with these high limits I'd expect the insurance company to put up a fight.

At 25 I wasn't really concerned with what my coverage was and what would happen when there was a loss. At that time I think I only looked at the premium and what I could do to reduce it.

SteveU
 
Wow glad to hear everyone is alright. I just had to deal with the whole accident thing about 6 months ago. Luckily not my fault but I had a great time with AAA everything was handled in about 4 weeks and they gave me a fair market value for my car. Pretty lucky though accidents are pretty scary

cb
 
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