The at-fault driver's insurance company won't respond. What can I do in Texas?

The at-fault driver's insurer can legally ignore you. It is not your insurer, owes you no prompt-payment deadline, and the Texas Department of Insurance generally cannot help you with a complaint against someone else's insurance company. Your leverage comes from elsewhere: documented proof of the claim, your own collision or UM/UIM coverage as a bridge, a written demand that puts the at-fault driver personally at risk, and a lawsuit filed within Texas's two-year deadline for property-damage claims.

Stop waiting on the adjuster and start building the file. Every day you wait costs you storage fees, rental exposure, and negotiating position.

Why the at-fault insurer can legally ignore you

Most people assume an insurer has to answer claims. It does — but only to its own policyholder.

• No contract with you. You never paid premiums to that insurer and have no policy relationship with it. The Texas Supreme Court in Allstate Insurance Company v. Watson held that a third-party claimant has no direct cause of action against an insurer for unfair claim settlement practices under the Insurance Code — the statute's protections are confined to the insurer-insured relationship. See also Transport Insurance Company v. Faircloth, where the court held that a third-party claimant pursuing a settlement is not a "consumer" under the DTPA.
• No prompt-payment deadline for your claim. The Chapter 542 deadlines (15 days to acknowledge, 15 business days to accept or reject, 18 percent penalty) apply to claims under an insurance policy — first-party claims against your own insurer. They do not bind the at-fault driver's insurer on your third-party claim. (See the companion page on Texas insurance claim-handling deadlines.)
• TDI cannot make them respond. The Texas Department of Insurance cannot help with complaints against another person's insurance company and cannot decide who was at fault. A TDI complaint against the other driver's carrier is a dead end.
• The adjuster's real client is the driver. The insurer's duty runs to its own insured — the at-fault driver — not to you. Under the Stowers doctrine, the insurer must act in good faith toward its insured when deciding whether to accept a within-limits settlement offer. That duty protects the driver from an excess judgment; it does not give you a direct claim against the carrier.

Understanding this reframes the problem: you are not waiting on the adjuster's permission. You are building a case against the driver.

The exception worth knowing: the Stowers demand

Here is the one pressure point a silent adjuster actually fears.

If you send a written settlement demand that is (1) within the driver's policy limits, (2) unconditional, (3) offers a full release, (4) clearly states a sum certain, and (5) gives a reasonable deadline — and the insurer refuses it — the insurer may later be liable to its insured for the entire judgment, including amounts over the policy limits, if you win at trial. That is the Stowers doctrine (G.A. Stowers Furniture Co. v. American Indemnity Co.). Demands must clearly state a sum certain and have clear, undisputed terms (Rocor International v. National Union Fire Insurance Co.).

The duty is owed to the insured, not to you — but the practical effect is that the driver, once warned that the carrier's silence is risking the driver's own money, often becomes your ally in getting the adjuster to respond. A driver who learns the carrier is gambling with a $50,000 judgment against a $25,000 policy tends to make a phone call the claimant cannot.

Note: Texas minimum auto liability limits are 30/60/25 — $30,000 per person bodily injury, $60,000 per accident, $25,000 property damage per accident (Tex. Transp. Code § 601.072, effective January 1, 2011). A property-damage-only claim over $25,000 against a minimum-limits driver already has excess-exposure mechanics worth discussing with counsel.

Step-by-step: what to do when they won't respond

1. Document everything, in writing, from today. Everything you prove will matter more than everything you say. Move all communication to email or certified mail. Note the claim number, the adjuster's name, the date and time of every call, and exactly what was promised. The 15/60-day clock from your first notice runs your limitations analysis, not theirs.

2. Stop the storage bleed. If your vehicle is sitting at a tow yard or shop accruing daily storage fees, move it. The at-fault carrier will not pay unreasonable storage you let accumulate while waiting. Photograph the vehicle thoroughly first — all angles, odometer, VIN, damage, airbags, warning lights — then relocate it to somewhere free or cheap. You must mitigate; Texas expects it, and juries notice.

3. Check your own coverages before you need a rental you cannot afford. Collision coverage can repair your vehicle now, with the carrier subrogating against the at-fault driver later. If the other driver is uninsured or underinsured, UM/UIM property-damage coverage may bridge repairs and even diminished value. You pay the deductible now; it is typically recovered from any third-party recovery. This is often the difference between a functional car this month and a functional car next year.

