Insurance problems...
September 27, 2013 12:02 PM Subscribe
My wife was rear ended twice back on August 28th (she is fine, no injuries). Our 2012 Focus suffered rear bumper damage. The driver of the other car failed to stop after my wife and another vehicle in front of her, waited to make a left-hand turn.
My wife stopped in the intersection when the car in front of her stopped. The woman who hit my wife, hit the rear bumper hard and then inexplicably (maybe from shock) allowed the car to roll again into the rear causing more damage. We did not call our insurance company since the other driver was at fault (stop me if you've heard that before). We chose instead to attempt to settle with the other driver's insurance company. We got an estimate for $700 and today the check came for $580 with a letter only admitting 80% liability due to my wife's "sudden stop." It's bullshit because my wife was already stopped in the intersection, for a good 5 seconds. Secondly, getting hit twice? C'mon.
I called the other parties insurance company full well knowing that they wouldn't suddenly have an epiphany and shell out the rest. So basically it's my wife's word against the driver and now we have to deal with trying to get the rest of this money.
My questions:
1. Should we now try to contact OUR insurance company after the fact? I can't imagine a scenario where that would be a good idea but maybe I'm wrong.
2. I filed a complaint with the Illinois State Insurance Board (thank you internets). Has anyone had any experience with doing such a thing? WHat are my chances?
3. Any non-legal advice/stories that may help in deciding how we proceed?
Thanks.
My wife stopped in the intersection when the car in front of her stopped. The woman who hit my wife, hit the rear bumper hard and then inexplicably (maybe from shock) allowed the car to roll again into the rear causing more damage. We did not call our insurance company since the other driver was at fault (stop me if you've heard that before). We chose instead to attempt to settle with the other driver's insurance company. We got an estimate for $700 and today the check came for $580 with a letter only admitting 80% liability due to my wife's "sudden stop." It's bullshit because my wife was already stopped in the intersection, for a good 5 seconds. Secondly, getting hit twice? C'mon.
I called the other parties insurance company full well knowing that they wouldn't suddenly have an epiphany and shell out the rest. So basically it's my wife's word against the driver and now we have to deal with trying to get the rest of this money.
My questions:
1. Should we now try to contact OUR insurance company after the fact? I can't imagine a scenario where that would be a good idea but maybe I'm wrong.
2. I filed a complaint with the Illinois State Insurance Board (thank you internets). Has anyone had any experience with doing such a thing? WHat are my chances?
3. Any non-legal advice/stories that may help in deciding how we proceed?
Thanks.
1: Never do it this way again. I hope for your sake the $700 quote was accurate.
2: Frankly, I'd not even bother calling my insurance for $120. The principle is not worth the possible premium or otherwise accident recording on your insurance.
3: The second hit will have done zero damage. She probably just forgot to take it out of drive or put in park/handbrake on (as you say, through shock) when she went to get out. It's ridiculously unlikely it did anything at all, especially being as anything delicate will have been done at the first hit. Rolling into another car will hardly even scratch it.
4: Yes the 'sudden stop' thing is bullshit, but that's the risk you pay for doing it privately. They're bluffing you for $120 to try and get out of paying. They think they are paying JUST enough to stop you going to insurance and are trying their luck to minimise the cost for themselves.
5: If you REALLY want to go to battle for $120 (and honestly, is it REALLY worth the hassle?) I'd send them a letter saying that there was no sudden stop (more because there was ALREADY another car there and the person at fault hadn't seen them stopped either and being as your wife didn't hit them, they shouldn't have hit her). I'd say "I disagree with your 80% assessment and consider you at fault for 100% of the repairs. If you still disagree please let me know and I just will pass your details onto my insurers so that they can determine fault more accurately as we don't seem to be able to come to an agreement". No threats, just if 'a' doesn't happen, 'b' will result in order to be fair to all of us (kind of thing).
You may end up with a sudden change of heart, or you may end up with a 'stick it up your arse' reply at which time you need to decide who gets screwed more - you for losing $120 or BOTH of you from the potential costs of the insurance involvement. I know the principle stings, but.... it's 3 tanks of fuel at most.
posted by Brockles at 12:19 PM on September 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
2: Frankly, I'd not even bother calling my insurance for $120. The principle is not worth the possible premium or otherwise accident recording on your insurance.
3: The second hit will have done zero damage. She probably just forgot to take it out of drive or put in park/handbrake on (as you say, through shock) when she went to get out. It's ridiculously unlikely it did anything at all, especially being as anything delicate will have been done at the first hit. Rolling into another car will hardly even scratch it.
4: Yes the 'sudden stop' thing is bullshit, but that's the risk you pay for doing it privately. They're bluffing you for $120 to try and get out of paying. They think they are paying JUST enough to stop you going to insurance and are trying their luck to minimise the cost for themselves.
5: If you REALLY want to go to battle for $120 (and honestly, is it REALLY worth the hassle?) I'd send them a letter saying that there was no sudden stop (more because there was ALREADY another car there and the person at fault hadn't seen them stopped either and being as your wife didn't hit them, they shouldn't have hit her). I'd say "I disagree with your 80% assessment and consider you at fault for 100% of the repairs. If you still disagree please let me know and I just will pass your details onto my insurers so that they can determine fault more accurately as we don't seem to be able to come to an agreement". No threats, just if 'a' doesn't happen, 'b' will result in order to be fair to all of us (kind of thing).
You may end up with a sudden change of heart, or you may end up with a 'stick it up your arse' reply at which time you need to decide who gets screwed more - you for losing $120 or BOTH of you from the potential costs of the insurance involvement. I know the principle stings, but.... it's 3 tanks of fuel at most.
posted by Brockles at 12:19 PM on September 27, 2013 [3 favorites]
This is why you should always, always, ALWAYS involve both parties' insurance companies from the beginning in any accident where the damage is more than your deductible (usually $500, but $1000 is not uncommon if you try to save money on insurance premiums). Call yours now. Give them the claim number from the other insurance company and any other information you have on their insurance.
Did the police investigate? The insurance companies should be able to get the police report pretty easily.
posted by tckma at 1:05 PM on September 27, 2013
Did the police investigate? The insurance companies should be able to get the police report pretty easily.
posted by tckma at 1:05 PM on September 27, 2013
Response by poster: Police report was filed as well as photos, etc,. Chicago Police generally do not investigate minor fender benders which this could be classified as. Each party files a report with their version of events.
We've already spoken with our insurance company (about an hour ago). It appears they are more than willing to do battle with the other insurance company on our behalf, thankfully.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:18 PM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
We've already spoken with our insurance company (about an hour ago). It appears they are more than willing to do battle with the other insurance company on our behalf, thankfully.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:18 PM on September 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
The other thing to understand is that if the other lady is found 100% at fault -- as it sounds like she will be -- your premiums won't go up, even if your insurance co. has to do a bunch of work on your behalf to make it happen. Yay, insurance!
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:48 PM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 1:48 PM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
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As you may now be aware, it's always a good idea to call your insurance company as soon as possible, if only to log your version of the story before the other party tries to tell theirs. Even in situations where it is clearly Not Your Fault, you may end up with a claim against your insurance. If you know for sure that it's NYF, you can even insist on calling the cops and filing a police report, especially if the other driver seems reluctant to own up to a mistake.
posted by cubby at 12:06 PM on September 27, 2013 [2 favorites]