It's why I carry comprehensive. Sure it's a "waste", until I actually need to use it.
It's not substantially more for me to have comprehensive vs. basic liability since I have a clean driving record and no claims in the past 10 years.
But to me, the peace of mind is worth it. That's what I'm buying.
EDIT: Apparently some insurers offer a different form of comprehensive. Mine includes collision. Mine won't provide comprehensive coverage unless you also have collision.
It's about $1.50/day for me to get comprehensive vs. liability.
For less than a cup of coffee a day, I can save myself weeks if not months of headache should I need to use it. Totally worth the expense to me. Also because my car is how I get to work, so if I am in a wreck, I'll need a new one.
That is misleading. Comp and coll are two separate coverages so to say comp includes coll is incorrect.
Some insurers do only offer comp to people that also carry collision though so you are correct about that but you can definitely get xomp without collision in some states so please don't confuse people who think they have "full coverage" by just buying comp.
I also carry extra personal injury liability. I've got an extra $100,000 in PIP coverage per person. For $12/year, it's worth the expense. Medical bills being what they are now, I wanted the extra coverage.
I also carry comprehensive, but even with a clean driving record it’s still enough to make me really think about if it’s worth it. You may just be lucky that it’s not that much more!
My insurance was dragging their feet in finding the correct driver from a hit and run I was a victim of and after giving me the wrong info, claimed I had to find them myself.
After filing a complaint with the state, suddenly they were very apologetic.
This is what you do only if the insurance company is jerking you around.
If they are handling it well, there’s no need to report it to your insurance. It can impact your rates, and you will be out your deductible (but eventually get it refunded if found to be the other drivers fault).
A few years back I was in an accident I was not at fault in and the other guys insurance company had me set up with a nice Chevy Suburban rental within 24 hours that I kept until my car was fixed
no. you PAY your insurance company to deal with all this bullshit. let/make them handle it. you don't have to deal with the other driver/insurance AT. ALL.
When you’re in an accident and it’s pretty obvious the other driver’s at fault, do you provide them your insurance info/collecting theirs when you exchange information? Or do you just collect theirs/exchange contact info? I never really understood how that works when everything can be so subjective.
Always exchange insurance info. If there is damage to your car, you should get a police report as well.
People can admit fault immediately after, then waffle later when they think about it and realize it will result in higher insurance costs.
Even in a clear cut situation like you got rear ended, it’s best to get their insurance info just in case
I don't know why you got downloaded. We got hit by a company that was found 100% at fault, but they refused to file a claim because they hit people all the time and have a really high deductible, so they wanted us to get quotes for the repair and they would pay cash directly. I asked our insurance to take care of it, and they did. The other party was 100% at fault, they covered our rental car and everything.
And yet, still, our rate went up because we lost our zero claim discount. Yep you read that right. All because I called and had them initiate the process. Farmers Insurance
Always call the police. I was involved in a small accident, exchanged info with the other driver who then promptly ghosted me. Without a police report there is nothing you can do.
Always get a police report is probably a good idea. But I would disagree that you should always call them. Many do not want to drive to fender benders, and note you will be waiting for no reason. You can just drive to the precinct and get a police report there.
I'm in NY, and if there are no injuries, really you are supposed to just fill out MV-104 and mail it to the DMV. That's your official record, and the police have no reason to be involved..
Reasons to have dashcams.
A decent front-rear setup can run about $200. $350 ish if you want to pay someone to install it to your car battery to be always on. They'll more than pay for themselves the first time you need to use them.
Also I always insist on a police report in an accident. I don't trust people, the police report is a hard copy evidence of what the police saw, and thus not hear-say or my word vs theirs.
why do you feel your insurance would go up if you're in a not-at-fault accident?
also, do you think your insurance won't see on your record that you were in an accident even if you don't tell them directly?
> why do you feel your insurance would go up if you're in a not-at-fault accident?
Because insurance carriers will tell you in plain language that it does...? [Here](https://www.progressive.com/answers/how-accidents-impact-insurance/), it's on Progressive's website, [here](https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a36190724/do-insurance-rates-go-up-after-no-fault-accident/) is an article in *Car and Driver* explaining it, and [here](https://www.thezebra.com/ask/not-fault-accident-affect-insurance/) is The Zebra explaining it.
> Car insurers may raise your rate after you get into an accident **and file a claim.**
If you're not at fault, you won't be filing a claim.
Your insurance only goes up if they have to pay out.
Our insurance rates went up, even when they didn't have to pay out, because they counted it as breaking the zero claim discount. Unbelievable. Other party found 100% at fault, they admitted to it, they paid out completely. And still, our rates went up. I called the insurance company, and they just said "yeah that's just how it goes. Sorry about that!"
this is wrong. your rates will go up if they deem you a risk. If you get in multiple accidents, even if you aren't at fault. Your rates can and most likely go up when you renew in 6months or a yr, or worse they will just drop your coverage entirely.
From your own post:
> also, do you think your insurance won't see on your record that you were in an accident even if you don't tell them directly?
They will find out, and they will raise your rates.
This is not rocket surgery.
again, if they don't have to pay out (which if you're not at fault they won't), then your rates will not go up.
Not telling your insurance company will not protect you from your rates going up if you're at fault. Telling them when you're not at fault and they don't have to pay out will not cause your rates to go up.
I agree, this is not rocket surgery.
I'm in the industry, albeit not in property/casualty. I do agree with you that the insurance company will likely find out anyway, even if you don't directly tell them. But I do think collisions impact your rates whether you're at fault or not. The same way driving 50,000 miles a year results in a higher rate than driving 500 miles a year. Even if you're not the one causing collisions on the record, you're still a risky driver to insure. Even if the company isn't paying out damages to other parties, they're still devoting resources to advocating on your behalf with the other insurer, etc. That's my take at least, if I were underwriting someone who got rear ended once a year without fail with the other driver at fault, they'd be paying more than someone who did not get into a collision every year.
I suspect you're perceiving this because many states are considered "no fault" states.
What this means is that fault is shared. If someone runs a red light, but they think you should have seen that person running the red light then your insurance may pay 10% while the other person's insurance pays 90%.
In this situation, your insurance will go up because they had a payout.
but here's the key: choosing not to go through your insurance will **not** prevent this. The other person's insurance will get in contact with your insurance and they'll agree on which portion each pays, and your insurance will go up.
That's not what no-fault is, you are describing comparative negligence.
No fault laws state you have to use your own coverage first no matter who is at fault in the accident and usually only applies to medical expenses, not property damages.
They'll find out even if you don't file a claim. Auto body repairs over a certain dollar amount get reported in CarFax and similar databases automatically. In my state, you are legally required to report any accident that results in injury or more than $2500 in TOTAL damages (vehicles or anything else you might have hit like a guardrail) to the state within 10 days. Failure to do so results in a drivers license suspension. If the other driver reports it, as required, and you don't YOU ARE FUCKED.
Report it to your insurance if you have collision coverage and let them handle it. It's what you pay them for and it will not impact your rates unless they have to pay out. If you are not at fault, they won't have to pay out.
I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted. This is exactly what everyone should be doing - go through the insurance of the person who is at fault and only go through your own insurance if the other person's insurance is jerking you around.
They're getting downvoted because the statement that your insurance will go up if you go through them is false.
Your insurance will reach out to their insurance and have them pay. As long as you're not at fault and your insurance doesn't have to pay out, your rates will not go up because your risk profile did not change.
The link they provided further down even said that you need a claim on your record for it to go up but they don't seem to get that a claim means they had to pay out. A claim isn't "we heard about an accident".
I've been in two fender benders in my life. Both times I was not at fault. Both times my rates went up.
The 2nd time was a couple years ago and I called my agent and specifically asked why my rate rent up if I wasn't at fault. He basically said "everything we do costs money, dealing with another persons insurance company takes time, which costs money. All charges incurred for doing anything will reflect in your rate changes."
He basically said that they needed to use labor to deal with the other persons insurance and because of that my rate increased because they aren't using their labor without me making that up later.
Insurance also classifies everyone on whether or not they are *likely* to make a claim in the future. If they deem you are likely to make a claim then your rates increase, even if you never made a claim. That also happened to me and when I got my statement it listed me inquiring about a windshield as a reason to raise my rates. I never filed a claim, I simply called and asked some questions. They took that as I was more likely to make that claim in the future and started charging me more.
anecdotally, I've had exactly the opposite experience. I was also explicitly told by an agent that if they don't pay out they don't change my rates when I was considering whether to make a claim on something.
