| I don't know where you come from, but in NY I believe its illegal to refuse to provide insurance info in case of an accident. I know its illegal not to have your insurance card with you. If you are involved in an accident and the other party refuses to provide insurance info, then call the police.
Of course that's too late for you. As I understand it, you agreed not to involve insurance (a dumb move on your part if your car was parked since they are fully at fault). Now they are refusing to pay. They are lying if they say their insurance company told them not to give you the insurance info. Yes, their company might have told them not to talk to you, but what they should have said is we can't talk to you, you have to talk to our insurance and here is the info. I suspect that you got a repair estimate that was more than they thought so they decided to put in a claim.
So I would go back to them and tell them you would be happy to deal with the insurance company, just give me the carrier, policy number and adjuster contact info and I'll talk to them directly.
If they refuse to give you the insurance info, do you have their license number? If so, I would go to your local police and explain the circumstances, they may be able to provide that info.
Note: I would pursue this first before going the small claims route. Again, if they hit a parked car their insurance is fully responsible under the liability portion of their policy. A reputable insurance company would simply tell you to bring your car into one of their claims adjuster, who will estimate the damage and write out a check. |