Collision Claim For Auto Insurance

[gimmickivek]

Had a very bad morning today. A garbage truck driver when passing through my road, scratched the car which was parked to his right! The best thing is he knocked the door to let me know he was at fault. We called cops and filed the case.

Now, clearly it is not my fault and the estimates comes around 2K. I have a 1K deducible GEICO.

The person who hit had an private Attorney who was dealing with the case. He said I' l have to get couple estimates and send him and I' l have to pay the money which will be reimbursed later.

Looks like I l be having lots of issues dealing with this Attorney. So, I decided to go via GEICO, they said they l pay anything above 1K and rest I l have to pay. Then, they will follow up with the person who hit and would get their money as well as my money back(which is not guaranteed).

I some how decided to go via GEICO and then one of my friend said its gonna increase my premium charges.
So, if I file via GEICO, will it increase my premium, considering I was not at fault?

When I called the customer care, they refused to give more details about increase in the premium.

Also, If my decision was wrong, my car is still under inspection. Can I change my mind and go via the person who hit the car?

 

[VolAgent]

Re: Collision Claim

Why aren't you talking to the at fault person's insurance company? You are wasting your time talking to his attorney, you need to be talking to the company and its adjuster. If he reported the claim, then they will pay the claim and you will not have to come up with the deductible or cost of repairs first.

 

[gimmickivek]

Re: Collision Claim

The problem is they are a private insurance and I have contact only to this Attorney guy. :(

 

[VolAgent]

Re: Collision Claim

I don't know of any auto insurance company that requires a person to pay for the repairs and then be reimbursed. What is the name of this company? If you had an agent, I'd suggest talking to him. The downside of GEICO, it isn't always the best rates, and you don't get an agent.

You might want to call your state Department of Insurance and see what they say.

 

[djs]

Re: Collision Claim

Go the path of least resistance. I assume you are dealing with a corporate attorney from the garbage company? My guess is they are self-insured for low dollar claims (which this would be). This is why you are dealing with an attorney.

The simplest thing to do would be to file with Geico (your insurer), which means you pay your deductible, then Geico subrogates to the garbage guy, when they pay, they send you your deductible back. I don't know what state you are in, but in California, the accident happened while your car was legally parked, it will have no impact on your rates.

The person on the phone cannot guarantee reimbursement of your deductible, simply because they don't know if Geico will be successful in subrogation.

The attorney can request you pay for the damage, submit the bill and then reimburse you for it. This should include rental car reimbursement while your car is in the shop. With normal insurance companies, they would rather pay the shop direct, avoiding a lot of paperwork, but attorneys think differently and hope you will go away. Don't.

You can ask the attorney if they will pay the body shop direct for the work. He probably has a problem wanting to write the check to you (not for a good reason though). What you really want from him is a committment that they will pay the bill. Get this in writing, then get them to pay direct, or give it to Geico so they can subrogate.

Your other option is to go get your own attorney, who would love to start adding legal fees to the claim. It would get settled very quickly, given it's pointless to spend anytime trying to not pay a claim that you eventually will pay, and then add legal fees on top of it.

Dan

 

[Josh]

Re: Collision Claim

Why didn't you file a police report? Cops usually will demand an exchange of insurance information and then you're dealing with a carrier. If you file this as a collision claim it will look on paper like it was your fault which will most likely result on increased premiums.

 

[djs]

Re: Collision Claim

I don't know where you live, but in my area, you file the report online. Unless it's major or someone is injured, they don't come out anymore.

Besides, he said he called the cops.

Now, explain why this would look like it was his fault. Parked car, ran into on the side, hard for anyone to imagine it was his fault (providing these facts are accurate). It is a collision claim, no other way to file it.

Dan

 

[gimmickivek]

Re: Collision Claim

Thanks guys. I did file a police report. I have only the report ID, I don't have access to the complete report yet.

The process of going through an Attorney would be tedious and time consuming( thats what I thought) and hence going via GEICO.
For eg., he wanted me to get some Blumberg form(or something of that sort) and wanted me to get 2 estimates..and if the expense is above 2.5K, it would take another month to get it reimbursed etc.,

By the way I am from NY.

I asked the call center if it would increase the premium if I go via GEICO, and that they refused to answer.

Based on djs comment, I guess I did the right thing! Or is it not?

 

[thall]

Re: Collision Claim

Get in touch with your insrance company, thats what you pay for

 

[Josh]

Re: Collision Claim

I asked the call center if it would increase the premium if I go via GEICO, and that they refused to answer.

Based on djs comment, I guess I did the right thing! Or is it not?

I hate to openly contradict someone, but I believe you did the wrong thing. This isn't a collision claim, it's a liability claim on the other parties insurance. You made a mistake in contacting your carrier because you will now have this on your file/record as it being your fault (despite the fact it's not). If you've already filed a claim then the damage is done, unless you can get them to change their mind and cancel/delete it which is unlikely, but worth trying for.

What you need to do now is get the other parties insurance information. None of this attorney business or anything like that, you need their insurance information. Tell the police about it if you'd like and say that the other party did not provide you with their insurance information and the police, if they're doing their job, will require them to provide you that information. Finding out who their insurance with is going to be the key to solving your issue. What they're most likely trying to do is pay the claim out of pocket to avoid an increased premium. If I were you I would call the attorney and say: "Sorry about the miscommunication. I need to get my car fixed and I don't care whether you pay for it or an insurance company does, but I'm not paying out of pocket for the repairs and this needs to be done quickly. You can either pay the claim or tell me who the insurance carrier is along with the policy number so I can claim it that way. Which one do you want it to be?" and see where that gets you. If they don't budge and your car is drivable, I'd file suit in small claims court for the full amount of the estimates plus a reasonable amount for the time you've invested in fighting with them. Call their attorney, then call the cops, then go from there.

Dan, in NY you call the cops, you don't file it online. In VA it's the exact same way and probably the same in others. What we don't know is if the guy was parked illegally (which would make him potentially at fault).