Steve:
Well, yes, it should be that easy. From what I understand, the
procedure is that the hitter gives the hittee the insurance card so as
to have whatever information is on it. In our case, the state trooper
wrote down the insurance company name with no additional helpful
information. This wouldn't have been an issue if it was something like
Allstate or Progressive. This was cryptic and useless. Almost useless,
I'll say, because I was able to find one, and only one, insurance
company with the word "California" in it's name on a web site maintained
by the Connecticut insurance commissioner of companies doing business in
Connecticut. I lucked out, and that was the right one.
The lesson here is: don't trust the cop, or anyone else for that matter,
to get the information for you in an accident situation. See it and
copy it yourself. Find a phone number. Something. I shouldn't have
had to work this hard to find the responsible party's insurance company
claims department.
Thank you to all who wrote with helpful suggestions.
By the way, of all the specialists I called for help, including my
company's claims department, the body shop manager, and my agent, it was
the car rental company who recognized the company name and identified
it. Follow the money, I guess. They even know where to send the bill.
Steven Trovato wrote:
> Here in New York, we carry insurance cards that have an insurance
> company code on them. I don't know if all states do that, and I don't
> know if that code ends up on an accident report. If it does, though,
> you should be able to look up the company based on that code and get
> all the information you need.
|