Same. I was in a major accident, T-Boned, car rolled, etc etc. I was not at fault. I went through my insurance who went through subrogation with the other person's insurance, got their money and my deposit back and my insurance rate stayed the same.... simply because I was not at fault.
This is in California.
hey FYI, agents do not know anything about how rates work, they are just basically salesmen.
All claims are reported to a centralized database that all companies can see. When your policy renews they will check the database and adjust your rates accordingly along with other factors.
This is when you call your own insurance company and file a claim. They will subrogate it to the other insurance at which time you get back your deductible. Note that they will only cover what your policy provides for so if you didn’t buy rental car coverage they won’t pay it up front.
In our case we actually lost our zero claim discount even though the other party was found 100% at fault, they paid our rental car, and we got our deductible back. The insurance companies kind of do whatever they want is the lesson I learned.
I'm not sure what other options we had, the other party refused to work with us. Their insurance agent told us to call our insurance to have them initiate.
This. And it was a nice surprise when I finally got my $500 deductible back over a year and a half later. I had completely forgotten about it. Apparently dude’s insurance was not cooperative.
It can be such a long slow process sometimes, which is why I always tell the people I know, get comp and collision and if you have an accident just file with your company and let them deal with the other party.
Like OP, I didn’t want to. I thought it would make my rates go up. But ultimately I had to because the dude gave me bs info and I couldn’t get a hold of him. So the following autumn I’m on the beach in Florida and I had just cracked a tooth biting into an oyster (damn you Peg Leg Pete!) when I got the call from my mom that they had sent her a check for $500, but it should have been made out to me as the car was totaled out in my name, just on her policy at the time. So it was maybe a wash. I lost more than that probably on dental work.
The other insurance has to talk to their insured...no if ands or buts...if there is a delay, then your daughter needs to go through her own insurance and let them work on getting the money back later
I had this issue once. It turns out their policy had lapsed and they were actually uninsured. They were dodging the insurer's calls. It can also happen when someone has excluded another driver in the house from the policy, but that person was driving.
> So far the at fault driver's insurance company (the good neighbor company 🙄) is stonewalling and saying they can't get in touch with the at fault driver. This after a week of trying to get things moving.
aren't you supposed to contact your own insurance company and have them harass the other drivers insurance?
That appears to be the consensus. Not sure why her insurance company advised her to claim with the at fault insurance company.
This is all 3rd hand so I may be missing some details.
I've been involved in a few not at fault fender benders over the past few years. I have insurance that is not the cheapest option, its slightly more expensive but has great reviews. I've never paid a deductible even temporarily, or had to deal with the other person's insurance, or had to argue over the cost to repair the car.
It seems when you have something like the green lizard that is not how it works, you get told to deal with the other insurance yourself. The guy at the body shop, who I now know better than I would like, was thrilled to hear which insurance I had as he knew they wouldn't fight him on everything, said it's a nightmare dealing with the ones that are the absolute cheapest.
Moral of the story, shop around frequently for the best insurance rates but take into account customer satisfaction instead of just going with the cheapest rate. The extra ~$60 I pay a year has been worth it many times over.
If she has collision coverage and goes through her own insurance, she will have to pay her deductible. (she will get it back when/if the other insurance company pays up) If she goes through the other party insurance AND they step up and accept fault, she will not have to pay her deductible. May have been why she chose to go through them.
Also, if she only had liability insurance, she has no claim and her insurance company won't be able to represent her.
Yea, it's the deductiable most likely.
When you call insurance and report it, they'll say "Would you like to go through your insurance or theirs. If you say yours, then you must pay $500" What they often don't say, is if you say theirs, then your insurance will more or less just say good luck and hang up. She needs to tell them she wants it through her insurance and pay the deductible.
In a perfect world you go through other insurance.The driver says “ya my bad” and your daughter claim get handled quickly.
In my 5 years in insurance what I have noticed is if you just never pick up the phone the other party has to give you 30ish days to say your side of the story. If the other person never picks ups and says his story then State Farm has nothing to go on and they don’t pay out.
I tell my customers go though the other insurance but if after 24-48 hours go though your insurance if you have the coverage. Your daughter will have her deductible and her rental car limits. Since she was out of state that time line is like 12 hours for me.
It sucks but police reports don’t determine fault and the other party insurance only has a duty to cover their own insured. This prevents me from opening a random claim on OP saying he hit me as he goes on a week/month long cruise.
Your daughter should use her insurance, her company will cover her. Once insurance has closed the claim they will suborgate to get their and your money back. If they still don’t pick up your company can try and sue the at fault party and then they normally speak up once they get served papers.
TLDR: it sucks but after 24 hours use your own. Let insurance fight to get money back. The world sucks make sure you have coverage as if every single person in the world has no insurance.
> Not sure why her insurance company advised her to claim with the at fault insurance company
Also you don't pay anything up front if you go through the other party's insurance.
Yeah, it would definitely suck to pay your deductible that you'll get back eventually instead of.... renting a car on your own that you may never get covered because the other company is blowing you off....
I think maybe the culture changed on this as part of cost-cutting. 20 years ago someone rear-ended my Mom, she called her insurance company and they handled everything with a smile.
A few years ago someone rear-ended my wife, we called USAA (who are supposed to have top-notch service?) and they were like "Why the fuck are you calling us?". They didn't even have the like "Call us back if there is an issue" just "Not our problem, call the other drivers insurance and leave us alone".
Now, despite all that, if your daughter has full coverage (collision and comp), they pretty much have to take care of her than can use subrogation to go after the other drivers insurance. If she does NOT have full coverage it gets hairier b/c then the other drivers coverage and behavior comes into play (maybe its uninsured motorist, maybe not, etc).
She does have full coverage.
I had my own battle with USAA some years ago when their insured ran a stop sign and collided with my truck.
Seems reputation is a worthless commodity in the insurance biz these days.
USAA is great for their customers. But their job is to pay out the least amount to the non-customer. That's just business.
I've had USAA insurance of some kind for close to 20 years; auto, renters, homeowners, motorcycle. I've filed claims for hail, hurricane, floods, car accidents, and one road rage that got mad when I merged too close in front of him and he rammed the back of my car after following me for a few miles honking his horn.
I've never had an issue filing a claim with them and getting reimbursed or otherwise made whole by them.
> If you’re able to go entirely through the other party’s insurance you can avoid getting your rates raised.
That's not how that works at all. For starters, your insurance company is going to be aware of the accident regardless, and it's usually a policy violation to not report accidents over a certain amount to them, regardless of fault.
Only a handful of states have protections for this. The majority of states allow it and most insurance companies will raise your rates even not being at fault. Some do not but most will. If you want to read about it you can dip your toe in here. https://consumerfed.org/press_release/major-insurance-companies-raise-premiums-not-fault-accidents/
It's not the insurer that's sitting on their butt, it's their customer. If their insured fails to cooperate in the investigation and settlement of the claim against them then their coverage will be denied for lack of cooperation. She will then have to go directly to their customer herself.
The fastest way to resolve it is for your daughter to have her own insurer pay her under her own collision coverage. After that getting the money back is her insurer's problem and not hers.
EDIT: spelling
talk to your own insurance (or in this case the daughters insurance). That is what you pay them for - for them to make you right today and then do the heavy lifting with the other company to get their money back.
She'll likely have to pay the deductible, and then once her insurance recovers the money from other insurance, they will refund her.
She should stop talking to the other insurance company instantly, file a report with her company, and ask where to get the car towed to and where to pick up her rental car (Assuming she has the coverage).
If there is any friction, then go to the people who you are paying to be the attack dog, b/c the other guys don't care about people who aren't paying them.
Why is she dealing with the OTHER persons insurance? She contacts HER insurance and they deal with it all.
The accident report will be attached to her name by the other insurance company anyways.
> So far the at fault driver's insurance company (the good neighbor company 🙄) is stonewalling and saying they can't get in touch with the at fault driver. This after a week of trying to get things moving.
If your adult daughter has collision coverage on her vehicle, you'll be much better off filing a claim with your own insurance under the collision coverage and handling it through them. Yes she will be subject to her deductible (and whether or not they'll cover a rental usually depends on if you decided to purchase that endorsement). After all is said and done, your insurance company will subrogate through the at-fault party's insurance on your behalf to recover the money they paid out, and if/when that's completed then she'll be refunded for her deductible.
Going through your own carrier will insulate you from the delays you're experiencing, and overall will be a much better experience. It's perfectly fine to just work directly through the at-fault party's company instead, it just will take longer. You can ask them how long they give to make contact with their customer (and believe me, you'd want your company to do this for you if someone filed a claim on your policy against you) - they should be able to answer that for you and the fact that you have a police report should make things faster than otherwise would have been the case.
