The duties and resposabilities of the State Insurance Agency and Commisioners differ widely from state to state.
In Idaho their sole responsability is to make sure that a comapany that writes polices has the assetts to pay said polices. Not that they ever pay off, or if they cancel your home owners after the pay off from hail damage or............. "There are other insurance companies that will cover you, you just need to shop around" "It is after all a free market". "If you disagree with your insurance company you can take them to court, that's what the courts are there for,to settle these types of disagreements, not the Insurance Commission"
As I understand what you are saying your father side swiped a stationary object, the tow truck.GRanted it was not lit properly and too far out into the street, still...............
Because his truck was paid for he elected to carry liability insurance only. The tow truck was issued the ticket. His, the tow truck guy's, insurance refuses to pay for your dads truck. Your dad's insurance isn't in any hurry to do anything, they owe nothing to anybody so why would they spend time and money to recover from a third party?
The lawyer is really the best idea. Take it to one of those that does it on a contigency. Of course unless your father has injuries then we really are talking about the book value of the truck. It is? If the 1/3 they would collect if they won isn't enough to pay for their time and make a profit they won't take the case and you'll know it isn't worth the time effort and money to pursue.
We get a notice every month, from my own insurance company, that we pay too much insurance on the pickups. They are all paid for and they think we should have liability only AND a high dectable. I put full coverage on everything back to the 1994. Sure it's paid for but I don't happen to have $8K for another if that one gets totaled. They don't see it that way.
It's a racket but unfortunately one you can't do without in todays world.
In August 2001 I was rear ended in a 1 Ton Dodge pickup by a drunk driver that the police estimated was closing from the rear at least 50 MPH faster than the 65 I was going.
I already had a bad back. Initially his insurance offered low blue book for the truck and absolutely nothing else. My back hurt more than usual. Went in for an MRI on my dime.
I ended up with another fusion in my neck and one above the existing one in the thorasic region (between my shoulder blades). His insurance offer low ballon the truck and paid the balance of his $25K policy. Of that $25k MY lawyer got $8K and my medical insurance got the balance to pay part of the hospital and doctors bills. I then spent the next two years undergoing the second surgery and waiting for a release from the doctors, before MY insurance would pay on my Under/Unisured driver portion and the collision portion of my policy.
I looked like we were going to have to go to court but two weeks before the court date and 2 weeks after the doctors released me they settled for the $100K limit of my policy. Of course under Idaho Law they got to deduct the $25K his insurance had already paid. So that left $75K. The lawyer took his $25K off the top as agreed upon. That left $50K. Of that $38K was paid to my Medical Insurance as a suborgated right to pay re-pay hospitals and doctors. That left $22K with which I bought a used 1 Ton Dodge like the one that had been totaled almost exactly 3 years to the day of the original wreck.
With a company rather than an individual they might have deeper pockets to go after. Me I got hit by some college student instead of a Pepsi truck so there was never any issue of pain, suffering, lost wages etc.
The ONLY bright side was I was aalready retired and had retirement and VA disability income and the ranch income, whether I could work or not. If I had been a working stiff in a regular job and unable to work for three years and out of a job due the injuries, I would have simply been screwed. It's that simple.
Insurance companies are in the business of collecting and investing premiums. They don't make money by paying out on policies.
Where your dad can/could be deemed partially at fault I think from a personal perspctive you are whipping a dead horse.
I wish you and your dad the best but don't hold out a lot of hope that it'll work out to satisfy either of you.
RWT
