Not-My-Fault Accident. Other driver wants to settle without insurance

March 31, 2016 3:31 PM

Yesterday I was rear ended by a young woman driving a scooter. She apologized and admitted fault. I took her contact information and insurance information, but did not file a police report. I thought the proper thing to do was to call my insurer, tell them what happened, and give them the other driver's insurance information, and I did so. I assumed that I should let them handle the claim. Now I'm wondering if I made a mistake. Your help would be appreciated.

Some answers on related AskMe questions suggest that filing this claim with my insurance company- even though the accident was clearly not my fault- could raise my rates.

Additionally, the young woman's mother contacted me and asked me if I could just get an estimate for the (minor) repairs and she could send me a check to avoid reporting the claim to her insurance company and having her rates raised as a result.

I'd like some advice on the following:

Is it true that filing a claim for an accident that was clearly not my fault will result in an increase in my insurance rates?

Is settling with the other party by getting an estimate and having them send me a check a bad idea?

Thank you.

posted by foxy_hedgehog to Work & Money (16 answers total)

Is it true that filing a claim for an accident that was clearly not my fault will result in an increase in my insurance rates?

It hasn't in my case, twice. I'm in Canada though and I don't know what the rules are where you live and with your insurer specifically. For one of the claims the person who damaged my vehicles (yes, plural) was never found and my almost new vehicle was completely replaced.

Is settling with the other party by getting an estimate and having them send me a check a bad idea?

Often, yes. If anything was missed in the initial assessment it could be a hassle (or impossible) getting it paid for. If the check bounces, then you could end up having to chase these people down for money. The best case scenario for you here is about the same as the normal case if you go through your insurance. I would only consider it for very small amounts that I would be okay writing off or for someone that I knew and trusted.
posted by ODiV at 3:40 PM on March 31, 2016

If it's not your fault it won't raise your rates, but without a police report there's no way to prove its not your fault. You can hope this person does the right thing and tells your insurance company she was at fault, but you're kind of at her mercy here. You should always, always get a police report and go through proper channels. At this point you've reported the accident to your insurance company; your best bet is to see it through.
posted by something something at 3:42 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

>Is it true that filing a claim for an accident that was clearly not my fault will result in an increase in my insurance rates?

If you file against your own insurance? In general, yes.

But you shouldn't be your first step here. You should be filing the claim against the other party's insurance. Call the other party's insurance company and indicate that you need to file a claim against one of their policies. You'd generally only want your own insurance company involved at the point where the other party refuses to admit fault, or their insurer does not adequately compensate you for repairs and diminished asset value.

>Is settling with the other party by getting an estimate and having them send me a check a bad idea?

Yes, because it's not 'settling' in any kind of a legal sense.
posted by BrandonW at 3:43 PM on March 31, 2016

I expect the situation depends somewhat on laws, e.g. if you are in a no-fault state or not. For example in BrandonW's comment, the way to proceed depends on which person's insurance should be paying for the damage- in a no-fault state, your own insurance pays. In other states, you can still file with your own insurance company- if it's not your fault, they should get the other person's insurance to cover the cost.

The major downside to not reporting in my mind is if something currently unknown crops up (whiplash injury, hidden but present car damage, etc).
posted by nat at 3:46 PM on March 31, 2016

(Sorry, I realized I wasn't clear-- no fault usually regards bodily injury, not car damage. But I am not a lawyer and do not have familiarity with the breadth of laws in 50 different states in any case!)
posted by nat at 3:47 PM on March 31, 2016

It is wisest to make a record of this by making a police report. And do NOT settle with the other party on your own. There is absolutely no way to enforce such settlements. Let your insurance company handle all contact with the at fault driver.
posted by bearwife at 3:49 PM on March 31, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'd just add that whether your insurance company will raise your rates is hard to predict, but my feeling is that it is best overall to tell them what happened, and let them pursue the other driver's insurance company rather than trying to do that on your own. That part is really your your call, though.
posted by bearwife at 3:52 PM on March 31, 2016 [3 favorites]

If a young lady on a scooter ran into my car, resulting in minor damage to my car, and I didn't think it was likely that there were the type of unseen damages to my car that could result from a bigger impact, and she was apologetic and assumed responsibility, and her mom called to ask me to please let her just pay for the minor damages directly, I think I'd be inclined to be nice and settle it that way. Even though I would be absolutely justified in insisting on letting the insurance companies settle it, and I would potentially be on the hook if her check bounced or if what appeared to be a scratch on my bumper turned out to actually be a compromised frame that rendered my car unsafe to drive.
posted by mammoth at 4:04 PM on March 31, 2016 [17 favorites]

Is settling with the other party by getting an estimate and having them send me a check a bad idea?

