“What can I do if the insurance company will not pay to fix my car?” Personal Injury Attorney Ben Schwartz answers a viewer’s question after he was rear-ended in a car accident.

Hi, I’m Attorney Ben Schwartz,

Today we are going to answer a question from Bob in Millsboro, Delaware. He says he was rear-ended in a car accident. The other driver’s insurance company offered to fix his car, but the insurance company will not pay for it to be fixed until after they talk to their driver, who rear-ended him. So, what can he do? Alright, so if this happens to you, the direct answer is, you do not have to wait for the at-fault driver’s insurance company to take responsibility for the accident and fix your car. You can fix your car yourself. If you had collision coverage on your car, use that to fix your car. You might have a $500 or $1000 deductible, which means you have to come out-of-pocket for that, but you get it back when the at-fault driver’s insurance company finally gets around to interviewing the at-fault driver and confirming your version of the events.

The reason why this is happening is, that driver’s insurance company wants to pay for your car, they are probably going to do it in a repair facility where they have got a relationship where they are going to get a decent price on the repairs to your car. If you have your insurance company do it, or if you do it yourself, you might go to the Cadillac of repair facilities, whereas they are trying to go to the discount version of repair facilities to save some money.

They want to step up to the plate and get your car fixed so they can save themselves some money. Often times, in order to do that, they need to interview their insured and make sure that their insured says, “yes that accident was my fault”. That way they can go ahead and pull the trigger and pay for the repairs. Getting that accomplished can sometimes take weeks or months, or sometimes it may not happen at all. Their insured might now be in jail or their insured may not talk to the insurance company at all; even though it is their own insurance company.

If you run into this situation, where the insurance company will not pay, you can have your own insurance company fix the car, if you had collision coverage. If you did not have collision coverage, then hopefully you have enough cash to cover the repairs to your own vehicle and then you can make the claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company later to get reimbursed.

I’m Attorney Ben Schwartz and I hope this does not happen to you. It is a frequent situation that we run into while handling auto accident and personal injury claims. If you have questions for me, send me an e-mail below. I am happy to answer any questions you have about personal injury claims, auto accident cases, slip and fall, medical malpractice, etc., etc.

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