Vehicle Totaled In A Final Destination Type Accident. Insurance Is Denying The Claim

Location: Gary, IN

I was driving down the highway near Gary (I live in Chicago, IL) at ~5:00am. Middle lane, going the speed limit at 70 mph. A pickup truck with a trailer behind it is hauling a bunch of scrap metal and driving in front of me. The straps break and a bunch of material falls out of the truck in front of me. I didn’t have enough time to react and ran into the sheet metal.

I’m physically going to be ok, but my car is totaled. The police report clearly states that the material was not secured properly and lists the other driver at fault. I filed a claim with his insurance company, and while there doesn’t seem to be any question who is liable, they are denying my claim because, “there is no coverage available for the loss”. That is really all Progressive (their insurance company) will tell me. They did verbally state that the driver of the vehicle was not listed on the company’s policy (I’m assuming that is why they are not covering it, but don’t know for sure).

It seems I now need to sue the trucking company directly, but it is a small operator, and I am worried, even if I did manage to find them, take them to court, and get a judgment in my favor, I’d still struggle collecting from them. I’m trying to talk with AI about the situation and it is suggesting that if I got a judgment in my favor, MCS 90 would require their insurance company to pay the damages on the companies behalf.

Can anybody confirm this or provide any additional details as to what scenarios MCS 90 would or would not apply? Total damages are roughly $20k including the value of my car and the cost of a rental car for a couple weeks. My understanding is that in Illinois, the at fault party would also be required to reimburse me for the tax value of my new replacement vehicle up to the value of my totaled vehicle. This seems to be too small for any lawyer to take on, but too big for small claims court (which I believe is $10k). Also, I can’t file a claim with my insurance company because I only have basic liability (no collision, comprehensive, or uninsured motorist).

Any advice would be immensely helpful. Thanks!