Curious. When someone hits your car. Their insurance or yours?

[floridafam]

Someone hit my son’s car. He lives in CA. It want anything horrible. Other driver admitted fault, apologized and exchanged info, etc. My som already heard back from Progressive that other driver admitted fault to State Farm and my son won’t have to pay his deductible. Progressive is giving him the option of going through the at fault driver’s company or using Progressive. Obviously, I’m going to reach out to our own agent on Monday and get some advice but any thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Belle1962]

As a very experienced accident involved person (I honestly think there’s a box on GA driver license application that you have to check that says I promise to hit Belle1962 if I get the chance) ask him to have his insurance subrograte on his behalf. If they won’t subrogate on his behalf have him go through them (which might be what they are offering). Do NOT under any condition engage the at fault drivers insurance. At all. Period. If they call and cordially ask how are you don’t answer. Keep referring them back to his insurance.

 

[Belle1962]

Oh and take his car to a shop to be checked over. There could be damage you can’t see. Also-it can take a day or two for any soreness/pain to manifest itself in him.

 

[tvguy]

As a very experienced accident involved person (I honestly think there’s a box on GA driver license application that you have to check that says I promise to hit Belle1962 if I get the chance) ask him to have his insurance subrograte on his behalf. If they won’t subrogate on his behalf have him go through them (which might be what they are offering). Do NOT under any condition engage the at fault drivers insurance. At all. Period. If they call and cordially ask how are you don’t answer. Keep referring them back to his insurance.

You pay insurance premiums to your insurance company for two reasons.
1) To insure you
2) To handle any situation where your car is damaged by another driver.

My parked car got hit and the other guys insurance had all kind of issues. Guy didn't report the accident, they had to call them after I filed a claim. He had a proof of insurance, but apparently was behind on his premium payments. His insurance wanted to fill the dent with bondo and paint it. The three estimates I had all agreed, the dent was too deep and the door skin would have to be replaced.
My insurance stepped in, told the other insurance company that they had until the end of the week to settle the claim, or they would cover the repair and bill them. I had a settlement check within hours.

 

[FreeTime]

Agreed to him needing to take his car to have it checked over.

It sounds like he is in CA and out of your home but still on your insurance so I am guessing he is an adult. In that case, your agent may not speak with you about it at all. They will want to speak with him and not hear anything but from the source.

 

[gottalovepluto]

… Obviously, I’m going to reach out to our own agent on Monday and get some advice but any thoughts? Thanks.

Wait a minute, I read this different from others. Is his agent your agent? Or is he on his own insurance? If your agent isn’t his agent he needs to talk to his agent.

 

[TiggerTrigger]

Another vote to work with your insurance and have them subrogate. I was hit in 2013 and the other person’s insurance company was an absolute nightmare. I wish I’d called my company sooner because it was days vs weeks to get things worked out.

 

[Southernmiss]

We contacted our insurance immediately after we were hit.

They were very good at handling everything.

 

[easyas123]

Wait a minute, I read this different from others. Is his agent your agent? Or is he on his own insurance? If your agent isn’t his agent he needs to talk to his agent.

Agreed- his agent/he should be handling this.
In the great scheme of car accidents and insurance dealings this is pretty low on the totem pole although I recognize it’s a hassle for people to have to deal with. As others have said above his insurance is who he should be going through that’s why he pays their premiums and they’ll subrogate.

 

[_19disnA]

I would let whoever is insuring your son's car deal with this. They know what to do and how to handle things. That is part of why you buy car insurance. If YOU have insurance on your own vehicle with some other company, not sure calling them will accomplish much.

 

[Meriweather]

We always go through ours. They are great about dealing with everything

 

[GoingSince1990]

I don’t even bother calling my own insurance company any more when the other driver is clearly at fault (such as when I’ve been rear-ended). I just call the other driver’s insurance, they acknowledge that their driver is liable, and arrange for the repairs. (Years ago when I did call my own insurance company in these circumstances, they told me they were perfectly happy for me to just go through the other driver’s insurance, but to get back to them if I had any problems).

 

[barkley]

go through own insurer and have them subrogate. you have to pay your deductible but are reimbursed when your insurance company is reimbursed for the costs by the at fault driver's. like belle1962 i've been on the receiving end of several car accidents. having my insurance company handle it allowed me to get repairs/medical treatment/car rental done in a much easier manner. my insurance company is acting in my best interest while another driver's is not. all the promises another insurance company makes on covering repairs and such can leave you waiting prolonged periods of time (i was in one minor accident that only involved some minor repairs but it took my insurance company almost 2 years to get the funds from the other company-i was out my deductible for that period of time but not the rental car costs and a couple of thousand in repairs).

the last accident we were in the at fault driver (admitted to us, admitted to police at accident site) was insured by progressive. we were willing to go through them initialy b/c it was so clearcut in our minds. they took the position that since their driver was not cited by the police that they were not 100% at fault and started in on putting some liability on us. delaying tactics on them inspecting the damage, saying some of the damage was preexisting (ummm no-the red paint on our bumper they said could not be from their insured's non red car was from their license plate which got torn off in the impact-we had photos of it mangled on the ground). we gave up after a week or so of repeated and unreturned calls to them and called our insurance who handled everything.

 

[starry_solo]

Son should deal with his own insurance company and have them surrogate to the at fault drivers insurance company.

 

[Simba's Mom]

All you people are so lucky when the at fault driver has insurance. In our case, the other driver was at fault (we were so fortunate that the police happened to be at the intersection, saw it, and identified the other driver as at fault) but that where our good luck ended. The other driver didn't have insurance. That's why you pay uninsured driver insurance. Our own insurance company had to pay the whole thing, even though we weren't at fault.

 

[tvguy]

All you people are so lucky when the at fault driver has insurance. In our case, the other driver was at fault (we were so fortunate that the police happened to be at the intersection, saw it, and identified the other driver as at fault) but that where our good luck ended. The other driver didn't have insurance. That's why you pay uninsured driver insurance. Our own insurance company had to pay the whole thing, even though we weren't at fault.

But that doesn't mean that your insurance company won't seek a legal judgement later from the person to recover what they paid out. And of course, in many states, the uninsured will end up in court, have to pay a fine, and have their car impounded.

 

[barkley]

All you people are so lucky when the at fault driver has insurance. In our case, the other driver was at fault (we were so fortunate that the police happened to be at the intersection, saw it, and identified the other driver as at fault) but that where our good luck ended. The other driver didn't have insurance. That's why you pay uninsured driver insurance. Our own insurance company had to pay the whole thing, even though we weren't at fault.

UNDERinsured motorist coverage can be a godsend as well. in the case of an accident we were not at fault for we found that the other driver had insurance but the bare bones minimum which fell short of covering our costs. by having underinsured coverage our insurance made up the shortfall (with no deductable or raise in rates to us).

 

[DisneyHardin]

Years ago, a lady rear ended me. She immediately contacted her insurance agency and they reached out to me and we handled it all through them without involving my insurance. Another time, a car ran a red light and I hit them. I tried just going through their insurance, but their insurance we being difficult and I ended up handing it off to my insurance to deal with. A couple years ago, I hit a car in a parking lot - I got all his information, called my insurance company and they reached out to him to get it fixed and he never contacted his company.

So - in summary - it kind of depends on the situation. If the other person's insurance is being cooperative - you don't necessarily involve your insurance company.

 

[floridafam]

Yes, he has his own insurance. He just texted to let us know what was going on and I had never encountered this before. He’s going to go through his own. The other driver has actually been really great.

 

[disneychick0412]

We live in a no fault state, so we have to turn it in on our insurance and then the insurance companies fight it out.