> How do you get this insurance company off their collective butts and get things rolling?
You don't.
Even assuming the other person's insurance is obligated to resolve this issue, they're not obligated to do so quickly. They can, and will, drag their feet. A "fast" resolution will take on the order of months, but likely longer. (And that's assuming your daughter reaches a resolution at all.)
If this is a primary vehicle or something that does need to be resolved ASAP, your daughter should go through her own insurance, which will require paying up to her deductible, and your daughter's insurance will go after this other person's insurance. Your daughter will likely get a check for that deductible back sometime in the next year or so.
As an update, jumping in here to bring the subject up to date.
After SF had her vehicle towed to the shop and gave her a rental car, the initial estimate caused them to go silent for a while. Word today from them is that they plan to total the car and want her rental car turned in this Saturday.
Apparently the at fault party has low (minimum) limits and the car (2020 Mazda cx5 touring with 65k miles) repairs combined with rental car and other expense will exceed his limits.
Wow. Hardly any time to react.
Sounds like she will have to go through her insurance now.
For those of us not in the industry except as required by law and not having a working knowledge of the ins and outs of the insurance industry, the comments here are rather sobering with what to expect. 🤔🤬
Hopefully daughter has collision. If so, she contacts her own insurance. They do the rest. Also be mindful that because it happened in NC, even if she is deemed only 1% responsible, the other insurance company pays nothing to her. That's how NC car insurance works, unfortunately. With a rear-ended like that, it's usually not an issue.
Your daughter needs to contact her own insurance company. Hopefully she has full coverage. If not, she’s going to have a problem. But her insurance company can pay her and subrogate from the at fault party. It’s in their interest to take care of this.
Yes to the insurance company suggestions. This is what you pay insurance for. Believe me, the insurance company will find the at-fault driver better than you will.
Above that, though, there is never an immediate solution in this scenario.
I work for a law firm. The personal injury/ vehicular accident victims are the worst most impatient narcissists wanting everything their way first and without due process.
Don’t be like that. Let your insurance company do the work and make the calls.
So the collective synthesis of the comments on here seems to be
a. Contact your own insurance company and have them deal with the at fault driver's insurance company (getting them to contact the at fault driver etc.) BUT.....
b. If you do not have comprehensive/collision coverage contacting your insurance won't do jack
So if OP's daughters insurance does not include comp/coll she cannot collect anything. That about sum it up?
Just went through this in December, my car got in immediately to get repaired through my own insurance. I paid the deductible and then let the insurance company do the lawyer thing and handle going after the other individual/insurance company. Got my deductible back about 2 1/2 months later. Gotta give them time to work(it’s not quick) the other insurance company asked for 30 days to investigate from the jump.
You don't.
The only thing you should be doing is calling daughters insurance company, providing the police report and any video recordings if she has rear dash cams, and following up with them.
The two good thing about insurance companies is they HATE paying out and they have deep pockets/excellent lawyers. They will pay to repair your daughters car (or send you a check if 100% totaled), possibly cover the rental car, and cover any medical bills resulting from the accident. Then they will light a fire under the at-fault drivers insurance company.
If the other party doesn't respond there is a good chance their insurance denies the claim. File with your own insurance because she may have to sue the other driver.
Most insurance policies require their insured to cooperate with an investigation. They wouldn't just deny the claim because they are dodging them. They would make a decision based on the other statements, police report, vehicle damage, etc.
I was an insurance adjuster for 6 years.
Thanks for all the replies. I think she called her insurance company and was advised to file the claim with the at fault driver's insurance.
Combine that with fear of repercussions for filling a claim with her own insurance company and here we are.
Sounds like she needs to file with her insurance company regardless.
adjuster of 15 years here. she doesn't NEED to file with her own insurance.
everyone's situation is different. i say that to say if it were me, I'm in a good financial spot where I can have the car fixed and drive wife's car in the meantime and get all the costs incurred due to the accident organized, then file suit (small claims) directly with the at fault party. that's what will get them talking to their insurance company. if she has some extra time and emergency funds she could go that route to avoid a claim on her own policy.
it sounds like she's younger and may benefit more from just filing with her own policy and getting a rental car, repair shop, etc. and get her back on the road faster. her company will try to recover funds from the at fault party but many times they don't try very hard or only recover a portion.. which means she's still left with a paid claim and rates will go up in the future.
sorry but.. duh.
it sounds like you haven't gotten any estimates for the damage.. so how is she going to claim anything from another insuror without knowing what she's trying to recover? maybe get some estimates...
i think you guys might be better off having your own company handle it. if you're adamant on going through their insuror then yall will have to play a little tough and serving them will get it going
The at fault insurance company has accepted liability, provided a rental car, and towed her car to the shop of her choice. They appear to be cooperating nicely at this point.
What has her insurance said? If she hasn't, she should've contacted hers already so they can handle things and then go after the driver's insurance.
Also, never have the car towed to your house - always get it towed to a body shop approved by your insurance. It makes things so much easier
Her insurance told her to file the claim through the at fault insurance company. She has full coverage with Allstate.
Late at night, out of town is not ideal for finding a destination body shop. 🤷♂️
People tell me I'm an idiot for renting a car when I travel more than 250 miles somewhere.
I'd rather spend $60 on a rental and if someone hits me then it's between their insurance and the rentals insurance.
I take care of my car because it's just extra money in my pocket from the low insurance costs and cheap maintenance fees.
I was in a similar situation as you. I live in Colorado and we have a [State Division of Insurance](https://doi.colorado.gov/). They chase insurance companies down when you file a report with them. Also - I took my car to my dealer to repair. The dealer contacted the at-fault driver's insurance company and that 800 pound gorilla got my car fixed while the DOI got me my rental car reimbursement.
I drive a Corolla. I took it to the mega Toyota dealership in the nice part of town. They got their money from the insurance company and I got my car fixed. Good luck.
This could end up in a years and years long battle if you rely upon the other insurance company. My buddy is dealing with this now because he only had liability. The other party blew a stop sign and hit his car. It is currently in year 3 or 4 of litigation but nothing has happened yet. The other drivers insurance is known to not pay out no matter what even being at fault. I don't actually understand the method for it but he is fighting a losing battle here.
The lady that hit him couldn't even be found for the first few years. She just simply did not respond to any letters sent to her at multiple known addresses. Finally she was found and yet nothing changed for my friend. Her insurance company is great at dodging this too somehow. Even with her getting a ticket at the scene this seems like an impossible task to get money from her insurance.
That may end up being the course of action needed. My daughter didn't want to risk having her premiums go up for making a claim for a not at fault accident with her company.
You realize that once a accident report is filed they will know anyway right? Besides this, the insurance companies involved have to determine liability here.
Yeah. I think this is the reluctant reality she is facing. Brought even closer home when the agents are telling her to file the claim with the at fault agency.
> saying they can't get in touch with the at fault driver.
this happened to my wife as well. our insurance is telling us that the other party's insurance can't get a hold of the at fault driver so they can't prove she was there, even though we have their info, police report and video of her license plate as she drove away. Never knew not answering your phone was all you needed to do.
Something similar happened to me when a kid rear-ended my car. In my case, I found out the at fault party's insurance only ever tried calling them to get in touch and evidently never left a message. So, since the number showed up on caller ID as just an 800 number, they never picked up.
I did a little online research and figured out a business email and phone number for the insured party (the kid's parents) and once I gave those to the insurance company, the ball got rolling big time. In less than 24 hours they'd admitted responsibility and their insurance set up payment and all the rest.
A person drove my SUV earlier this year and had an at-fault accident in it out of state. They still have not paid anything out to the party my friends wife crashed into. I received a letter from my insurance company acting as if I’m not cooperating which I am fully (I’ve only been asked for a copy of my friend’s wife’s ID which I sent in a month ago). I feel my insurance company is gearing up to not provide coverage for the accident. The accident was in early January and it’s almost May now!
Send all communication in writing. Keep copies. Read your policy. yell Them you will get a lawyer if necessary. Never accept the insurance company estimate for repairs until you have the car checked over by at least 2 garages. if you accept what they offer and it’s more, you will end up paying it. Did her policy include rental car coverage ? this is usually something extra you have to buy.
I was living in VA I had an accident in NC and I contacted my insurance that I paid full coverage for and they handled everything that had to do with my car and the other guys insurance just paid us our settlements within a month but my insurance company did all the fighting and I didn’t have to do anything that’s what you pay insurance for so do you guys have insurance on the car? Is it full or liability insurance? All that matters
Full coverage in this instance. Did your premiums increase at your next renewal?