I've done where I was not at fault a couple of times in the past. You're doing the other person a favor, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You have total control over how this plays out, and can choose if you're OK with going out of your way or not.

My take on it is, if the damage is minor and the other party doesn't haggle or give me grief, I'll do it without insurance. The moment they complain about the invoice or want me to go to their buddy's garage, etc. then I hand it off to my insurance.
posted by zippy at 4:14 PM on March 31, 2016 [7 favorites]

I had two blatantly not-my-fault accidents in the course of one year last year and I sent both (actually all four since the second incident was three different cars hitting my parked car in icy weather) through my insurance. My rates didn't even budge and with the second incident I was able to get my deductible reimbursed as well (in the first case, the guy who hit me was uninsured and then ghosted). No police reports were filed at any of the incidents. The second took a long time to get settled because of three different insurance companies involved and one of them being unreasonable dicks, but I didn't have to deal with it much and in the end it was all fine.

Now, does that mean you shouldn't do this girl a favor? Not necessarily, but it is 100% you doing her a favor and not the other way around.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:01 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have dealt with this kind of situation outside of insurance in the past, when the other party was uninsured (in a state where insurance was not required). The way we dealt with it was the other party met me at the body shop when I brought my car in, and paid the body shop directly. Of course, this could have gone wrong if they'd found other stuff while they were working, or other stuff had come up later, but it worked out ok in this situation.
posted by lunasol at 5:24 PM on March 31, 2016

You can still file a police report after the fact, you can download the form to fill out and mail it in. It's helpful to do that anyway, because (at least in my state), you also have to send a copy to the state, and I believe they use accident data to help monitor bad intersections and dangerous roads, so they can eventually make them less dangerous.

I was rear-ended a few years ago, and the damage didn't look bad at first, but once I got home I realized that the trunk didn't close properly, and it turned out there was hidden damage under the bumper. The whole back bumper had to be replaced, and I don't even know what else, but it took like 2 or 3 weeks, and we had to get a rental car. The insurance for the person who hit me paid for the rental and the repair. Initially I was going to do the off the record, don't report to insurance thing, at the hitter's request, but after a day of playing phone tag trying to get in touch with him about the repair estimate I decided it would make my life easier to let my insurance handle it. And it did! They took care of it all, and they also sent an inspector out to check the repair to make sure the repair was done well. My rates did not go up. I also don't think the hitter would have been willing to pay for the rental car and the repair, it ended up being more expensive than I would have expected from a very low speed hit.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:33 PM on March 31, 2016 [1 favorite]

If and when they offer you a check, they me ask you to sign something.
You should take the check and refuse to sign anything.
If they express any displeasure at your refusal to sign, then hand the check back to them and say that it will have to be handled through the insurance.
posted by falsedmitri at 7:24 PM on March 31, 2016

If it's small damage, I let them pay for it directly. Because it was an accident, it's not a lot of money, and I don't want their insurance to go up either, because I'm human. Most accidents I've been in, my fault or otherwise, we just settle. I've been the recipient of other people's compassion, and they of mine. I still remember backing into a gangbanger's ride, having him call the actual gangbanger who owned it, he shows up (with friends), checks out the damage, and smiles and tells me not to worry about it. I don't think he was expecting my white chick hug...

I would go by the amount of damage you are comfortable with. In my opinion, anything around a couple of hundred bucks is not worth anyone's insurance going up (unless they are jerks, of course).
posted by Vaike at 8:57 PM on March 31, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure how no-fault works, which states it is in and if it applies to your situation. BUT what I can tell you is that if the damage is under a certain threshold, it won't affect your rates regardless. That threshold does vary by state and it is based on how they define an accident on your record. I got in an accident that was my fault and the other driver's damage was like $900 or something. It showed up on my record for higher insurance rates in one state because the threshold there was $750. But when I moved, it didn't show up in background checks and did not affect my rates in the new state because the threshold was $1000. So, maybe you can ask your insurance company about this or find some info. I want to say it's $750 in California but I don't remember. I tried googling, but I'm not sure how to phrase what I am looking for.

Personally, I wouldn't agree to to deal with it under the table. I'd want a body shop to look at it and an insurance adjuster to check it out and have everything go through them so I can save myself the hassle and the risk of later finding hidden damage. But that's just me. I generally don't trust people.
posted by AppleTurnover at 11:40 PM on March 31, 2016

I have acted honorably in a my-fault fender bender in the past. Her car was much worse off than mine and she clearly had no idea how the system worked. Could I have been a real dick about it instead? Sure. But I wasn't and all was well for us both. But other than time saved not waiting for the cops, if you are not the one at fault you are totally doing the at fault party a favor.
posted by zwemer at 2:34 PM on April 1, 2016