DH was rear-ended this morning...need Ins. help

[StacyWithFourRugrats]

Dh was rear-ended this morning and our new Honda Accord's bumper is totaled. Luckily, everyone is ok. The young girl who hit him was pretty shaken up but she is fine. A police report was filed and insurance information was given to us.

 

What do I need to do now? Is the first step to contact her insurance company? Will they require us to use a certain body shop (not sure if it matters or not as we don't necessarily know of one)? I assume unless we contact our insurance company, they do not need to know correct?

 

I want to get our car fixed asap as my dh's family is coming into town next Tuesday from Great Britain. We need another car to go anywhere with everyone. I would *hope* that her insurance would cover a rental, but I do not know.

 

Thanks!

[CookieMonster]

The first step is to contact your insurance company.

 

They will tell you how to go about arranging for an adjuster to examine the vehicle. They will contact the girl's insurance company.

 

I'm sorry to say, but if you want to get this all done through the insurance companies you will have to go on their timetable, which may not get you your bumper by Tuesday.

[plansrme]

My car has been hit FIVE times in 2 years. No. 2 was just 6 days after I got it out of the shop from the first accident. None of these were my fault, and in ever case, the other guy's insurance company paid with minimal fussing. So that said, here's what I learned:

1. I never once contacted MY insurance company and strongly discourage you from doing so unless there's something her insurance will not pay.

2. You can contact her insurance company immediately, but they will not do anything until she has reported the accident or you have a police report to send them (the latter usually takes several days, but the offenders in each of my accidents reported the accidents themselves within a day--one of them called his insurance company while the police officer was still there).

3. None of the insurance companies in my case required that I use specific body shops. They all paid the shop directly.

4. This will likely take a solid week to repair.

5. The insurance companies DO have different rules about where you can get a rental car, but in each case, they paid the rental agency directly. I always demanded a car comparable to the one wrecked (a van), rather than the sedan they offered, and I always got it. The rental agencies have direct-bill arrangements with most insurers for this very purpose.

6. State Farm was the best to deal with--2 of my 5 offenders were insured by State Farm. Piece of cake.

7. If the damage is significant and the car is pretty new, look into a "diminished value" settlement from the insurer. This is the difference between the value of your car before and after the repairs. Rules vary from state to state. In GA, I had an appraiser look at my car after the second accident and give me a single diminished value (DV) figure for No. 1 and 2. The same insurance company insured the other drivers for Nos. 1 and 2. State Farm had offered me a total of about $1,000 in DV. My appraiser ($200 to a guy I found on the internet) said $5,500. They hired their own appraiser, who came in at $5,000. We settled for $5,000. This was for a total of $12,000 in damange to a 7 month old van.

Hope that helps.

 

Terri

[lynn]

You can get your own estimates, independent if you'd like. The ins company may want to send you to theirs but it's okay to go to your own. Make sure you get a rental car as needed and negotiate with the insurance company if their rate is to low for what you need. Your ins should not go up unless they pay however, they will go after the other insurance company for you. Also, any aches or pains need to be documented and checked out asap and submitted to the ins company. Don't feel rushed by them to sign anything, just keep in contact to get you whole again with car repairs, car rental and any medical claims.

[CookieMonster]

Really? She shouldn't contact her insurance company?

 

In my experience the other person's insurance company contacted my own anyway, so what would she be avoiding?

[j.griff]

when our suburban was TOTALLED (parked in the street, hit head on by a drunk driver) I called my ins. company first, and they wanted me to file a claim. We had a deductable to pay if we filed with our ins., and I didn't want to file a claim on OUR ins. as the accident wasn't "our" fault at all, and I didn't want any claims in our file for our personaly insurance, KWIM?

So, we ended up going through the other drivers ins. they paid for a rental for us for x number of days so we could shop for a new truck, and we didn't have to pay any deductible this way- if there was one the other driver had to pay for it. They also paid for new carseats for the kids (If there were any in your car, you should have them replaced too).

[OnTheBrink]

When I was rear-ended several years ago, I did stop in and talk to my insurance guy. He said that unless the stupid woman who hit me doesn't have insurance or if her insurance gets all snitty, then call him. Other than that, he didn't need to know.

 

Also, have your husband see a doctor NOW. Even if he feels fine. Injuries can show up later, esp soft tissue injuries. If he's seen by a doctor now, any later injuries could possibly be linked to the accident and be covered by the girl's insurance. Have him see the doc within the first 24 hours of the accident, if possible.

[Jeanne in MN]

When I was rear-ended I drove 5 blocks to our insurance agent. He took pictures of the damage, advised me to go through the insurance company of the guy who hit us to avoid a deductible, got the information on the kid involved and his insurance agency, asked which repair shop we wanted to go to and called for me! Advised me to get an estimate from the repair shop and have it faxed over and so on.