Texas car insurance question...

[SKJ 1322]

Is it legal in Texas for a company van to have basic car insurance? 

A contractor with Texas plates and the van is insured in Texas hit someone I know,  and that person is having a hard time with the contractor, because he will not respond to his insurance company.

So,  the insurance company is telling the guy he hit that they can't do anything until they talk to the contractor. 

So my friend is thinking of leaning on the company for help,  and was thinking it might be good leverage if the company van is basically breaking the law in that way. 

 

[deadshank 24654]

Is their a police report with an “at fault” finding?

Does your friend have all of the other driver’s info?   Is the info legit?

Is the contractor an actual incorporated company or an individual work-a-day hump?

Is the vehicle that hit your friend company owned or owned by an individual?

Is the vehicle that hit your friend owned by an individual but used on behalf of a company and the collision happened while the vehicle’s driver was performing normal work duties on company time?

@TwiceHorn  It may not necessarily be illegal for a company van to have “basic insurance” (whatever that means).   It would be wise for a company-owned vehicle to have commercial auto liability and a hired and non-owned inclusion.  
 

Assuming your friend has it as part of their own auto policy, your friend may be best suited to file a claim on his own policy for damages  via a non-insured / under-insured collision. Your friend’s IC would pay for the damages and then subrogate against the other driver’s policy.  IC’s don’t like paying out and love to get reimbursed.   They would  hunt down UBL for a subrogation claim. 
 

As far as personal injury for medical type things, get a lawyer to track down the driver and / or company and light him / them up.  
 

[TwiceHorn 32083]

I'm kind of a know-it-all, but I know very little about the actual workings of insurance.

But, in an unusual situation like this, hiring a guy like Brian Loncar (actually a pretty good dude, RIP), or another car wreck lawyer is probably a good idea.  It might cost a little bit in the long run having them take their contingency fee, if it was something the friend could otherwise handle himself, but given that the alternative is a big fat nothing, I think extremely worthwhile

[conVINCEd 21477]

As long as the other driver is carrying state minimum liability coverage they are not breaking any laws.  File under your insurance, get your car fixed, and let your insurance company subrogate if the other insurance is being difficult.  They’re better at it than you are.

[SKJ 1322]

Thank you for the info. 

I will pass it along

[C-Man 27787]

A couple of people above have hit it. It depends on who "owns" the van in question. If it's the contractor, it's no different than you or I having regular insurance for our owned autos. If it's company-owned, it would need to be on a commercial auto policy and if that's the case, absolutely call the company the contractor works for. My guess is this isn't the situation.

What your friend is experiencing is not unusual. My wife went through the same thing recently when somebody rear-ended her and then ghosted his own insurance carrier. My wife called and reported it to the other guy's insurance immediately but carriers generally won't pay claims unless and until they talk to their insured, especially if there's not a police report (there almost never is). In our case, the carrier ultimately agreed to pay $1600 to us despite not talking to the other driver based off photos my wife took and sent from the night in question. I was pleasantly surprised we got paid, even though it was less than what it would've cost to really fix the damage well for her 18-month-old car. With the used car market the way it is, my wife actually got a hell of a deal trading in the car as-is and buying a 2022 model (hers was 2020) so she went ahead and did that.

It's worth calling the other person's carrier repeatedly to try and get something done. The goal is to keep this off your friends' insurance if at all possible because accidents -- at-fault or not -- add up when you talk about losing loss-free credits or when you get accident surcharges.

If the damage to your friend's auto is less than $3K they're probably better off handling the repairs themselves rather than bringing insurance into the equation.

[Deej 77846]

Some kid hit my car when it was parked in front of my house. Gave me his name, said he was stationed at Ft. Hood, and would call his insurance company. A couple of weeks later, and nobody could get in touch with him. I called Ft. Hood and they put me in touch with his sergeant. He thanked me for letting him know. Ten minutes later, I get a call saying the adjuster would be there in an hour.

I imagine that kid had more than a few bad days after that.