Do I sue Hertz?

[Noah930]

Thanks for the all the advice.

I'm not going to go through the effort of small claims court. I'd win on principle, but the time and aggravation aren't going to be worth it. Collection of my winnings will be suspect, as well. I'll just take a tax deduction on loss of value of the vehicle and donate it to a family/friend. It'll cost more to fix than the value of the car.

I didn't have collision (knowingly assumed the risk for that). Unintentionally I didn't have uninsured motorist coverage. We changed insurance policies last year, and I assumed all our coverage was equivalent. However (not blaming Mrs. Noah), but Mrs. Noah handled the switchover, and apparently this was lost in translation. I doubt our insurance (USAA) would consider this an uninsured motorist, anyway.

The other driver lives in New York. She only very reluctantly gave me her car insurance info. Took a couple weeks to get it out of her, and she wouldn't give it to me--only to my insurance company. Her insurance agreed my car is a total loss, but then declined any liability because she wasn't driving one of her own cars. I should ask them for a letter stating this part of their policy. Thanks for that advice.

In California, insurance rests with the car, not the driver. So Hertz owns the car, and Hertz (or ESIS) is liable. So thanks for the confirmation, G50 and ramone. We'll see if anything ever comes of this. Either I'll get paid (or whichever friend/family member winds up with the car), or I'll take a tax deduction on the loss. I'm retiring and moving cross-country. This car has served me for 17 years and 220,000 miles, for a $16,606 purchase price.

No police report. I tried to file one (online) with LAPD. A week later LAPD came back and denied the report, claiming lack of jurisdiction, because the accident occurred on a highway onramp. They referred me to the CHP. Because I had the other party's contact information, CHP just told me to file an accident report with the DMV. I mailed in that form, including a copy of the denied LAPD police report FWIW. I'm sure it'll go nowhere.

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

Comes down to what is your time and tolerance for aggravation worth.

Originally Posted by Noah930

Thanks for the all the advice.

but the time and aggravation aren't going to be worth it.
.

Great minds think alike...

[pmax]

Originally Posted by Noah930

...

Technically, Hertz should be responsible. But their insurance company, ESIS, still hasn't assigned an adjuster to this claim. Heck, I called ESIS today, and the call center woman (Brianna) who answered the phone technically clicked on the call, but then set down the phone and proceeded to chat with her husband (must be woking from home) over breakfast for the next 15 minutes before actually coming on line. Still no adjuster assigned--2 months out. No supervisor I can contact to escalate.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

Great minds think alike...

And sometimes even those folks like me agree with y'all too .

[juanbenae]

Originally Posted by KFC911

And sometimes even those folks like me agree with y'all too .

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and again...

[Steve Carlton]

Originally Posted by Noah930

In California, insurance rests with the car, not the driver. So Hertz owns the car, and Hertz (or ESIS) is liable. So thanks for the confirmation, G50 and ramone.

I believe that's the primary assignment. I'm sure Hertz's rental contract with her puts her insurance on their car. I assume their car was damaged as well as yours, so I suspect that Hertz will go after her insurance. Maybe her insurance will admit if a claim has been made to them for the rental.

I suspect if her insurance claims no coverage, then Hertz is next in line. I believe the car's insurance is secondarily liable.

If it were me, I'd push on this a bit before giving up. It's not right for someone to be driving in CA without insurance. One or both insurance companies are trying to wiggle out of this. This has to be a simple legal situation. Your insurance company won't even give you an opinion? This is their business.

If it goes nowhere, take it out of Mrs. Noah's allowance.

[brp914]

Pretty sure writing off tax loss has to exceed 7.5% AGI, something like that.

[Dixie]

Without a police report you're sunk. It's just he said, she said, at this point.

[Noah930]

Well, there's also my wife, who was in the passenger seat of my car. And there is the crash damage on the cars which clearly shows (from a physics perspective) that her car hit mine. And that the other driver stated, at the scene of the accident, that she had a red light, took a look, and then proceeded (my wife will attest to that). And the common sense of it all: had she actually thought I was in the wrong, why wouldn't she encourage insurance (whether hers or Hertz's) to pin the liability on me, as opposed to evading providing my information to the insurers? **I** had to give my contact info to her insurance and that of Hertz's; she didn't provide them with my contact info. That would be odd for someone who was wronged. Right now, she's on the hook for the damages to the Hertz rental car. If I was the offender, why wouldn't she tell Hertz to come after me?

Because she was clearly wrong.