At-fault insurer has ghosted me for months on my totaled car — anyone else dealt with this?

Oh man, this is giving me flashbacks. I had almost the exact same thing happen — property claim dragging on forever while the injury side kept nudging me to settle. I made the mistake of signing the injury release without reading it carefully and it DID reference the broader claim. I had to fight to get it clarified before anything was finalized. Do NOT sign anything until you understand exactly what scope it covers. You're smart to have paused.

This is a classic delay tactic. They know the property side is the bigger number, so they dangle the smaller injury payment hoping you'll sign a broad release out of frustration or desperation. Then they can argue the whole thing is settled. The adjuster being unresponsive isn't incompetence — it's a strategy. Document every single unanswered email. Timestamps matter later.

I used to work on the carrier side and I'll be honest with you — when a file sits this long without movement, it's usually one of two things: the adjuster is severely overloaded and your file keeps getting bumped, or there's some internal dispute about the reserve amount that nobody's telling you about. Either way, escalating to a supervisor in writing (email, so there's a paper trail) and explicitly using the phrase 'bad faith delay' sometimes shakes things loose. Companies don't love seeing that language floating around in documented correspondence.

A few things worth knowing: most states have regulations that require insurers to acknowledge claims and respond within specific timeframes — usually somewhere in the 10-to-30-day range depending on the state. If they're blowing past those windows, that's potentially a regulatory violation, not just bad customer service. Your complaint to the insurance department was the right instinct. If they gave the regulator inaccurate information, document that discrepancy carefully — screenshots, emails, whatever you have. That kind of thing can matter a lot if this escalates.

Stop calling. Every single communication from this point forward should be email or certified mail — you need a paper trail that can't be disputed. When you write, be specific: 'I am ready to surrender the title and finalize the property claim. Please provide written instructions by [specific date].' Give them a deadline. Vague requests get ignored. Deadlines with documentation get responses.

I just want to check in on you as a person because this kind of prolonged stress is genuinely not good for recovery — physical or otherwise. The anxiety of an unresolved financial situation after an accident can actually slow healing. I know that sounds abstract when you're dealing with all this paperwork, but please make sure you're not putting your own medical follow-ups on the back burner while you fight this battle. You matter more than the claim.

I don't doubt your frustration, but I'm curious — did you have an attorney involved at any point, or have you been handling this entirely on your own? And when the regulator said they 'don't get involved in factual disputes,' did they give you any guidance on next steps, or was it just a dead end? Wondering if there's a gap somewhere in how the complaint was framed.

Honestly the fact that they haven't gotten you to sign anything yet is a blessing in disguise. You still have full leverage on both claims. A lot of people in your position would have already signed that release out of exhaustion and lost their negotiating position entirely. You're frustrated, which is completely valid, but you're actually in a better spot than you might feel right now.