[thstone]

I won't try to give you any specific advice, but I will say that the only way that I got what I was fairly owed was to never, never, never give up.

Everytime that the other drivers insurance company told me about some "policy" (like what they are telling you about only paying towing to the nearest repair shop), I would immediately inform them in writing that their "policy" was non-binding because I never agreed to those terms (since it is the other person's insurance).

I would then remind them that the other driver's responsibility was to repair my car to "like" condition at the shop of my choice including all associated costs.

Then they would come back and re-iterate the same "policy".

Then I would write back and say that if they weren't going to cover all of the costs that they needed to immediatley include their insured on all correspondence so the other driver was aware of what costs his insurance company was passing on to him.

This usually got them to cover the costs. But it also took me several letters and months of going back and forth.

Remember, the insurance company is counting on you giving up and giving in. I believe that they save millions in fair payouts each year using these tactics.

This is why I ended up buying a replacement car on my own money - they delayed and delayed and delayed hoping that I would settle for less $$$. They were hoping that putting me in that situation would force me to do so but I had the financial ability to move on without their money.