Can I give them a copy of my insurance card?
April 6, 2013 8:38 AM   Subscribe

I live in a apartment building with a floor of parking inside the building. Two days ago, a neighbor who was parking her car next to mine dented and scratched the rear of my car. The damage is fairly minimal but will require some work. She was very apologetic about the situation and left me a voicemail stating that she had hit my car and that would should sync up to exchange insurance information. Later in the day, we talked and she suggested the we exchange a copy of each others insurance card. In this situation, is it ok to give her a copy of my entire insurance card? Is there any information on this I should not be sharing? For reference, my insurance is GEICO.
posted by cm1088 to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
There's no reason she needs your insurance card. She's not making a claim on your insurance, since you have no fault in this. She can either handle it on her end (by making a claim on her insurance, with you being the payee) or you can handle it on your end (by making a claim on either her insurance or your insurance, with you being the payee). Either way, there's no reason you need to exchange information - the fault is entirely on her end.
posted by saeculorum at 8:53 AM on April 6, 2013 [5 favorites]


It's always a good idea to involve your insurance right at the beginning, because you want your side of the story to be officially noted NOW -- just in case she freaks later and starts accusing you of hitting her. So yes, exchange your insurance info with her. And, right now -- usually, they have 24-hour phone service -- call your company and make a report. "My car was parked at 7pm....Neighbor called at 10pm to say that she'd hit my car...blah blah blah." Get out in front of this now.

Usually what happens, when everything's straightforward and no one goes crazy, is that the two insurance companies will talk. Her side will take 100% responsibility and the repairs will go forward without your insurance company having to lay any money out. This will not be a "ding" against your insurance and your rates won't go up.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:04 AM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]


I wouldn't necessarily give her a copy of your card, but certainly you could provide your insurance information. I think some states even require that all parties in an accident swap insurance information at the scene, regardless of fault. Your insurance company is supposed to work on your behalf in these situations, so let them do their job. Save the voicemail though, in case something goes awry and you have to prove fault.
posted by maniactown at 9:04 AM on April 6, 2013 [2 favorites]


I don't see that there's any reason NOT to exchange your insurance information (though you can just give her the name of your carrier and your policy number; you don't have to give her a copy of the entire card), regardless of fault. It just facilitates the process on the insurance end for everyone if both claims adjusters have both drivers' policy info from the start. (In other words, it's not like her insurance adjuster isn't going to eventually find out your carrier and policy number anyway.)
posted by scody at 9:33 AM on April 6, 2013


1) Save the voicemail. That is your 100% guarantee that you aren't at fault.

2) There's no harm in giving her your info -- at any accident, regardless of fault, it's typical to exchange insurance info. If she's planning on informing her insurance company of this, she may need your info. In any case, you have evidence of fault and it's neighborly to trust your neighbors.

3) Call your insurance company, tell them what happened, and ask for your options.
When I was rear-ended, my insurance agent told me to file a claim directly with the other party's insurance. My options were a) file with my company, pay the deductible, get the work done, and they would sue the other party's company for damages and possibly get my money back and return my deductible, b) file with the other company and they pay for everything, c) settle directly with the other party. I ended up having the other insurance company send me a check which went straight to the repair shop.

4) Get an estimate for the repair work. Some dents are cheap, some are expensive. I've had costs from $100 to $2500 depending on location and amount of damage.

5) (Optional) Discuss with your neighbor what the estimate was and give them the option to pay for it directly or see if they want to go through insurance. It can be cheaper for people (based on the estimate) when they have a high deductible. This is not mandated, but seeing as it's your neighbor and someone who seems trustworthy, I would want to give the person this option.
posted by DoubleLune at 9:36 AM on April 6, 2013 [2 favorites]


I can't give you legal advice, but I can tell you that personally, having dealt with accidents from both sides of fault, it has always been sufficient to have the name of the other person's insurance company. My insurance company asked me, "Did the other driver have insurance? Do you know the name of their insurance company? Great, thanks."
posted by cribcage at 9:37 AM on April 6, 2013 [1 favorite]


Don't give her a copy of your card, just give her your name and the insurance contact phone number. Your card contains more information than she needs, and giving her all that info puts you at greater risk for identity theft.

I was very recently hit by someone, and here's what happened: He was clearly at fault and admitted it. He gave me his insurance card info, I gave him my name and phone number and the name of my insurance agency only. He called his own insurance and gave them all that info, and I called my insurance agent and told her the situation and asked what I should do. She said there was no need for her to talk to anyone at his insurance company, and for me to go ahead and answer any questions they asked me, and she gave me a brief rundown of what to expect.

I called his insurance and spoke to a customer service rep who was really nice and clear and helpful (his insurance was Geico, and I loved how fast and helpful they were). He said during that 15 minute phone call that his guy was definitely at fault and that Geico would definitely pay for the repairs, and then proceeded to arrange for an appointment at a body shop for the following day, and also for a rental car that Geico covered the total cost of.

I took the car in the next day, got the rental car, and then got my car back all clean and shiny one week later.

Also, I learned from my agent that it is very common for the at-fault driver's insurance company to provide you with a list of body shops. You do not have to go to one of those, but if you do it will probably streamline the process. Insurance companies have body shops that they work with regularly and trust to do good work in a timely manner. As long as they are clear about who is paying, using one of their recommended shops isn't a trick or scam or dangerous (which is what I was afraid of initially).
posted by Brody's chum at 9:38 AM on April 6, 2013 [2 favorites]


If you haven't alredy, make a police report about the incident. Nobody'll get arrested or anything, it's just for the paperwork: insurance companies, for both the at-fault and not-at-fault drivers, tend to distrust ordinary people where they'll trust a police report.

And while going to a body shop recommended by the at-fault driver worked out for Brody's chum, I prefer to go to a shop recommended by my own insurance company. YMMV.
posted by easily confused at 10:30 AM on April 6, 2013


I'm not sure what's on your card, but on mine all that's there is my name, address, make and model and VIN number of my vehicle, insurance company, policy number and when I have to write my insurance company another check.

The only thing she is unlikely to have access to already, or not need is your policy expiry date which isn't exactly high risk info. If your social security number is on there or something, yeah, you might want to just copy down the relevant information for her. Otherwise, I wouldn't worry too much.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:36 PM on April 6, 2013


« Older Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland Travel...   |   Automate the dub Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.