<prompt> Human: Hi PF,Long time lurker here, in need of advice. This occurred roughly 3 weeks ago. My wifes car was rear-ended and she wasnt at fault. She was sitting in traffic and the other driver smashed into the passenger side quarter panel and rear bumper at 45mph. The police report indicates it was the other drivers fault and pictures of the accident show skid marks from his car, positioning his car in both lanes at the time he hit the rear of my wifes car. The insurance of the driver who hit my wifes car denied taking liability of the accident. I am seeking any advice on limiting the financial impact this has on our lives as well as how to obtain what we have lost and anything that could pay us for the shear amount of stress this has caused us.Lucky she was not seriously injured and we have an emergency fund which will cover our collision deductible. We opened a claim with our insurance so we could get the vehicle repaired while waiting for the offending company to take liability. Unfortunately the decided to believe their clients lie of a story. We are located in North Carolina which to my understanding is an at-fault state and two insurance companies must agree to whos fault it was. My company agrees with me that it was the other drivers fault.Right now this has impacted us by: Medical costs HDHP, HSA funded for my wifes immediate visit to the doctor for pain medication and Physical therapy - Should be reimbursed by my current claim from my insurance Collision Deductible 1000 Diminished value of the vehicle Hire an adjusterlawyer if at-fault insurance company will not settle - vehicle was a new 2015 vehicle Lost wages 1000, wife could not go to work and lost wages for several days Pain and suffering Not sure how to value this but the stress of this event and the subsequent insurance company not taking fault has been extremely stressful Bad faith of the insurance company Not sure if we can sue for this, but its pretty bluntly obvious whos fault this accident is, could we sue the insurance company for not doing the right thing too?In short, do any PFers have advice on how to re-coup the above values? Is there anything else I should be thinking about? We believe we are at the point of requiring a lawyer but figured Id ask here for any other advice. What would a laywer cost? Can I add the cost of the lawyer to the above since they are costing my wife and Is time and money now? Can I take the driver to small claims court for anything else? Any others who went through something similar and can elaborate on the most PF way to handle this would be very helpful.Happy holidays all and I hope you this doesnt happen to you.  <response>: Tell them that youre glad they didnt pay out yet, because her neck is starting to hurt and you were thinking of going to the hospital ER to get a few MRIs and CT scans. 