Questiontonight after work i was at a stop light on a slight hill and it was raining outside (drizzling) and my foot slipped off of the clutch causing me to bump the car in front of me. we both pulled over and there was no visible damage to either car. he insisted on exchanging information and we did and said that he was going to take it to some bodyshops to have it checked out for non-visible damage. i am not taking my car anywhere because it is perfectly fine. my deductible is 500 and don't want to have to make a claim. what if he all the sudden shows up with some huge bill claiming all kinds of damage or even worse gets some shady pi lawyer and claims soft tissue damage or whiplash? he had a 2002 subaru and i have a 2004 mustang. should i wait to see what kind of bill he comes up with and if it is more than my deductible of 500 turn it over to my insurance company and let them decide what or if they are going to pay. there was no witnesses or police and NO VISIBLE DAMAGE TO EITHER CAR AT ALL.
AnswerDear Kathleen,
First of all, your deductible is not relevant to your property damage liability coverage. You are covered for the first dollar of damage. The deductible applies when you are asking for repairs to your own car from collision damage.
So, the choice of when to report a claim is one that you can make with any parameters you desire. In this instance, I would not expect any claim at all, but if there were to be one, it might be something you could handle on your own. BUT, if the amount is less than your state standard for an "at-fault" accident designation, then why not just let your company pay it?
NO, you do not have to contact your company at this time. Wait until you see what the auto body repair shop says regarding damages.
How do you find out what constitutes an "at-fault" accident for purposes of raising your rates? It will vary from state to state, and from company to company.
First thing to do is to call your state insurance commissioner http://www.settlementcentral.com/links.php
Ask what standards they have established for the companies to be able to raise rates because of an "at-fault" accident pay-out.
In Washington state, for example, the insurance commissioner has ruled that anything less than $750 pay-out cannot be held against the insured to use it as an "at-fault" accident.
If you live in a state that is less progressive than others, your insurance commissioner may not have even set such a benchmark. Thus, you will have to ask your own company about their policy on declaring an accident pay-out to be an at-fault accident for purposes of raising your rates.
You can do this thru your agent, as she has some loyalty to you. Or, if you do not have an agent, then you will have to figure out some other way of calling in on an anonymous basis to get the same information.
In other words, if you lived in Washington state, where the insurance commissioner has said that companies cannot raise your rates for any pay-out of less than $750, why not just turn it over to your company to make the payment to the claimant?
But I would not worry too much until you hear back from the body shop. It is true that there can be damage that is not readily visible, but that would not be the case with a mere bump from the car jumping into gear.
Thus, if he tries to claim some damage, then get the estimate and call the body shop owner to discuss when that damage could have occurred.
Your comment regarding a "shady PI lawyer" is pretty much off base and reflects the type of propaganda sales job that the insurance industry and our Bush administration have been doing on the American people. There is no tort "crisis", as they want to say.
Note the cries for tort "reform" amidst profits of $50 billion in 2005 and even more in 2006! The insurance industry's best way out of being trapped by those healthy industry-wide record profit figures is to villianize those who are willing to take on our wealthiest industry on behalf of injured persons, the personal injury attorney.
No attorney is going to waste any time on an accident that does not present proof of the impact. Lawyers fight hard for their clients on low impact accidents, but there has to be some evidence of impact or they are not going to waste any time even getting involved. There is no case value worth fighting for.
Best wishes,
Dr. Settlement, J.D. (Juris Doctor)
www.SettlementCentral.Com
