I'll admit though that insurance companies can be bastards. For example, my cousin (yes THAT one infuryum) got into a wreck in Albuquerque that totaled her 2000 Pontiac Sunfire. She had to slow down for a man making an illegal u-turn, was hit from behind by a pickup that wasn't pay attention, which pushed her car into the back of the car making the illegal turn. The man making the u-turn had no insurance and when the police sorted it all out, they cited him for making an illegal u-turn, having no insurance and they cited the man in the pickup for failure to maintain control of his vehicle.
Here's where the fight comes in. My cousin was without a car, and being under 21, had no chance of getting a rental so her mom lent her a car, a 1999 Nissan Altima. The pickup owners insurance company (located in Louisiana, with accents to prove it) didn't want to cover the entire cost of a rental. They also only wanted to pay my cousin the value of her car the day it was wrecked, not the pay-off. Their reasoning was that the difference should be collected from the other driver, since they considered him partially responsible. My uncle contacted a lawyer that sent them a letter, reminding them that the other driver wasn't found at-fault for the accident, merely charged with making an illegal u-turn and having no insurance and could easily file a lawsuit of his own. In the end, they ended up coughing up the money for 6 months for a rental, the payoff on the car, and the ambulance/hospital fees.