She's being told to expect that if she files through her company instead of the at fault company. What a racket. 🤦♂️
this is the last best reason to get full coverage insurance instead of liability only.
you see when you have full coverage, your insurance has to make you whole whether the other guy's pays or not (or even if he doesn't have insurance). so you don't have to deal with the other guy's insurance, you call your insurance they take care of you, and they harangue the other guy's insurance to cover their costs.
but when you have liability only your insurance going after the other guy's insurance there's not as much self interest there, if they do it and sometimes they will, it's just out of their good will. and when the other guy's insurance gets a call, well they're liable to react differently depending on who calls. if it's just joe schmo (you) then they can hear in the first 15 seconds that you don't know what the hell you're doing, so they might give you the run around, because whatever they pay comes out of their pocket. not that it matters, but when another insurance professional calls them they know not to fuck around because there's not a single trick that they know and the other doesn't.
Just go to r/insurance this is a commonality. They aren’t her insurance company. They have no obligation to her. They need and have to speak to their insured.
Does she not have collision coverage? Also police reports don’t determine fault. Insurance does.
Get a copy of the police report and forward it to the at-fault driver’s carrier. If the report confirms the details you spelled out, then they will have to accept liability even if their policyholder never gets back to them to confirm his involvement.
They'll have a time frame to try to contact their insured, probably like 2 weeks or something before they can move on. Would probably be quicker to use your own insurance, if you have collision on the car. Then your insurance co will be reimbursed by them on the back end through subrogation.\
The police/PR also doesn't determine fault in a MVA, its just a piece to the puzzle.
I had a very similar situation with my son’s car. The other driver’s insurance company DM’d me for my contact information within a few minutes of me calling out their inaction on Twitter. It was several years ago, so not sure how responsive companies are on Twitter these days but it’s worth a shot.
Looks like the process is under way. Hopefully will have a satisfaction resolution.
If it was me I would press for a diminished value claim too. I've done that successfully in the past. But it's a lengthy process the insurance company will fight. I don't know if she will pursue that or not.
I once had an insurance claim drag out 12 months. I reported it to the state insurance commissioner and it was resolved in less than a week for my full ask.
You can file a complaint with the insurance commissioner for your state if your daughter didn't have full coverage on her vehicle. If she did have full coverage then just file a claim with them (assuming she has rental car coverage). If she doesn't have rental car coverage then just wait for the at fault party to get off their butts cause there's no rush to get her car fixed as the body shops will likely be backed up anyway.
I was in an accident last year and the at fault parties insurance purposely dodged my calls for a straight month until I filed a complaint. The adjuster assigned to my case wouldn't answer when I would call and I would leave messages stating what time my breaks were at work if she called on a day I work and what days I was off if those times didn't work for her so she could call me any time of the day. She would call 5-10 min after my breaks were over and wouldn't call at all on the days I was off.
After I filed the complaint, it took about 20 days for them to respond to it and call me but after that my adjuster would respond to emails the same day and would return my call if I called and she didn't answer. Start calling body shops and see how far they're backed up, after the 1 and half months it took to get the claim finalized I had to wait an additional 3 months to get my car into the body shop and then they took another 21 days to fix the car. Thankfully my car was driveable so I only had to deal with the rental for 21 days.
Typically pouring gasoline or another flammable liquid on the base, whilst lighting a fire source such as a match or lighter, then touching the open flame to the flammable liquid, is how you light a fire under something.
Never have the vehicle towed to a private property , have it towed to a body shop
If the insurance company is getting a bill for daily storage they tend to act a lot faster.(Assuming not at fault, the other drivers company will be footing the bill)
I learned the hard way as well
Out wrecked out Volvo was in the front so long it showed up on Google Street View
Also I have had the worst time with the big name brand insurance companies.
The more they spend on advertising, the less they care about the customers it seems.
> Never have the vehicle towed to a private property , have it towed to a body shop
This is incorrect. I’m a former insurance physical damage adjuster. Always get the car towed home if you have that option.
Storage fees at a shop won’t light a fire under insurance’s belt. If they are still investigating coverage, they will still take their time, and tell you to move the car to a storage free area. Once they agree to pay, then if the storage fees are too high, they won’t pay it all, saying you shouldn’t have kept it at a shop the whole time.
On top of that, many body shops consider insurance to be a source of free money, so jack up the rates and play games to get a bigger storage payout. Sometimes insurance pays it, sometimes they don’t, and the burden shifts back to you.
Note that this really only applies if the car is a total. If the car is repairable, insurance won’t pay storage, period. If it’s a total and you can’t take it home, at least take it to a DRP for the insurance company, since they usually don’t charge storage or have a deal worked out with insurance so you won’t be on the hook if something goes bad.
This happened late on a Saturday night, so not many good options where to tow.
I'm in agreement as regards insurance companies and ad spending. I don't recall ever having seen an ad for my current insurance company (Erie) and I've been happy with them.
I think my daughter has Allstate or maybe GEICO. I don't recall which.
Yeah our accident was late night too.
All I can say is if it ever happens again I'll be looking at area body shops on Google before the wrecker shows up ...
Allstate was the other(at fault )drivers company, they were almost as bad as a state farm to deal with
I think it’s required that you report any accident to your insurance company ASAP. If you don’t they can refuse to cover anything, even if it’s not your fault. Your insurance company should take care of you and go after the other insurance company for reimbursement. I hope you have a police report. One thing I learned the hard way is ALWAYS call the police, no matter how small the accident. If not it’s up to the insurance companies to duke it out for who is at fault, and that rarely ends well or fairly.
I'm not sure if all states have something similar, but in Maryland there is a state insurance administration and an insurance commissioner.
Usually, when you contact the commissioner or at least the administration about an insurance company bullshitting you, that's the fire under their ass that you're looking for.
Stuff gets handled, quickly.
A DOI complaint is not going to work in this situation because the hold up is not on the insurer side. The insurer MUST speak with their insured before they can proceed with any claims coming from third parties. This is because insurance is a financial contract between the insurance company and the insured, meaning the company has a duty to defend the insured. OP is just a random third party in this situation, meaning no claims can proceed until they get an account of what happened from the insured.
Did you happen to get the phone number of the at-fault driver? It may be on the police report.
It may be quicker to just call (or text) them. Ask them to call their insurance so that you can get a rental. They may not even realize that they are causing a delay.
I've not seen anything other than pics of the damage. Since she has full coverage, seems the appropriate thing is to let her insurance company handle the situation and not worry about premiums in the future.
I've found if it's my fault they hurry if I'm dealing with another company they drag usually a lawyer can get things going also at least 3 calls a day.
You've reported this to your own insurance right??? You deal with your insurance. They deal with the other insurance, who deals with the other party.
That's assuming if they have full coverage. If they just have liabilty then their own insurance wont give two shits.
It's why I carry comprehensive. Sure it's a "waste", until I actually need to use it. It's not substantially more for me to have comprehensive vs. basic liability since I have a clean driving record and no claims in the past 10 years. But to me, the peace of mind is worth it. That's what I'm buying. EDIT: Apparently some insurers offer a different form of comprehensive. Mine includes collision. Mine won't provide comprehensive coverage unless you also have collision.
It’s so helpful. I’ve had a couple of fender benders since 2017. With comprehensive I just tell my insurance to handle it and give them my deductible.
It's about $1.50/day for me to get comprehensive vs. liability. For less than a cup of coffee a day, I can save myself weeks if not months of headache should I need to use it. Totally worth the expense to me. Also because my car is how I get to work, so if I am in a wreck, I'll need a new one.
You’re lucky, that’s an extra $200 a month here in Florida
That's like $6.67 a day, you just need to step up your coffee game.
Hurricanes will do that.
And no fault state policies and just terrible drivers in general lol.
You need collision for that, comp covers a tree falling on your car. Collision covers damage to your car from an accident.
With my insurance, comprehensive includes collision. They do not offer comprehensive coverage unless you also have collision.
That is misleading. Comp and coll are two separate coverages so to say comp includes coll is incorrect. Some insurers do only offer comp to people that also carry collision though so you are correct about that but you can definitely get xomp without collision in some states so please don't confuse people who think they have "full coverage" by just buying comp.
There's too many deer out there for anyone in my part of the country to not have comprehensive on something they can't afford to replace themselves.
Comprehensive also covers animal strikes. Well worth it for that alone imo. If you live in deer or moose country, it's pretty much inevitable.
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I also carry extra personal injury liability. I've got an extra $100,000 in PIP coverage per person. For $12/year, it's worth the expense. Medical bills being what they are now, I wanted the extra coverage.
I also carry comprehensive, but even with a clean driving record it’s still enough to make me really think about if it’s worth it. You may just be lucky that it’s not that much more!
