My insurer said 'not our problem' after clearing me — now I'm supposed to chase the other driver's insurance myself??

Ugh, I went through almost the exact same thing two years ago. Same story — older car, liability only, not my fault. My own insurer basically wished me luck and waved goodbye. What I learned the hard way: yes, you CAN contact the other driver's insurance directly as a third-party claimant, and they ARE supposed to handle your claim. They just move slowly and hope you give up. Don't give up. Call, email, then call again and follow every conversation with an email summary so you have a paper trail.

Their adjuster is going to be friendly and seem helpful at first. That's the job. But remember — they work for their policyholder, not for you. Don't let them record a statement without thinking it through carefully, and don't accept the first offer they make on the car's value. They'll lowball it and act like it's totally standard. It's not.

Former adjuster here. Your own insurer stepping back when there's no collision coverage is honestly pretty standard — frustrating, but standard. The at-fault driver's insurance does have a legal obligation to respond to your third-party claim, it just might take some persistence. A few things that'll help: file the claim in writing (email if possible), get a police report number ready, and if you have any medical expenses or missed work on top of the car damage, document ALL of it from day one. Those often get forgotten and then it's too late to add them.

Just to add some process context — when you file as a third party with the at-fault driver's insurer, most states require them to acknowledge your claim within a set number of days and then resolve it within a reasonable timeframe. If they go quiet on you, you can file a complaint with your state's Department of Insurance. That complaint alone sometimes lights a fire under them. Not legal advice, just stuff I've seen move things along.

Please don't forget about yourself in all of this car stuff. Even if you feel mostly okay right now, some injuries — especially soft tissue stuff like whiplash — don't really show up until days or even a week or two later. If anything feels off, go get checked out and make sure it's documented. I've seen so many people skip that step and then really struggle to connect it to the accident later.

Three weeks without your car because someone else ran a red light and now YOU have to do all the chasing?? That is so unfair. I really hope you get this sorted quickly. Sending good thoughts your way — you shouldn't have to fight this hard when you literally did nothing wrong.