Insurance wants photos of parts of my car I can't find — will this hold up my claim?
So I was rear-ended about two weeks ago — fully the other driver's fault, their insurer accepted liability pretty quickly which honestly shocked me. Now the adjuster sent me this long checklist of photos they want: damage shots, interior, exterior, and then a bunch of specific label/tag locations on the car.
Here's my problem. One of the tags they're asking about is just... not where it's supposed to be. I've looked twice. My car is older and I think it may have just worn off or gotten dislodged at some point — definitely before the accident, this isn't crash damage. I have the number itself on my registration and title paperwork, no problem there. But the physical sticker on the car? Gone or hiding somewhere I can't reach.
I'm a little paranoid that if I tell the adjuster "hey I can't find that sticker" they're going to use it as an excuse to slow-walk my claim or question whether the car is even legit (it absolutely is, bought it used from a dealership, have all the paperwork).
Questions I'm spinning on:
- Is it a red flag if I just explain the sticker is missing/damaged and provide the info from my registration instead?
- Should I get the missing info documented somewhere official before I reply to them?
- Has anyone dealt with an adjuster getting weird about something minor like this?
I don't want to seem uncooperative but I also can't produce a photo of something that isn't there. Ugh. Any advice appreciated 😬