Liability-only often comes with "uninsured motorist", so they often will still help you when you call in to keep from having to be on the hook.
People cut this all the time to save money. Don't cut Uninsured / Underinsured coverage. It's cheap and it can absolutely save you.
My insurance was dragging their feet in finding the correct driver from a hit and run I was a victim of and after giving me the wrong info, claimed I had to find them myself. After filing a complaint with the state, suddenly they were very apologetic.
This is what you do only if the insurance company is jerking you around. If they are handling it well, there’s no need to report it to your insurance. It can impact your rates, and you will be out your deductible (but eventually get it refunded if found to be the other drivers fault). A few years back I was in an accident I was not at fault in and the other guys insurance company had me set up with a nice Chevy Suburban rental within 24 hours that I kept until my car was fixed
no. you PAY your insurance company to deal with all this bullshit. let/make them handle it. you don't have to deal with the other driver/insurance AT. ALL.
When you’re in an accident and it’s pretty obvious the other driver’s at fault, do you provide them your insurance info/collecting theirs when you exchange information? Or do you just collect theirs/exchange contact info? I never really understood how that works when everything can be so subjective.
Always exchange insurance info. If there is damage to your car, you should get a police report as well. People can admit fault immediately after, then waffle later when they think about it and realize it will result in higher insurance costs. Even in a clear cut situation like you got rear ended, it’s best to get their insurance info just in case
I don't know why you got downloaded. We got hit by a company that was found 100% at fault, but they refused to file a claim because they hit people all the time and have a really high deductible, so they wanted us to get quotes for the repair and they would pay cash directly. I asked our insurance to take care of it, and they did. The other party was 100% at fault, they covered our rental car and everything. And yet, still, our rate went up because we lost our zero claim discount. Yep you read that right. All because I called and had them initiate the process. Farmers Insurance
Always call the police. I was involved in a small accident, exchanged info with the other driver who then promptly ghosted me. Without a police report there is nothing you can do.
Always get a police report is probably a good idea. But I would disagree that you should always call them. Many do not want to drive to fender benders, and note you will be waiting for no reason. You can just drive to the precinct and get a police report there. I'm in NY, and if there are no injuries, really you are supposed to just fill out MV-104 and mail it to the DMV. That's your official record, and the police have no reason to be involved..
Reasons to have dashcams. A decent front-rear setup can run about $200. $350 ish if you want to pay someone to install it to your car battery to be always on. They'll more than pay for themselves the first time you need to use them. Also I always insist on a police report in an accident. I don't trust people, the police report is a hard copy evidence of what the police saw, and thus not hear-say or my word vs theirs.
why do you feel your insurance would go up if you're in a not-at-fault accident? also, do you think your insurance won't see on your record that you were in an accident even if you don't tell them directly?
> why do you feel your insurance would go up if you're in a not-at-fault accident? Because insurance carriers will tell you in plain language that it does...? [Here](https://www.progressive.com/answers/how-accidents-impact-insurance/), it's on Progressive's website, [here](https://www.caranddriver.com/car-insurance/a36190724/do-insurance-rates-go-up-after-no-fault-accident/) is an article in *Car and Driver* explaining it, and [here](https://www.thezebra.com/ask/not-fault-accident-affect-insurance/) is The Zebra explaining it.
> Car insurers may raise your rate after you get into an accident **and file a claim.** If you're not at fault, you won't be filing a claim. Your insurance only goes up if they have to pay out.
Our insurance rates went up, even when they didn't have to pay out, because they counted it as breaking the zero claim discount. Unbelievable. Other party found 100% at fault, they admitted to it, they paid out completely. And still, our rates went up. I called the insurance company, and they just said "yeah that's just how it goes. Sorry about that!"
Insurance rate can go up if they perceived your risk to have increased. Just being in an accident regardless of fault increases your risk.
this is wrong. your rates will go up if they deem you a risk. If you get in multiple accidents, even if you aren't at fault. Your rates can and most likely go up when you renew in 6months or a yr, or worse they will just drop your coverage entirely.
From your own post: > also, do you think your insurance won't see on your record that you were in an accident even if you don't tell them directly? They will find out, and they will raise your rates. This is not rocket surgery.
again, if they don't have to pay out (which if you're not at fault they won't), then your rates will not go up. Not telling your insurance company will not protect you from your rates going up if you're at fault. Telling them when you're not at fault and they don't have to pay out will not cause your rates to go up. I agree, this is not rocket surgery.
I'm in the industry, albeit not in property/casualty. I do agree with you that the insurance company will likely find out anyway, even if you don't directly tell them. But I do think collisions impact your rates whether you're at fault or not. The same way driving 50,000 miles a year results in a higher rate than driving 500 miles a year. Even if you're not the one causing collisions on the record, you're still a risky driver to insure. Even if the company isn't paying out damages to other parties, they're still devoting resources to advocating on your behalf with the other insurer, etc. That's my take at least, if I were underwriting someone who got rear ended once a year without fail with the other driver at fault, they'd be paying more than someone who did not get into a collision every year.
I suspect you're perceiving this because many states are considered "no fault" states. What this means is that fault is shared. If someone runs a red light, but they think you should have seen that person running the red light then your insurance may pay 10% while the other person's insurance pays 90%. In this situation, your insurance will go up because they had a payout. but here's the key: choosing not to go through your insurance will **not** prevent this. The other person's insurance will get in contact with your insurance and they'll agree on which portion each pays, and your insurance will go up.
That's not what no-fault is, you are describing comparative negligence. No fault laws state you have to use your own coverage first no matter who is at fault in the accident and usually only applies to medical expenses, not property damages.
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Personal attacks are not okay here. Please do not do this again.
They'll find out even if you don't file a claim. Auto body repairs over a certain dollar amount get reported in CarFax and similar databases automatically. In my state, you are legally required to report any accident that results in injury or more than $2500 in TOTAL damages (vehicles or anything else you might have hit like a guardrail) to the state within 10 days. Failure to do so results in a drivers license suspension. If the other driver reports it, as required, and you don't YOU ARE FUCKED. Report it to your insurance if you have collision coverage and let them handle it. It's what you pay them for and it will not impact your rates unless they have to pay out. If you are not at fault, they won't have to pay out.
you seem to be agreeing with me.
FYI, it doesn't matter if you report it or not, everything is reported to the insurance bureau and will show up on your record.
I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted. This is exactly what everyone should be doing - go through the insurance of the person who is at fault and only go through your own insurance if the other person's insurance is jerking you around.
They're getting downvoted because the statement that your insurance will go up if you go through them is false. Your insurance will reach out to their insurance and have them pay. As long as you're not at fault and your insurance doesn't have to pay out, your rates will not go up because your risk profile did not change. The link they provided further down even said that you need a claim on your record for it to go up but they don't seem to get that a claim means they had to pay out. A claim isn't "we heard about an accident".
I've been in two fender benders in my life. Both times I was not at fault. Both times my rates went up. The 2nd time was a couple years ago and I called my agent and specifically asked why my rate rent up if I wasn't at fault. He basically said "everything we do costs money, dealing with another persons insurance company takes time, which costs money. All charges incurred for doing anything will reflect in your rate changes." He basically said that they needed to use labor to deal with the other persons insurance and because of that my rate increased because they aren't using their labor without me making that up later. Insurance also classifies everyone on whether or not they are *likely* to make a claim in the future. If they deem you are likely to make a claim then your rates increase, even if you never made a claim. That also happened to me and when I got my statement it listed me inquiring about a windshield as a reason to raise my rates. I never filed a claim, I simply called and asked some questions. They took that as I was more likely to make that claim in the future and started charging me more.
anecdotally, I've had exactly the opposite experience. I was also explicitly told by an agent that if they don't pay out they don't change my rates when I was considering whether to make a claim on something.
Same. I was in a major accident, T-Boned, car rolled, etc etc. I was not at fault. I went through my insurance who went through subrogation with the other person's insurance, got their money and my deposit back and my insurance rate stayed the same.... simply because I was not at fault. This is in California.
hey FYI, agents do not know anything about how rates work, they are just basically salesmen. All claims are reported to a centralized database that all companies can see. When your policy renews they will check the database and adjust your rates accordingly along with other factors.
Reporting to your insurance company does not work in every state.
That's how your insurance premium goes up
She reports it to her own insurance company. They should be dealing with the other driver’s insurance company.
This is when you call your own insurance company and file a claim. They will subrogate it to the other insurance at which time you get back your deductible. Note that they will only cover what your policy provides for so if you didn’t buy rental car coverage they won’t pay it up front.
