Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 10/15/2009

Question
Hello,

 On the 16th of Aug.  I struck my motorcycle with my Girlfriends car.  The insurance company has sent out a investigator to interview me and my girlfriend.  The investigator was asking a lot of questions that did not pertain to the accident,  I played along and answered in attempt to provide good faith.  After the interview and looking at the bike he claimed he would have problems since he did not see enough physical damage to the bike from being hit by the car.  He does not think the damage is possible form the truck even though the muffler can indented the bumper inch for inch.  Long story short they are still investigating a month later and are requesting me to interview again.  I am not on her policy and am wondering if it is time to stop cooperating and move on to a demand letter.  Every time I call to check on the claim they keep giving it to a new adjuster.  Let me know what you think the best next move is.

Many Thanks,
Phil

Answer
Hi Phil,

This is a tough one.

If you had been driving your own car and hit your motorcycle you would not have been able to collect under your auto insurance liability coverage. The reason is that you can not be held legally liable to yourself. In this case you caused the damage to your own bike but were driving someone elses car. Generally, auto insurance follows the car and not the driver. So it would seem that you should be covered except that your girlfriend is not liable for the damage to your bike since you were driving the car.

I know all of this sounds confusing but, you hopefully can see where the possible dilema happens. The other issue they are trying to get a grasp on is did you do this intentionally in order to get rent money or did you cause the damage another way and think this up in order to get the damage paid for because you have no coverage on the bike yourself. I'm not saying this is what is going on, I'm just saying that these are the questions the adjueter is trying to answer.

Yet another posibility is that if you live with your girlfriend and were not on her policy, they could deny coverage since all insurance companies require that every licensed driver in the household be disclosed.  

Considering it has been a month they have had ample time to complete their investigation. It is a good time to send a demand letter by certified mail/ return receipt requested. Tell them that they have had ample time and demand that they either pay your claim or deny your claim in writing with a detailed explanation for the denial.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh