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Convert
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Re: Car accident, what is insurance's responsibility?

Wed May 23, 2018 6:10 pm

Coming from someone who has been hit by other drivers 10 times in 10 years this is what I learned:

If you go through your insurance company you pay the deductible and then they go after the other insurance company and reimburse you when it's all over.

If you go through the other insurance you obviously don't pay the deductible.

Given the situation it's understandable that you don't have access to the other person's insurance right away. So if you need non emergent medical attention like massages or taking advantage of the PIP benefits, you can just use your insurance claim number. Otherwise you can wait it out till you get the other guy's insurance information.

I was hit by a drunk driver, he fled the scene and luckily I had enough sense of my surroundings to burn his license plate into my memory. They arrested him a week later but in the meantime I paid my deductible and started the medical/car repairs. When it was over they reimbursed me my deductible and the courts figured out the rest for the drunk. The police were able to give me the other driver's insurance information when he was arrested if I needed it, but I had already started the claim through mine.

Some insurance companies will waive the deductible if you can provide the police report to show it was indeed another driver's fault.
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Drewstre
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Re: Car accident, what is insurance's responsibility?

Thu May 24, 2018 12:52 am

Thanks so much to you all for your answers and experiences. You've all been very helpful. I think our progress forward should be to get the police report first. Can't hurt to have it. Then, if that tells us what (if any) insurance van guy has, we'll personally file a claim with his insurance. Hopefully, that will go as intended, and we can close the book on this ordeal.

If that goes sideways, I think maybe Plan B is to just replace the mirror ourselves. I found an aftermarket, brand new replacement on Amazon for 42 bucks. MUCH less than I thought it would be. Thanks for the heads up xgsound!

That leaves us with just a scuffed door sill, slightly marred window glass, and thoughts about how much worse it could have been.

I'll post back once we've got it all sorted. Thanks again folks. Best forum on the net. :^)
 
ludi
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Re: Car accident, what is insurance's responsibility?

Thu May 24, 2018 2:09 am

Drewstre wrote:
Thanks so much to you all for your answers and experiences. You've all been very helpful. I think our progress forward should be to get the police report first. Can't hurt to have it.

Yes, and as a side note for future reference, always file a police report if you ever receive damage to a rental car exceeding the agency's minimum wear-and-tear limits (typically any surface mark larger than a US quarter coin, or worse), regardless of whether you have the other party's plate and insurance info, or not. It will usually be required by the agency, and since it requires you to sign your statement on penalty of perjury, it helps establish fault if the offending driver is ever located. Likewise a good idea when reporting hit-and-run damage to your own insurer, similar reasons.
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TheRazorsEdge
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Re: Car accident, what is insurance's responsibility?

Thu May 24, 2018 5:47 pm

ludi wrote:
Well, now we're talking about two different things.


Not really. If I file under my insurance, they will seek reimbursement from the insurance of the liable party.

When that happened, I did not pay my deductible. Maybe my insurance company could have demanded the deductible until his insurance compensated them, but if so... they didn't bother.

This might work differently if the at-fault driver is uninsured. Then my "uninsured motorist" coverage would apply, and I assume I would be on the hook for the associated deductible.

Either way, I'd expect a decent insurance company to hold off on withholding a deductible until they have assessed the legal liability.

And again... none of this matters unless OP lives in the same state I do. Insurance laws are not consistent across the country.
 
bthylafh
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Re: Car accident, what is insurance's responsibility?

Thu May 24, 2018 6:09 pm

ludi wrote:
The Egg wrote:
Anyone who has dealt with another party's insurance company knows that it's almost always a nightmare. They will jerk you around at every turn, try to send you to shoddy repair shops who do lousy work, and string everything out for as long as possible. It's not worth the time or aggravation. If she has full (comp & collision) coverage (which it looks like she does), I would just pay the deductible and let her own insurance take care of it. Since she wasn't at fault, the deductible should come back to her at the end (but she can clarify this with her agent).

Again, totally a state-by-state thing. In Colorado the process is fairly consumer-friendly.


It was for me (Missouri) when my car's window got broken by a rock kicked up by someone's mower. His insurance company called me, recorded a statement, and eventually reimbursed me for the repair. Pretty painless on my part aside from having to get the repair done.
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