4. Send a written demand to the at-fault driver — with the insurer copied. Put it in writing, by certified mail: the facts of liability (police report number, witness names), the itemized damages (estimate or paid repair, diminished value, loss of use/rental, towing and storage), the two-year limitations clock, and a response deadline. Copy the adjuster. A paper trail converts a vague "we never heard from anyone" into a documented refusal.

5. Make a proper Stowers demand when the numbers fit. When liability is clear and your documented damages fit within or near the driver's policy limits, a written, unconditional, full-release demand for a sum certain within limits starts a real clock — one the carrier's own counsel understands. This is the step where an attorney's involvement most changes the outcome.

6. File the lawsuit before the two-year clock runs. A person must bring suit for injury to property not later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues (Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003). For a collision, that is generally two years from the crash date. Most property-damage-only claims fit in Texas justice court (small-claims style), which has original jurisdiction of civil matters where the amount in controversy is not more than $20,000, exclusive of interest (Tex. Gov't Code § 27.031). A filed suit — even in JP court — frequently produces the response that six months of phone calls did not.

7. Do not let "the insurance said they're handling it" burn your deadline. Statements from an adjuster do not toll limitations. If the carrier's silence has eaten a year, calendar the remaining time now.

A practical example

Suppose a minimum-limits driver totals your $32,000 truck. The adjuster takes your recorded statement, promises an answer, then goes silent for four months while storage accrues at $45 a day.

The fixes, in order: photograph and move the truck (stopping a ~$5,400 storage bill from growing), file under your own collision or UM/UIM property-damage coverage so you are driving again, send the driver and adjuster a certified, itemized demand with a 30-day deadline, and calendar the two-year limitations date from the crash. If the carrier still refuses a documented within-limits demand, the driver's personal exposure above $25,000 becomes the subject — and the adjuster suddenly has a client calling to ask why the carrier is risking the driver's money.

Evidence checklist

Before you send the demand or file, assemble this file:

• police report number and officer/agency name, plus any 911 audio or body-cam references;
• photos and video of the scene and both vehicles (yours first, then theirs if safely obtainable);
• your repair estimate and any paid invoice, plus a copy of the final work order;
• pre-loss value evidence (comparable listings, dealer trade-in offer, or appraisal) for any diminished-value component;
• towing and storage receipts with the per-day rate shown;
• rental-car receipts or loss-of-use documentation (days without the vehicle, comparable daily rental rate);
• the at-fault driver's name, insurance company, policy number, and claim number;
• every communication with the adjuster — dates, names, and what was said — in a contemporaneous written log; and
• a calendar entry for the two-year limitations date from the crash, worked backward from your first notice to the carrier.

When a lawyer may help

Consider legal help when the adjuster will not return calls, the carrier disputes clear liability, your damages exceed the driver's policy limits, storage and rental costs are compounding, the driver appears uninsured or underinsured, or you are approaching the two-year mark. The Stowers-demand step and suit-filing decision benefit from counsel — the demand must be drafted precisely, and a misstep there costs the very leverage you are trying to create.

Talk with Gavit Law about an unresponsive Texas insurer

Gavit Law, PLLC handles Texas auto property-damage disputes involving unresponsive at-fault insurers, UM/UIM disputes, diminished value, total-loss valuation, and related insurance issues.

Gavit Law, PLLC (210) 564-7599 <gavit@gavitlaw.com data-preserve-html-node="true">

Authorities reviewed

• Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.003 (two-year limitations period for injury to property).
• Tex. Gov't Code § 27.031 (justice court jurisdiction — civil matters, amount in controversy not more than $20,000, exclusive of interest).
• Tex. Transp. Code § 601.072 (minimum motor vehicle liability coverage amounts — 30/60/25, effective January 1, 2011).
• Tex. Ins. Code §§ 542.055–.058 (prompt-payment deadlines — first-party scope; authorities verified October 12, 2026).
• Allstate Insurance Company v. Watson, 876 S.W.2d 145 (Tex. 1994).
• Transport Insurance Company v. Faircloth, 898 S.W.2d 269 (Tex. 1995).
• G.A. Stowers Furniture Co. v. American Indemnity Co., 15 S.W.2d 544, 547 (Tex. Comm'n App. 1929, holding approved).
• Rocor International, Inc. v. National Union Fire Insurance Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, 77 S.W.3d 253, 262–63 (Tex. 2002).

This page provides general information about Texas law and is not legal advice for any particular claim.