I did call them just about 20 mins ago. They can't actually talk directly to the insurance company unless I filed a claim w/ a $500 deductible (that I ought to get back). So I did that and my agent's (shouts out to Jerome Wunderlich) going to be taking care from this point. Pain in the butt, but at least I'll get my car back up and running for $500 until reimbursement. Thanks for the replies everyone!
This: I mean, honestly, your agent is not going to do anything other than inform the claims department. It takes 1 minute and his work is done. This overall process is doubling work for no reason. Now, piece of mind is a legit reason, so it's not "no reason" but I don't think it's needed unless Safeco is acting shady. And the only thing Safeco has done so far is very standard operating procedure. Now, if Safe continues to drag their feet, then by all means claim with your own company. But, this is very possible that the time it takes to get your money from Safeco will not change at all. Now, one fault free accident won't hurt you and hell it shouldn't...neither should 4 in my opinion, but 4 will. It's always better to have a clean record than one with an accident, even if it's fault free. Overall though, this is not a big deal at all and I'm glad that the OP's worries were addressed and his car will be fixed. There are shady companies out there that will do almost anything not to pay a claim.
I pay for insurance. My agent gets a commission. I expect him to do the work and followup involving a claim without me having to get involved with the other insurance company. I expect to make one call to my agent and that is the last "proactive" call I expect to make. I fully expect him or his assistant to take it from there. Granted, there may be followup stuff I need to do, but I expect my agent to contact me and tell me what is needed in order to proceed. I should NEVER have to call the other person's company.
All OP only had to do was ask Safeco what the Date was that they needed a statement from their customer by. Once that date passes, the claim will close and they will pay out (assuming the customer keeps avoiding contact and doesn't contest the facts). Hell, even if they contest the facts, OP has a clear cut police report. Assuming this is true, no legit company will try to contest a simple and clear case...just not worth it. You don't have to do anything. I'm just trying to save you $500 bucks (that you'll eventually get back...but this will take a while) and keep your record clean. Again, it's no big deal either way. Unless the other company is acting shady, there's no need to do it. And OP was willing to go at it on his own until he thought Safeco was being shady, so he already made a cb analysis and chose to do it on his own. I just wanted him to know that Safeco wasn't being shady at all.
That is not at all correct. Any carrier who handles a claim is obligated to get a statement from their insured to help establish the "facts of loss" and then render a liability decision from there. If they can't, and pay out a claim anyway, it could be considered "bad faith", which is very big deal as far as the Texas Department of Insurance is concerned. On the other side, it is stated clearly in every policy that the insured has an obligation to cooperate with their carrier when a claim has been presented against them. Now, if their is a police report and lots of witnesses, the carrier could consider approving the claim without a statement from their insured. But that is pretty rare and very risky.
Kim is spot on here. Yes, your agent or your carrier can file a claim on your behalf. If you don't have an agent, then you have to file a claim with your carrier before they will contact the 3rd party. If you have an agent, all the agent can do is report the claim for you. No matter what anyone says, at some point, you are going to HAVE to talk to the 3rd party so they can get a recorded statement from you regarding the facts of loss. Your agent can't do that for you. Your agent also can't negotiate a settlement for you, unless they agree to "represent" you (like an attorney). If you don't want to deal at all with the 3rd party, then I would recommend filing under your own policy, paying the deductible and hope that your carrier has enough information from you to recover through subrogation.
