Which Insurance Company is Responsible for a Parking Lot Hit-and-Run

[sailby1]

My question involves insurance law for the state of: Georgia

My car was parked at the Mall and was hit by a truck trying to get into the space next to my car. A person saw this happen and left a message on my windshield giving the description of the truck, lic. plate number and detail of who was driving. The person after doing the damage moved to another spot. I took this info to Mall Security and they could see the event happen on there security Cams and called the local police who ran the plate for ownership of truck and wrote police report as hit and run. When they went out to find the truck in the spot it was gone. The truck was owned and rented from Enterprise Car Rental. I filed a claim with them. After 3 weeks they turned it over to Geico who was the renter's insurance co. They had me go to one of there damage writers who wrote an est. for $610.00. That was two weeks ago and they are still stonewalling me saying there insured said he didn't do it. What do they think he is going to say! I could claim with my insurance who is aware of all of this but I don't feel I should have to pay the deductible for damage I did not do. If I wanted to take this to small claims do I take Enterprise or Geico? Both the Driver and the truck are from Macon, GA. The truck is reg. to Enterprise here in Savannah.

[FullAuto]

Has Geico offiically denied your claim? If not, let it run it's course. If the named insured denied hitting your car, they can and should send someone out to Enterprise to inspected the rented truck and take photos and measurements of damage to it to compare to your car. It all takes time. If you want someone to take to court, you take the person that hit your car.

[Mr. Knowitall]

If I wanted to take this to small claims do I take Enterprise or Geico?

Neither. You can't sue the insurance companies directly.

[sailby1]

I guess what is reasonable would be my question. They inspected my car more that 2 weeks ago and I have not been denied yet. They may have been able to buff out the damage to the truck, and Enterprise was not aware of damage to their truck. I'm not sure what kind of rental it is as it was a F150 pickup.

[Mr. Knowitall]

Insurance companies can work at glacial pace even when there's no dispute as to liability or which insurer is responsible for coverage. They often also use check cycles that can significantly slow down payment (e.g., checks issued once per month, with approval of any payment to be made not less than two weeks before the check cycle ends).

[jk]

I guess what is reasonable would be my question. They inspected my car more that 2 weeks ago and I have not been denied yet. They may have been able to buff out the damage to the truck, and Enterprise was not aware of damage to their truck. I'm not sure what kind of rental it is as it was a F150 pickup.

you said the mall security saw the accident (video). You say the police were called.

The police obviously have record of the call given the report of hit and run. Did the police watch the video?

It's a bit late but you might try to see if the mall has that video still available. If you sue, that would be a great bit of evidence to have on hand.

[Klindsey54]

I hope by now your claim has been paid, but just some insight into what was happening. An insurance company has 30 days to make a liability decision. If it is going to be longer than that, they need to have sent you a Reservation of Rights letter. If the driver denied the accident and there was no damage to the rental vehicle, it is likely your claim would be denied. Unfortunately, an insurance company really can't pay on a claim where their insured is blatantly denying involvement and you can't provide any solid evidence to the contrary. In a situation such as this, your best bet would be to file through your own insurance and let them deal with pursuing Geico.