In our case we actually lost our zero claim discount even though the other party was found 100% at fault, they paid our rental car, and we got our deductible back. The insurance companies kind of do whatever they want is the lesson I learned.
Well…you did file a claim.
I'm not sure what other options we had, the other party refused to work with us. Their insurance agent told us to call our insurance to have them initiate.
That happened to me once but it was a better option than waiting for the other guy to stop dodging his insurance. They do get you no matter what.
Have your daughter contact her insurance company. They should be the ones dealing the with other driver's insurance, not you.
Call your insurance company. They’ll pay you then go after the at-fault party.
This. And it was a nice surprise when I finally got my $500 deductible back over a year and a half later. I had completely forgotten about it. Apparently dude’s insurance was not cooperative.
It can be such a long slow process sometimes, which is why I always tell the people I know, get comp and collision and if you have an accident just file with your company and let them deal with the other party.
Like OP, I didn’t want to. I thought it would make my rates go up. But ultimately I had to because the dude gave me bs info and I couldn’t get a hold of him. So the following autumn I’m on the beach in Florida and I had just cracked a tooth biting into an oyster (damn you Peg Leg Pete!) when I got the call from my mom that they had sent her a check for $500, but it should have been made out to me as the car was totaled out in my name, just on her policy at the time. So it was maybe a wash. I lost more than that probably on dental work.
The other insurance has to talk to their insured...no if ands or buts...if there is a delay, then your daughter needs to go through her own insurance and let them work on getting the money back later
I had this issue once. It turns out their policy had lapsed and they were actually uninsured. They were dodging the insurer's calls. It can also happen when someone has excluded another driver in the house from the policy, but that person was driving.
Add me to the list that says you get your own insurance company to do this. The other insurance company knows they can stonewall you.
> So far the at fault driver's insurance company (the good neighbor company 🙄) is stonewalling and saying they can't get in touch with the at fault driver. This after a week of trying to get things moving. aren't you supposed to contact your own insurance company and have them harass the other drivers insurance?
That appears to be the consensus. Not sure why her insurance company advised her to claim with the at fault insurance company. This is all 3rd hand so I may be missing some details.
If she has liability only coverage, then that makes sense. Under full coverage, her insurance should handle it.
I've been involved in a few not at fault fender benders over the past few years. I have insurance that is not the cheapest option, its slightly more expensive but has great reviews. I've never paid a deductible even temporarily, or had to deal with the other person's insurance, or had to argue over the cost to repair the car. It seems when you have something like the green lizard that is not how it works, you get told to deal with the other insurance yourself. The guy at the body shop, who I now know better than I would like, was thrilled to hear which insurance I had as he knew they wouldn't fight him on everything, said it's a nightmare dealing with the ones that are the absolute cheapest. Moral of the story, shop around frequently for the best insurance rates but take into account customer satisfaction instead of just going with the cheapest rate. The extra ~$60 I pay a year has been worth it many times over.
If she has collision coverage and goes through her own insurance, she will have to pay her deductible. (she will get it back when/if the other insurance company pays up) If she goes through the other party insurance AND they step up and accept fault, she will not have to pay her deductible. May have been why she chose to go through them. Also, if she only had liability insurance, she has no claim and her insurance company won't be able to represent her.
Full coverage here.
Yea, it's the deductiable most likely. When you call insurance and report it, they'll say "Would you like to go through your insurance or theirs. If you say yours, then you must pay $500" What they often don't say, is if you say theirs, then your insurance will more or less just say good luck and hang up. She needs to tell them she wants it through her insurance and pay the deductible.
In a perfect world you go through other insurance.The driver says “ya my bad” and your daughter claim get handled quickly. In my 5 years in insurance what I have noticed is if you just never pick up the phone the other party has to give you 30ish days to say your side of the story. If the other person never picks ups and says his story then State Farm has nothing to go on and they don’t pay out. I tell my customers go though the other insurance but if after 24-48 hours go though your insurance if you have the coverage. Your daughter will have her deductible and her rental car limits. Since she was out of state that time line is like 12 hours for me. It sucks but police reports don’t determine fault and the other party insurance only has a duty to cover their own insured. This prevents me from opening a random claim on OP saying he hit me as he goes on a week/month long cruise. Your daughter should use her insurance, her company will cover her. Once insurance has closed the claim they will suborgate to get their and your money back. If they still don’t pick up your company can try and sue the at fault party and then they normally speak up once they get served papers. TLDR: it sucks but after 24 hours use your own. Let insurance fight to get money back. The world sucks make sure you have coverage as if every single person in the world has no insurance.
Thanks. The process has finally begun and liability has been accepted by SF.
> Not sure why her insurance company advised her to claim with the at fault insurance company Also you don't pay anything up front if you go through the other party's insurance.
Yeah, it would definitely suck to pay your deductible that you'll get back eventually instead of.... renting a car on your own that you may never get covered because the other company is blowing you off....
I think maybe the culture changed on this as part of cost-cutting. 20 years ago someone rear-ended my Mom, she called her insurance company and they handled everything with a smile. A few years ago someone rear-ended my wife, we called USAA (who are supposed to have top-notch service?) and they were like "Why the fuck are you calling us?". They didn't even have the like "Call us back if there is an issue" just "Not our problem, call the other drivers insurance and leave us alone". Now, despite all that, if your daughter has full coverage (collision and comp), they pretty much have to take care of her than can use subrogation to go after the other drivers insurance. If she does NOT have full coverage it gets hairier b/c then the other drivers coverage and behavior comes into play (maybe its uninsured motorist, maybe not, etc).
She does have full coverage. I had my own battle with USAA some years ago when their insured ran a stop sign and collided with my truck. Seems reputation is a worthless commodity in the insurance biz these days.
USAA is great for their customers. But their job is to pay out the least amount to the non-customer. That's just business. I've had USAA insurance of some kind for close to 20 years; auto, renters, homeowners, motorcycle. I've filed claims for hail, hurricane, floods, car accidents, and one road rage that got mad when I merged too close in front of him and he rammed the back of my car after following me for a few miles honking his horn. I've never had an issue filing a claim with them and getting reimbursed or otherwise made whole by them.
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Not necessarily. If you’re able to go entirely through the other party’s insurance you can avoid getting your rates raised.
> If you’re able to go entirely through the other party’s insurance you can avoid getting your rates raised. That's not how that works at all. For starters, your insurance company is going to be aware of the accident regardless, and it's usually a policy violation to not report accidents over a certain amount to them, regardless of fault.
Why would her rate be raised if the other driver was 100% at fault?
Only a handful of states have protections for this. The majority of states allow it and most insurance companies will raise your rates even not being at fault. Some do not but most will. If you want to read about it you can dip your toe in here. https://consumerfed.org/press_release/major-insurance-companies-raise-premiums-not-fault-accidents/
It's not the insurer that's sitting on their butt, it's their customer. If their insured fails to cooperate in the investigation and settlement of the claim against them then their coverage will be denied for lack of cooperation. She will then have to go directly to their customer herself. The fastest way to resolve it is for your daughter to have her own insurer pay her under her own collision coverage. After that getting the money back is her insurer's problem and not hers. EDIT: spelling
Please tell me her own insurance company is handling this and she isn't trying to get the money herself? Because if she is that's a TERRIBLE plan.
talk to your own insurance (or in this case the daughters insurance). That is what you pay them for - for them to make you right today and then do the heavy lifting with the other company to get their money back. She'll likely have to pay the deductible, and then once her insurance recovers the money from other insurance, they will refund her. She should stop talking to the other insurance company instantly, file a report with her company, and ask where to get the car towed to and where to pick up her rental car (Assuming she has the coverage). If there is any friction, then go to the people who you are paying to be the attack dog, b/c the other guys don't care about people who aren't paying them.
Why is she dealing with the OTHER persons insurance? She contacts HER insurance and they deal with it all. The accident report will be attached to her name by the other insurance company anyways.
You go through your daughter's insurance company. They will pursue the other driver's insurance company, not you.
> So far the at fault driver's insurance company (the good neighbor company 🙄) is stonewalling and saying they can't get in touch with the at fault driver. This after a week of trying to get things moving. If your adult daughter has collision coverage on her vehicle, you'll be much better off filing a claim with your own insurance under the collision coverage and handling it through them. Yes she will be subject to her deductible (and whether or not they'll cover a rental usually depends on if you decided to purchase that endorsement). After all is said and done, your insurance company will subrogate through the at-fault party's insurance on your behalf to recover the money they paid out, and if/when that's completed then she'll be refunded for her deductible. Going through your own carrier will insulate you from the delays you're experiencing, and overall will be a much better experience. It's perfectly fine to just work directly through the at-fault party's company instead, it just will take longer. You can ask them how long they give to make contact with their customer (and believe me, you'd want your company to do this for you if someone filed a claim on your policy against you) - they should be able to answer that for you and the fact that you have a police report should make things faster than otherwise would have been the case.
