When the At-Fault Driver's Insurer Drags Out a Claim

Attorney Answer

There is less leverage in this situation than most people expect, and it helps to know that up front. You are not that insurer's customer — its contract is with the driver who hit you — so the tools that a policyholder has against a slow insurer are not automatically yours. The faster route, if you have the coverage, is usually your own policy.

When you make a claim against another driver's liability insurance, you are asking that company to pay money on behalf of its own insured. It owes duties to that insured. Toward you it is an adversary with a checkbook, and "we are still reviewing it" is a position, not a violation. That is the honest starting point.

Florida does have a statute aimed at insurer misconduct. Fla. Stat. § 624.155 creates a civil remedy, and it comes with a gate: under § 624.155(3)(a), "As a condition precedent to bringing an action under this section, the department and the authorized insurer must have been given 60 days' written notice of the violation." That notice is a formal legal step with real consequences for how a claim proceeds, and whether it fits a case is a judgment call. It is not a form to fire off because an adjuster is slow to return calls. If the delay is serious, that is the conversation to have with a Florida attorney.

The practical alternative is your own collision coverage, if your policy includes it. Your insurer pays for the repair or the total loss under your own contract, on its own timeline, and then goes after the other carrier to be repaid; if that works, your deductible generally comes back to you. It is not free — there is a deductible up front, and a claim on your own policy is still a claim — but it does not depend on the other company's pace. If the vehicle is a total loss under your own policy, Fla. Stat. § 626.9743(5) constrains how the settlement is calculated: when the policy provides for settlement of first-party motor vehicle total losses on an actual-cash-value or like-kind-and-quality basis, "the insurer shall use one of the following methods: (a) The insurer may elect a cash settlement based upon the actual cost to purchase a comparable motor vehicle, including sales tax, if applicable pursuant to subsection (9)." Other listed methods follow in the same subsection. That statute governs settlements under your own policy, not the other driver's.

What you can do

1. Move the conversation into writing. Email the adjuster with what you are asking for and when you asked, and keep a dated log of every call, the name of the person and what was promised.

2. Get your own written repair estimates from a shop you choose, and photograph the damage before any repair work starts.

3. Ask your own insurer whether your policy includes collision coverage and what the deductible is, and open a claim under it if it does.

4. Keep receipts for a rental car, rideshare or other transportation you are paying for while the car is out of service.

5. Ask a Florida lawyer whether the delay is bad enough to matter under § 624.155 and whether the written notice that statute requires is worth sending. That is a legal decision with consequences, not a form to send on your own.

Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts with someone who can hear the whole story is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. The claim underneath the insurance argument is a negligence claim, governed by Fla. Stat. § 95.11. That statute changed in 2023: accidents before March 24, 2023 fell under the former four-year period, and later accidents under a shorter one. Insurance policies also carry their own notice and suit deadlines, which can be much shorter. An insurer's slow handling does not pause any of them. Have a Florida attorney check your actual dates rather than assuming there is time.