if a lady in a rental car hits me and she has geico insurance shouldn’t the insurance pay my damages?

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if a lady in a rental car hits me and she has geico insurance shouldn’t the insurance pay my damages?

A lady hit my car, she has Geico insurance, I called geico almost every day, at
first they had told me that they were going to cover all my damages but they were
missing some information, almost a month has passed and now they are telling me
that they are doing a coverage investigation and it looks like they are not
fixing my car, I spoke to my own insurance and they told me they are not paying
either. What should I do? take the claim to court? go after the rental car
company? my email is vllgsscr01hotmail.com for any respond. thank you

Asked on August 10, 2016 under Accident Law, Florida

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 7 years ago | Contributor

Her insurer is not required to pay you--remember; they are *her* insurer, not yours, and their duty is to her (to protect and/or pay for her), not to you. They will only pay voluntarily if they believe that you are likely to sue and essentially guaranteed to win (i.e. that you have a very strong case), so they should offer to pay now, rather than incur the cost of defending a lawsuit but still lose anyway.
What you do if no one is offering to pay you money is you sue the at-fault driver: i.e. the lady in the rental car. (Remember: another drvier is only liable, or responsible to pay, for your damage or costs if they wer at fault in causing the accident; if not at fault, they do not have to compensate you.) To win in court, you would have to prove by a "preponderance of the evidence" (or that it is more likely than not) that the other driver was at fault. If you can do this, you can get a judgment in your favor, directing the other driver to pay you; if you do, then their insurer may step in and pay.


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