When Your Own Insurer Goes Silent After a Total Loss

Attorney Answer

An adjuster who stops answering has not denied your claim — and silence is not the same as "no." Your fastest leverage is inside your own policy and in written, dated requests, not in a lawsuit.

Because the truck driver left, the money most likely comes from the coverages you bought rather than from a stranger's liability policy. Two of those coverages matter here. Uninsured motorist coverage is the one built for hit-and-run: Florida requires it in every policy that carries bodily injury liability coverage unless the named insured turned it down, and Fla. Stat. § 627.727(1) is explicit about how that happens — "However, the coverage required under this section is not applicable when, or to the extent that, an insured named in the policy makes a written rejection of the coverage on behalf of all insureds under the policy." If you never signed a rejection, check whether the coverage is on your declarations page.

The second is the total-loss valuation itself. Fla. Stat. § 626.9743(5) tells the insurer how it must settle a first-party total loss: "When the insurance policy provides for the adjustment and settlement of first-party motor vehicle total losses on the basis of actual cash value or replacement with another of like kind and quality, 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 permitted methods follow in the same subsection — comparable vehicles, a database or guidebook with the documents produced on request, or dealer quotations. The point for you is that the number is supposed to be derived from something, and you are entitled to ask what it was derived from.

If the insurer's handling itself is the problem, Florida has a civil-remedy statute, Fla. Stat. § 624.155, with a gate in front of it: "(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." Whether to file that notice, and when, is a legal choice with consequences — that one belongs with a lawyer, not with a form you fill out on your own.

What you can do

1. Put every request in writing by email, so the record shows the date. Ask for the claim number, the adjuster's supervisor, and a written explanation of the total-loss figure and how it was calculated.

2. Ask your insurer for a certified copy of your policy and the current declarations page, and look for uninsured motorist coverage and collision coverage.

3. Keep the wreck, the photos, the repair or salvage paperwork, and any police or crash report until this is resolved.

4. If the silence continues, file a complaint with the Florida Department of Financial Services, which takes consumer complaints about insurers directly.

5. Ask a Florida attorney about the civil-remedy notice under § 624.155 and about your uninsured motorist claim before you sign any release or accept a final figure.

6. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Your inquiry does not say when the crash happened, and in Florida that date decides the deadline. For crashes on or after March 24, 2023, a negligence action must be brought within two years under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(5)(a); for crashes before that date, the former four-year period applied. A claim under your own policy runs on the policy's own terms and on different rules again. Which deadline governs your claim depends on your facts, so have a Florida attorney review the dates now rather than later.