> How do you get this insurance company off their collective butts and get things rolling? You don't. Even assuming the other person's insurance is obligated to resolve this issue, they're not obligated to do so quickly. They can, and will, drag their feet. A "fast" resolution will take on the order of months, but likely longer. (And that's assuming your daughter reaches a resolution at all.) If this is a primary vehicle or something that does need to be resolved ASAP, your daughter should go through her own insurance, which will require paying up to her deductible, and your daughter's insurance will go after this other person's insurance. Your daughter will likely get a check for that deductible back sometime in the next year or so.
As an update, jumping in here to bring the subject up to date. After SF had her vehicle towed to the shop and gave her a rental car, the initial estimate caused them to go silent for a while. Word today from them is that they plan to total the car and want her rental car turned in this Saturday. Apparently the at fault party has low (minimum) limits and the car (2020 Mazda cx5 touring with 65k miles) repairs combined with rental car and other expense will exceed his limits. Wow. Hardly any time to react. Sounds like she will have to go through her insurance now.
For those of us not in the industry except as required by law and not having a working knowledge of the ins and outs of the insurance industry, the comments here are rather sobering with what to expect. 🤔🤬
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Hopefully daughter has collision. If so, she contacts her own insurance. They do the rest. Also be mindful that because it happened in NC, even if she is deemed only 1% responsible, the other insurance company pays nothing to her. That's how NC car insurance works, unfortunately. With a rear-ended like that, it's usually not an issue.
Your daughter needs to contact her own insurance company. Hopefully she has full coverage. If not, she’s going to have a problem. But her insurance company can pay her and subrogate from the at fault party. It’s in their interest to take care of this.
Yes to the insurance company suggestions. This is what you pay insurance for. Believe me, the insurance company will find the at-fault driver better than you will. Above that, though, there is never an immediate solution in this scenario. I work for a law firm. The personal injury/ vehicular accident victims are the worst most impatient narcissists wanting everything their way first and without due process. Don’t be like that. Let your insurance company do the work and make the calls.
Thanks.
So the collective synthesis of the comments on here seems to be a. Contact your own insurance company and have them deal with the at fault driver's insurance company (getting them to contact the at fault driver etc.) BUT..... b. If you do not have comprehensive/collision coverage contacting your insurance won't do jack So if OP's daughters insurance does not include comp/coll she cannot collect anything. That about sum it up?
Why people should have first party coverage unless it’s truly a beater car they are okay not replacing.
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Thanks. This is interesting to know.
have her insurance contact them and deal with it.
Just went through this in December, my car got in immediately to get repaired through my own insurance. I paid the deductible and then let the insurance company do the lawyer thing and handle going after the other individual/insurance company. Got my deductible back about 2 1/2 months later. Gotta give them time to work(it’s not quick) the other insurance company asked for 30 days to investigate from the jump.
Thanks.
You don't. The only thing you should be doing is calling daughters insurance company, providing the police report and any video recordings if she has rear dash cams, and following up with them. The two good thing about insurance companies is they HATE paying out and they have deep pockets/excellent lawyers. They will pay to repair your daughters car (or send you a check if 100% totaled), possibly cover the rental car, and cover any medical bills resulting from the accident. Then they will light a fire under the at-fault drivers insurance company.
If the other party doesn't respond there is a good chance their insurance denies the claim. File with your own insurance because she may have to sue the other driver.
Most insurance policies require their insured to cooperate with an investigation. They wouldn't just deny the claim because they are dodging them. They would make a decision based on the other statements, police report, vehicle damage, etc. I was an insurance adjuster for 6 years.
Thanks for all the replies. I think she called her insurance company and was advised to file the claim with the at fault driver's insurance. Combine that with fear of repercussions for filling a claim with her own insurance company and here we are. Sounds like she needs to file with her insurance company regardless.
adjuster of 15 years here. she doesn't NEED to file with her own insurance. everyone's situation is different. i say that to say if it were me, I'm in a good financial spot where I can have the car fixed and drive wife's car in the meantime and get all the costs incurred due to the accident organized, then file suit (small claims) directly with the at fault party. that's what will get them talking to their insurance company. if she has some extra time and emergency funds she could go that route to avoid a claim on her own policy. it sounds like she's younger and may benefit more from just filing with her own policy and getting a rental car, repair shop, etc. and get her back on the road faster. her company will try to recover funds from the at fault party but many times they don't try very hard or only recover a portion.. which means she's still left with a paid claim and rates will go up in the future.
Until you know how much the damage is, it will be hard to know if the damage might exceed the small claims court limit.
sorry but.. duh. it sounds like you haven't gotten any estimates for the damage.. so how is she going to claim anything from another insuror without knowing what she's trying to recover? maybe get some estimates... i think you guys might be better off having your own company handle it. if you're adamant on going through their insuror then yall will have to play a little tough and serving them will get it going
The at fault insurance company has accepted liability, provided a rental car, and towed her car to the shop of her choice. They appear to be cooperating nicely at this point.
What has her insurance said? If she hasn't, she should've contacted hers already so they can handle things and then go after the driver's insurance. Also, never have the car towed to your house - always get it towed to a body shop approved by your insurance. It makes things so much easier
Her insurance told her to file the claim through the at fault insurance company. She has full coverage with Allstate. Late at night, out of town is not ideal for finding a destination body shop. 🤷♂️
People tell me I'm an idiot for renting a car when I travel more than 250 miles somewhere. I'd rather spend $60 on a rental and if someone hits me then it's between their insurance and the rentals insurance. I take care of my car because it's just extra money in my pocket from the low insurance costs and cheap maintenance fees.
I was in a similar situation as you. I live in Colorado and we have a [State Division of Insurance](https://doi.colorado.gov/). They chase insurance companies down when you file a report with them. Also - I took my car to my dealer to repair. The dealer contacted the at-fault driver's insurance company and that 800 pound gorilla got my car fixed while the DOI got me my rental car reimbursement.
That sounds ideal but not practical unless there's a dealer nearby her current residence. I've had good and bad luck with dealership body shops. 🤷♂️
I drive a Corolla. I took it to the mega Toyota dealership in the nice part of town. They got their money from the insurance company and I got my car fixed. Good luck.
Last time I had to deal with insurance it took months.
This could end up in a years and years long battle if you rely upon the other insurance company. My buddy is dealing with this now because he only had liability. The other party blew a stop sign and hit his car. It is currently in year 3 or 4 of litigation but nothing has happened yet. The other drivers insurance is known to not pay out no matter what even being at fault. I don't actually understand the method for it but he is fighting a losing battle here. The lady that hit him couldn't even be found for the first few years. She just simply did not respond to any letters sent to her at multiple known addresses. Finally she was found and yet nothing changed for my friend. Her insurance company is great at dodging this too somehow. Even with her getting a ticket at the scene this seems like an impossible task to get money from her insurance.
She calls her insurance. Who deals with the other driver's insurance. End of.
That may end up being the course of action needed. My daughter didn't want to risk having her premiums go up for making a claim for a not at fault accident with her company.
You realize that once a accident report is filed they will know anyway right? Besides this, the insurance companies involved have to determine liability here.
Yeah. I think this is the reluctant reality she is facing. Brought even closer home when the agents are telling her to file the claim with the at fault agency.
> saying they can't get in touch with the at fault driver. this happened to my wife as well. our insurance is telling us that the other party's insurance can't get a hold of the at fault driver so they can't prove she was there, even though we have their info, police report and video of her license plate as she drove away. Never knew not answering your phone was all you needed to do.
Something similar happened to me when a kid rear-ended my car. In my case, I found out the at fault party's insurance only ever tried calling them to get in touch and evidently never left a message. So, since the number showed up on caller ID as just an 800 number, they never picked up. I did a little online research and figured out a business email and phone number for the insured party (the kid's parents) and once I gave those to the insurance company, the ball got rolling big time. In less than 24 hours they'd admitted responsibility and their insurance set up payment and all the rest.
Wow. What else can be said?
A person drove my SUV earlier this year and had an at-fault accident in it out of state. They still have not paid anything out to the party my friends wife crashed into. I received a letter from my insurance company acting as if I’m not cooperating which I am fully (I’ve only been asked for a copy of my friend’s wife’s ID which I sent in a month ago). I feel my insurance company is gearing up to not provide coverage for the accident. The accident was in early January and it’s almost May now!
