Expert: Richard Hixenbaugh - 1/5/2010

Question
on December 17th a drunk driver plowed into my parked vehicle and completely totaled it. My car seat was on the side that got hit completely caved in the driver side of the car. On this vehicle I only had Liability for CA. I have submitted my claim with Insurance company which tells me it could be a while before the confirm what’s going to be paid. They say because he hit a moving vehicle first, took out a fire hydrant, hit our neighbors oak tree and then clipped there bumper and took out the across the street neighbors mail box first that they have to wait for each claim to be submitted. And the pay out goes the order of occurrence so the kid only had $15000.00 liability with that much damage totaling $15000.00 wont be that hard. To me each accident is its own claim, I have no idea when the city is going to submit there claim and bill. To me each accident should be its own claim is that true? Do they still have to notify us of the outcome with in 30 days? I also heard that Insurance have to replace the car seat is that trust? Can you help me on determine what my next steps should be? OR what I expect. Thank you for your help.  

Answer
Hi Diana,

Unfortunately, all of the damages caused will be considered to be one event. They are not seperate events.

The insurance company will have to waite for all claims to come in. Then the payouts will be pro-rated according to the amount of coverage and the total claims. So, just for agruments sake, if your totaled car is worth $5,000.00 but the total of all claims received is $25,000.00, your claim represents 25% of the total claims, so you would only be entitled to 25% of your $5,000.00 which comes to $1250.00.

The only way for you to receive any more money would be to file suit against the drunk driver. Unfortunately if he is someone who drives drunk and only carries $15,000 insurance, even if you win the lawsuit you will likely never be able to collect.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh