6 months of silence from the at-fault driver's insurance — do I finally just get a lawyer?

This is a classic delay-and-frustrate strategy. They run out the clock, wear you down emotionally, and then when you're desperate enough they slide in a low offer right when you're most likely to just take it. The fact that your adjuster 'went dark' twice is not a coincidence. I'd stop calling them altogether and get a PI attorney on the phone today.

I used to work on the claims side and I want to be real with you — when a file sits this long without movement, it usually means one of two things: it's genuinely lost in a shuffle of reassignments (which is a real problem at some carriers), or someone has flagged it as a larger-value claim and they're waiting to see how motivated you are to push. Either way, an unrepresented claimant with an ongoing injury and no attorney tends to get lower priority. Having a lawyer contact them changes the dynamic almost immediately in my experience.

I went through almost exactly this — different injury but the same ghost-adjuster runaround for months. I finally got a PI lawyer involved around month four and the whole tone of the communication changed within like two weeks. I wish I hadn't waited as long as I did honestly.

A few things worth knowing: most states have a statute of limitations on personal injury claims (often 2-3 years but it varies), so you're not in emergency territory yet time-wise — but you don't want to wait too long either, especially while you're still treating. Also, PI attorneys almost always do free consultations and work on contingency, meaning no upfront cost. A consult alone might clarify what your claim is actually worth and whether the delays are hurting you legally.

Please don't settle anything until you know the full picture of your shoulder injury. 'Possibly more imaging' from your PT is not a resolved situation — it could mean there's something that hasn't been diagnosed yet. Settling too early and then needing surgery later is a nightmare scenario. Make sure your treatment is documented thoroughly and don't let financial pressure rush you into closing a claim while you're still actively injured.

This sounds so exhausting on top of already dealing with an injury and the stress of losing your car. You've clearly been really reasonable and patient and they've just taken advantage of that. Please don't feel guilty about getting help — you didn't ask to be rear-ended.

Not legal advice, but from a legal standpoint the pattern you're describing — repeated adjuster turnover, no response to documented outreach, an open-ended claim with unresolved medical treatment — is exactly the kind of situation where having representation tends to change outcomes. Most PI attorneys handling cases like yours will send a formal representation letter that legally requires the insurer to route all communication through them, which tends to cut through the noise fast. Worth at least a consultation.

Quick question — have you been communicating with the other driver's insurance or your own? And did you file anything with your own carrier as underinsured/uninsured backup? Just want to make sure you're dealing with the right entity here because sometimes people spend months chasing the wrong insurer while their own policy has coverage that could move faster.

The silver lining here is that you've been documenting everything — calls, emails, voicemails. That paper trail of them ignoring you is actually useful if this ends up in litigation or if you need to file a bad-faith complaint with your state's insurance commissioner. You haven't lost anything yet. You've actually built a record.