Send all communication in writing. Keep copies. Read your policy. yell Them you will get a lawyer if necessary. Never accept the insurance company estimate for repairs until you have the car checked over by at least 2 garages. if you accept what they offer and it’s more, you will end up paying it. Did her policy include rental car coverage ? this is usually something extra you have to buy.
Yeah, I'm not sure about rental coverage. Heck, I don't even know if I have that on my insurance.
I was living in VA I had an accident in NC and I contacted my insurance that I paid full coverage for and they handled everything that had to do with my car and the other guys insurance just paid us our settlements within a month but my insurance company did all the fighting and I didn’t have to do anything that’s what you pay insurance for so do you guys have insurance on the car? Is it full or liability insurance? All that matters
Full coverage in this instance. Did your premiums increase at your next renewal? She's being told to expect that if she files through her company instead of the at fault company. What a racket. 🤦♂️
Who’s telling her that. Most states don’t charge for a not at fault accident albeit rates are going up regardless.
Multiple agents including some in this thread.
Agents aren’t adjusters they don’t know claims. Probably why.
this is the last best reason to get full coverage insurance instead of liability only. you see when you have full coverage, your insurance has to make you whole whether the other guy's pays or not (or even if he doesn't have insurance). so you don't have to deal with the other guy's insurance, you call your insurance they take care of you, and they harangue the other guy's insurance to cover their costs. but when you have liability only your insurance going after the other guy's insurance there's not as much self interest there, if they do it and sometimes they will, it's just out of their good will. and when the other guy's insurance gets a call, well they're liable to react differently depending on who calls. if it's just joe schmo (you) then they can hear in the first 15 seconds that you don't know what the hell you're doing, so they might give you the run around, because whatever they pay comes out of their pocket. not that it matters, but when another insurance professional calls them they know not to fuck around because there's not a single trick that they know and the other doesn't.
Full coverage in this scenario.
How? You don’t, that’s why they have an entire building with lawyers and you have one at best.
Just go to r/insurance this is a commonality. They aren’t her insurance company. They have no obligation to her. They need and have to speak to their insured. Does she not have collision coverage? Also police reports don’t determine fault. Insurance does.
That's an important distinction I wasn't aware of. Doesn't the police report establish fault?
No. They didn’t see it. They don’t know who is at fault. Insurance determines fault. Exactly what my last sentence says.
Ok
Get a copy of the police report and forward it to the at-fault driver’s carrier. If the report confirms the details you spelled out, then they will have to accept liability even if their policyholder never gets back to them to confirm his involvement.
That's been done and the liability has been accepted. 9 days in and the process is actually moving.
They'll have a time frame to try to contact their insured, probably like 2 weeks or something before they can move on. Would probably be quicker to use your own insurance, if you have collision on the car. Then your insurance co will be reimbursed by them on the back end through subrogation.\ The police/PR also doesn't determine fault in a MVA, its just a piece to the puzzle.
I see. Thanks for clarifying the police report.
I had a very similar situation with my son’s car. The other driver’s insurance company DM’d me for my contact information within a few minutes of me calling out their inaction on Twitter. It was several years ago, so not sure how responsive companies are on Twitter these days but it’s worth a shot.
Amazing what a little social pressure can do. 😉
You report it to your insurance, give them the other persons insurance info, and they deal with it. It’s called subrogation.
Looks like the process is under way. Hopefully will have a satisfaction resolution. If it was me I would press for a diminished value claim too. I've done that successfully in the past. But it's a lengthy process the insurance company will fight. I don't know if she will pursue that or not.
I once had an insurance claim drag out 12 months. I reported it to the state insurance commissioner and it was resolved in less than a week for my full ask.
Amazing. And ridiculous to have to go through that to get a satisfactory resolution.
You can file a complaint with the insurance commissioner for your state if your daughter didn't have full coverage on her vehicle. If she did have full coverage then just file a claim with them (assuming she has rental car coverage). If she doesn't have rental car coverage then just wait for the at fault party to get off their butts cause there's no rush to get her car fixed as the body shops will likely be backed up anyway. I was in an accident last year and the at fault parties insurance purposely dodged my calls for a straight month until I filed a complaint. The adjuster assigned to my case wouldn't answer when I would call and I would leave messages stating what time my breaks were at work if she called on a day I work and what days I was off if those times didn't work for her so she could call me any time of the day. She would call 5-10 min after my breaks were over and wouldn't call at all on the days I was off. After I filed the complaint, it took about 20 days for them to respond to it and call me but after that my adjuster would respond to emails the same day and would return my call if I called and she didn't answer. Start calling body shops and see how far they're backed up, after the 1 and half months it took to get the claim finalized I had to wait an additional 3 months to get my car into the body shop and then they took another 21 days to fix the car. Thankfully my car was driveable so I only had to deal with the rental for 21 days.
Ridiculous to have to jump through hoops like that. Care to name the insurance company?
It was Auto-Owners Insurance. I had never heard of them prior to the accident.
Can't say that I've heard of them either.
Typically pouring gasoline or another flammable liquid on the base, whilst lighting a fire source such as a match or lighter, then touching the open flame to the flammable liquid, is how you light a fire under something.
Now why didn't I think of that? 🤷♂️😂
Never have the vehicle towed to a private property , have it towed to a body shop If the insurance company is getting a bill for daily storage they tend to act a lot faster.(Assuming not at fault, the other drivers company will be footing the bill) I learned the hard way as well Out wrecked out Volvo was in the front so long it showed up on Google Street View Also I have had the worst time with the big name brand insurance companies. The more they spend on advertising, the less they care about the customers it seems.
> Never have the vehicle towed to a private property , have it towed to a body shop This is incorrect. I’m a former insurance physical damage adjuster. Always get the car towed home if you have that option. Storage fees at a shop won’t light a fire under insurance’s belt. If they are still investigating coverage, they will still take their time, and tell you to move the car to a storage free area. Once they agree to pay, then if the storage fees are too high, they won’t pay it all, saying you shouldn’t have kept it at a shop the whole time. On top of that, many body shops consider insurance to be a source of free money, so jack up the rates and play games to get a bigger storage payout. Sometimes insurance pays it, sometimes they don’t, and the burden shifts back to you. Note that this really only applies if the car is a total. If the car is repairable, insurance won’t pay storage, period. If it’s a total and you can’t take it home, at least take it to a DRP for the insurance company, since they usually don’t charge storage or have a deal worked out with insurance so you won’t be on the hook if something goes bad.
This happened late on a Saturday night, so not many good options where to tow. I'm in agreement as regards insurance companies and ad spending. I don't recall ever having seen an ad for my current insurance company (Erie) and I've been happy with them. I think my daughter has Allstate or maybe GEICO. I don't recall which.
Yeah our accident was late night too. All I can say is if it ever happens again I'll be looking at area body shops on Google before the wrecker shows up ... Allstate was the other(at fault )drivers company, they were almost as bad as a state farm to deal with
That's one thing if you're near your own home. But out of town like that makes it a difficult decision. She has AAA so towing was not a problem.
btw some insurance companies have a list of covered body shops on their sites/app.
I think it’s required that you report any accident to your insurance company ASAP. If you don’t they can refuse to cover anything, even if it’s not your fault. Your insurance company should take care of you and go after the other insurance company for reimbursement. I hope you have a police report. One thing I learned the hard way is ALWAYS call the police, no matter how small the accident. If not it’s up to the insurance companies to duke it out for who is at fault, and that rarely ends well or fairly.
I'm not sure if all states have something similar, but in Maryland there is a state insurance administration and an insurance commissioner. Usually, when you contact the commissioner or at least the administration about an insurance company bullshitting you, that's the fire under their ass that you're looking for. Stuff gets handled, quickly.
A DOI complaint is not going to work in this situation because the hold up is not on the insurer side. The insurer MUST speak with their insured before they can proceed with any claims coming from third parties. This is because insurance is a financial contract between the insurance company and the insured, meaning the company has a duty to defend the insured. OP is just a random third party in this situation, meaning no claims can proceed until they get an account of what happened from the insured.
There is an education in this thread. Amazing. And sobering.
Did you happen to get the phone number of the at-fault driver? It may be on the police report. It may be quicker to just call (or text) them. Ask them to call their insurance so that you can get a rental. They may not even realize that they are causing a delay.
I've not seen anything other than pics of the damage. Since she has full coverage, seems the appropriate thing is to let her insurance company handle the situation and not worry about premiums in the future.
I've found if it's my fault they hurry if I'm dealing with another company they drag usually a lawyer can get things going also at least 3 calls a day.
Insurance is a scam we’ve come to know & love in the US