Long story short, I got into a fender bender while in a rental car in a parking lot. My insurance company (Allstate) investigated and found the other driver and I to be 50/50 at fault and therefore each person was supposed to pay their own damages. Basically Allstate paid the rental car company for damages to the car I was driving and told the other driver's insurance company "you're on your own."
However, before I failed the claim with Allstate, the other driver had apparently already filed a claim against the rental car company for his damages and the rental company's insurance paid out money to the other driver without even contacting me. They were apparently NOT supposed to do this, since I didn't purchase any extra insurance, but they did. So there's that. Fast forward a few months and I'm getting a letter from a third-party claims company representing the rental car's insurance co. asking for the $2,800 they paid out to the other driver. Due to some confusion with Allstate, they never responded to said third-party claims company and so I got ANOTHER letter a few months later asking for the $2,800 or else I'll be sent to collections and possibly have my drivers license revoked. Allstate is now working on this (although they told me they've never seen a case like this because the rental car company shouldn't have paid out) but it's going kind of slow and I'm getting worried about being sent to collections while they take their time coming to a resolution.
Is there any way I can pre-emptively contact the credit bureaus to explain my situation? From what I understand, because I had an active insurance policy with Allstate, they're required to defend me if I were to be sued by the rental car company's insurance company, but there's nothing that I've read that says what happens if I'm sent to collections. I need to keep this off of my credit report but don't know how to explain the situation without first being dragged through collections and having it reported, which would be awful because I'm looking to buy a house soon.
