Unfortunately I think in this case that would be a court of law....

But seriously, USAA is one of the top rated, if not the top rated, insurance companies out there. By not letting them handle this for you, you are underutilizing your member benefit.

The $1000 deductible seems like a small amount to pay to hopefully avoid court costs and delay. If the towing company was cooperating, I might say differently but given the info you stated....time to call in the people who do this everyday.

 

The good news, if there is any, is that I have worked for lawyers the majority of my life, was married to a lawyer (he wound up being an a-hole) and have friends who are lawyers. So I could go to court and it wouldn't cost me a dime (other than maybe a super nice bottle of wine) - And my recorded statement was just the facts as they were and the same statement I gave to my insurance company and to the police. It's also on record on my recorded statement with his insurance company that the police officer on site said that HE was backing up and HE had a responsibility to make sure it was clear before backing up. My recorded statement also says that the police officer said he was at fault.

As for USAA - they did do some of the leg work in the beginning and they've been nothing short of wonderful, but when I called them and gave them the RIGHT insurance information, they said that I could handle it myself and if it got hairy that they could take over, since they have all of the information. My uncle is an insurance adjuster and he said that its a RARE occasion, that they'll give a deductible back after all is said and done, so I'm not looking to be out $500 for no reason.

I look at it this way, if they want to fight me, fight me. It's going to cost them more money to take me to court than it is to just fix my car and send me on my way. And I'm a stubborn scrapper so I rise to the occasion of a court battle. You wanna play? Game on...

The adjuster looked at my car today, he said he won't paint the whole thing. That blows, but they will blend into the door (and it WILL be done right or else lol)... I also inquired about the alignment, not sure if they'll take care of that or not since I don't think you can prove alignment being off due to an accident. Good times!!!

I'm sending Murphy back to you guys, he's over stayed his welcome!!!