Read ended by truck a month ago; their ins co won't make a decision

• I was hit by a garbage truck a little over a month ago. He had a stop sign that he decided to ignore. I was on a rte/main road with no stop sign, going with the flow of (considerable) traffic. My car was pretty seriously damaged and needs to be fixed, but so far the truck company's insurance company hasn't accepted liability, and are hanging their decision on a guy who apparently doesn't exist. In the meantime, my car's a mess. How to get a response so I can get my car fixed and not have to cover the rental myself? I was rear ended by a garbage truck a month ago. He had a stop sign and I was on a rte/main road (with no stop sign, going with traffic, of which there was a lot), but he apparently didn't feel like stopping/waiting as one does when one has a stop sign, so he just drove through it. I saw it as it was happening, the realization that he wasn't going to stop, and I tried to speed up to avoid him but he http://www.flickr.com/photos/amalkoff/9295619663/, doing significant damage. At the time, he got out of the truck and just started screaming that he'd "stopped at the stop sign" and didn't ask me if I was ok, or anything like that (I was not injured). A guy on the back of the truck indicated that he understood it was not my fault. Noone at the scene stopped, though there were plenty of other cars there. That is typical. Both cops said at the time that I was not at fault, but because they didn't see it occur and noone stopped, they could not state that in the police report and the truck driver could not be cited. But they assured me he'd be found at fault. I feared otherwise... And here's where it gets messy. My insurance company found me not at fault (yay), waived my deductible and there will be no surcharges or points. However, I don't have rental on my policy, and in order to avoid paying a few hundred dollars I don't have for the privilege of all this inconvenience, the truck company's insurance company must accept liability, which so far they haven't. The truck company sent out an independent adjustor to look at the car. That adjustor said to me "you're not at fault". However, the truck driver, they told me, is claiming I "went around" him, so it's my fault. This despite that fact that if that were true, I would have hit HIM. And the police report states that he claims I hit him, which would mean I backed up into him...on a state route, with traffic all around, inexplicably. It's logically impossible. So the two cops at the scene, the truck company's adjustor, my ins company, my ins agency, my adjustor and my body shop, plus the rules of the road all say that I'm not at fault, but the truck company's insurance company is going with the truck driver's "she went around me" statement. They are apparently waiting on a statement from the guy who was on the back of the truck (who said TO ME AT THE TIME that I wasn't at fault, but who knows what he'll say in a statement?) and he is MIA. He's not responding. In fact, the truck company says he doesn't work for them, though his name is on the police report and I have pictures of him standing on the back of the truck, in their uniform. So either he's illegal, or something else fishy is going on. I've tried calling the truck company directly, but their insurance person "wasn't in" and conveniently hasn't called back. In any case, the woman I spoke to at the truck company's insurance company, who was wholly horrible, told me there's no timeline for when she'll make a decision or when she needs to hear back from this guy. She told me if I push her for a deadline (pushing apparently = asking how long this process might take) that she'd "just decide against (me)". She also said that because the damage isn't wholly on the back of my car, it's my fault (??) My insurance agency and the people at the body shop have all been trying to get responses from them and get this moving, but have all been stonewalled as well. They (the other insurance co) won't make a decision and have been incredibly unpleasant to deal with. I have sent all the documentation I have, have made multiple trips to various places, talked to the cops, numerous phone calls, faxes, emails, etc. Hours upon hours of time sunk into this already and my car still isn't fixed. What I'm looking for are suggestions on what do to now. I will pay for the rental myself if need be, and my car is going in on 8/12 no matter what, but I cannot believe that that's my only "solution". Is this really how insurance works? One horrible woman at an insurance company many states away disregards everything - including her own independent adjustor's assessment - but her insured's absurd statement, and denies liability? Or just refuses to make a decision? And how do I get them to actually MAKE a decision? Any thoughts/ideas would be appreciated. My head is about to explode. Also: this was my first new car. I have a handful of payments left until it's paid off, so that makes it even sadder to me.

• Answer:

  Can you afford to eat the cost of the rental now, but demand to be reimbursed? She told me if I push her for a deadline (pushing apparently = asking how long this process might take) that she'd "just decide against (me)". You need to call, notify her that you're recording(are you in a two party state? if not just fucking record) and get some kind of record of her saying this. This is all kinds of fucked up, and i absolute cant stand this kind of often illegal "dangling the carrot" bullshit by people in petty positions of semi-power at places like this. My new goal would be not just to get my car fixed, but to get her and any other person who said any fucked up shitty parent to a 5 year old "If you don't do it my way i'm going to do the thing you don't want" threat shit like this in some kind of actual trouble. Saying they'd look at the available evidence and make a decision against it just because you're annoying them has to be against some kind of state insurance code or something. It can't just be like "Morally fucked up", there's gotta be some kind of rules against that behavior. THAT is something i'd be talking to the state insurance commissioner about. Ruthless bunny has the right idea with contacting your own insurance company and going "This needs to be dealt with, today. Not tomorrow, not by the end of the week. This has gone on for XYZ days and that is completely unacceptable. I'm canceling my policy at the end of this dispute if this isn't resolved by the end of the day." Then do it. It's actually odd though, because most insurance companies wouldn't want you talking to the other company and would be desperate to solve the problem ASAP so that you didn't. That's kinda weird too. If they're unhelpful, call the trucks insurance company again and literally sit on the phone until you get some kind of response out of them. Record the entire thing, tell each person at every step you're doing so. Laugh if they suddenly hang up on you like sketchy fucks. Be that annoying person who screams at them and yells at them and calls back every time they hang up, until the end of the day. Just do not get off the phone until you get some kind of definitive answer of them. Even if it's "i told you what i was going to do if you pushed me!". I never have the wherewithal to do that, and shit like this goes on for weeks for me. My boss, and my mother who will both actually sit down and YELL at people in situations like this and be "that awful customer" get results. They try to teach me the ways of the jedi all the time and i can never quite do it, but god dammit it works. Sit down with your phone and tell yourself "I am not getting up until this is resolved". Make them hate you and make you want to go away, and try and catch that woman being a piece of shit with some proof while you're at it.