Two days before Thanksgiving, a driver ran a red light and plowed into our '06 Scion xB at 45 MPH. People all seem to be OK, but the car, which we've owned exactly eight weeks, was very much undriveable and I expect will be totaled. To add to the fun times, we'd just had the belts replaced three days prior to the wreck.
We have a police report and witnesses all agreeing the other driver ran a red. We only carry liability insurance, thus we immediately called the other driver's insurance company given to us in the crash report, and reported the accident.
Next morning I contact them to find out that this insurer no longer covers her (old card in the car I guess?). Call the lady up the next day and she says her insurer is "Dairyland", whom I've never heard of. I immediately call them up and report the incident, and spend four hours trying to get my claim assigned to an adjuster who is not on vacation for the rest of the week (I did not succeed, it happened multiple times). I wind up just setting up a rental out of pocket (Useful lesson learned: Rental companies can give you the insurance rate even if you aren't having an insurer directly pay for it).
Around this point I'm getting suspicious, so I look up this "Dairyland" and find a whole slew of reviews painting them as crooks who will do just about anything to avoid paying the value of a claim, if they don't just try to stall the claim out to avoid paying it at all.
Fortunately I didn't pay an outrageous price for the car (The market value used for property taxes was a few dollars off what I paid less fees). Given how recently we bought the car and how little a 9-year-old vehicle ought to depreciate in eight weeks, it seems reasonable to expect damages of the purchase price + fees / taxes, cost of the belt replacement, and the cost of the rental car (All of which I have documentation for). This total is well below the minimum property damage insurance requirements in my state (North Carolina).
That said, based on what I've found online these guys seem to have have an exceptionally bad reputation. I'm concerned they will somehow try to avoid a conclusion that their client is at fault (Despite mountains of evidence), or that they will go to great lengths to stall or lowball us (again, despite pretty hard evidence). It's a pretty annoying setback if I have to replace the car out of pocket, but I don't NEED settlement money this instant. I'm willing to take the case to court if need be.
Does anyone who's had to deal with this sort of situation have any negotiation advice?
Should I consult a lawyer before or after I hear back from the insurer?
If I have to take this to court should I seek additional damages to have a prayer of making it worth the time?
Am I honestly just worrying to much about the whole thing?
If anyone has had similar experiences or has dealt with Dairyland in the past, please do share them.
