time limit on accident claims?

State is Florida. My husband was rear-ended last Saturday. He was driving a 1967 Ford Galaxie. The girl that hit him was in a 2001 Camaro. Needless to say the Camaro lost. The accident happened right in front of a local police officer. The guy in front of my hubby decided to turn rather abruptly and my husband managed to stop in time, but the Camaro didn't stop and ended up about 2 feet under the back bumper of the Galaxie. She was cited for following too closely. No tickets issued to my husband or the first driver who was making the turn. We have some relatively minor visible damage (bumper is pushed in causing the trunk lid to bulge, the air lines on both rear shocks snapped, and the exhaust system is now dragging) and my hubby has some back pain. Her car sustained $5000 in damage according to the Officer...hubby said the whole front end of her car was crunched. We contacted our insurance company and her insurance company and are getting the run around from her company. My hubby has called the office 4 days this week only to be told that the agent who covers the Florida region is out of the office. We do have medical insurance through the military so he can be seen by a doc, but the military will not pay for a chiropractor. Ok...now that all of that is out of the way, here are the questions: is there a time limit on having our car inspected and my hubby's back looked at? And since the agent is conveniently out of the office will the fact that my hubby has called the office on at least 5 occasions save us any face?

have your insurance inspect and repair the car. No, your rates will not go up since the accident was not your hubby's fault. your carrier will then go after the other driver's insurance company to get reimbursed.

Have your hubby seen by his doctor if he is hurting. He may not need chiropractic care.

take pics of your car in addition to having your insurance company check it out. also contact a P.I attorney, they'll be able to set you up with a doctor (chiro or ortho)



***after a collision no matter whose fault it was ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS go to the hospital or doctor. cause what may seem like a tiny bit of pain or no pain could be major. you don't won't to put yourself(health) at risk.***

update on this thread

My hubby went to the ER on base over the long weekend because his back pain kept him awake all night and his fingers were beginning to go numb. They said it is his elbow and not his back and have asked for the copy of the accident report as they want to be reimbursed for the medical expenses he has incurred (ER visit and pain medication).
When my hubby called the insurance company (USAA) on Friday he was told that the agent in charge of the FL region would return his call today (Tuesday). Still no return call from the insurance company. We are now considering getting a personal injury attorney to try to speed things along since USAA is giving us the runaround. We have never been treated this poorly by an insurance company.

What sort of things will a personal injury attorney be able to cover for us? Will he/she be able to collect for the damage done to our car, or just for my hubby's injury? The car is old (1967) and we are in the process of restoration and we're scared that the insurance company will total our car out...we just had the engine rebuilt and put in a new transmission and have parts on the way for the restoration.

another update and questions regarding this thread

My hubby has hired a Personal Injury Attorney and was referred by this Atty to a Chiropractor. It is unknown at this time whether his back/neck injuries will be short term or long term. In the meantime, the claims adjustor for USAA came and inspected the car (not very well I might add). He offered $300 for repairs to the bumper and an additional $100 for sheet metal repair. No mention of the air shocks because the adjustor said he saw no damage to them (air lines are trailing on the ground), and the replacement bumper alone is over $300. All of this came about a day after we recieved the paperwork from our attorney. The adjustor just came out for another look at the car, requesting that I put my foot on the brake pedal so he could make sure that we have functional brake lights. He claimed that the lights are "dim." The lights were tested by the FL State Trooper who witnessed the entire accident and were deemed fully functional. Can USAA claim that the brake lights were faulty to reduce their client's liability even though their client was ticketed for following too closely and exceeding the speed limit? My hubby said that I shouldn't have allowed the adjustor to look at the car again, that I should have walked out to the car and given him our attorney's information. Was I wrong to show our fully functional brake lights to the adjustor?
Thank you all.

carofl93 said:

My hubby has hired a Personal Injury Attorney and was referred by this Atty to a Chiropractor. It is unknown at this time whether his back/neck injuries will be short term or long term. In the meantime, the claims adjustor for USAA came and inspected the car (not very well I might add). He offered $300 for repairs to the bumper and an additional $100 for sheet metal repair. No mention of the air shocks because the adjustor said he saw no damage to them (air lines are trailing on the ground), and the replacement bumper alone is over $300. All of this came about a day after we recieved the paperwork from our attorney. The adjustor just came out for another look at the car, requesting that I put my foot on the brake pedal so he could make sure that we have functional brake lights. He claimed that the lights are "dim." The lights were tested by the FL State Trooper who witnessed the entire accident and were deemed fully functional. Can USAA claim that the brake lights were faulty to reduce their client's liability even though their client was ticketed for following too closely and exceeding the speed limit? My hubby said that I shouldn't have allowed the adjustor to look at the car again, that I should have walked out to the car and given him our attorney's information. Was I wrong to show our fully functional brake lights to the adjustor?
Thank you all.

Click to expand...

You should listen to hubby

I wish he'd told me something before!!! LOL. TY Breeze My hubby did call our attorney and his advice was to take photos of the tail lights both in daylight and in the same time frame as the accident...approx 730 pm. He also said if the adjustor showed up again I was to give him the attorney's info and ask him to leave.

Carol