Company truck hit me, admitted fault — then I filed a complaint and now they ghosted me. Help?

Oh this is giving me serious flashbacks. A contractor's van clipped my car last year and the company was SO nice until I started asking for a written repair estimate — then suddenly nobody knew anything. The moment there's any friction, some of these companies just go silent and hope you'll give up. You won't, right? Don't give up.

The timing of their silence is not a coincidence. Companies — especially ones with commercial fleets — know exactly what they're doing when they go quiet. That 'we've got you covered' phase is sometimes just a stall tactic to get you to relax and miss filing deadlines. The fact that they went dark right after your complaint makes this smell even worse. Do NOT let them run out the clock on you.

I used to work the commercial liability side of things and I'll tell you — when a company's fleet insurer suddenly becomes unreachable, it's usually one of two things: either a supervisor flagged the claim for a harder look, or legal got involved and told everyone to stop communicating directly with you. Either way, that's actually a signal that they're taking it seriously behind the scenes, even if it doesn't feel that way. Keep every single attempted contact logged — dates, times, who you called, what happened. That paper trail matters.

Not legal advice, but what you're describing — an admitted-fault situation that suddenly reversed after you exercised a legal right to file a complaint — is something attorneys who handle commercial vehicle cases look at closely. The written acknowledgment you have is potentially significant. Most PI attorneys offer free consults and work on contingency for cases like this, so it's worth at least one conversation. The DOT number you have is also useful; commercial carriers are subject to different rules than regular drivers.

A couple of practical things: First, send a formal demand letter via certified mail to both the company AND their insurance carrier if you have that info. Sometimes going through the company's own claims portal — bypassing whoever you were talking to — shakes things loose. Second, your state's Department of Insurance has a complaint process for when insurers act in bad faith. What they're doing (stonewalling after a documented admission) can sometimes fall under that. Keep your voicemail backed up in multiple places.

Please don't let the stress of chasing these people cause you to delay your medical care. Neck and shoulder injuries from side impacts can take weeks to fully declare themselves, and if you haven't had imaging done yet, please go. Not just for your health — having a documented medical record tied to the accident date is really important if this ends up going further legally.

Three things: Talk to a PI lawyer this week (free consult, no excuses). Send a certified letter to the company and their insurer so there's a paper trail they can't ignore. And stop waiting for them to call you back — they're not going to.

I believe you but I want to make sure I'm understanding — did they explicitly admit fault IN writing, or was it more of a verbal/informal thing? Because 'we've got you covered' in a voicemail might be interpreted differently than a written acknowledgment of liability. Not saying you're wrong, just curious how airtight that documentation actually is.

This is so stressful to read and I can only imagine how you're feeling right now. The fact that you kept the voicemail and emails shows you were on top of this from the start. Please lean on people around you — this kind of drawn-out stuff really wears on you emotionally. You're doing the right things, just keep going.