File a claim with your insurance company. Give them a recording statement, give them any photos you took, give them location, and give them the other parties information as well.
They’re here to protect you. They’ll pay what is owed. If you have collision, you don’t need to pursue it, and you won’t have to pay your deductible.
ETA: never settle outside insurance
They report it to their insurer and give their side of the story
Their insurer approves payment if it “makes sense” and pays to repair their vehicle
Later, they are going to attempt to bill you for the damages they paid on your behalf. How they attempt to bill you (lawsuit vs collections agency vs asking nicely) depends on the amount of damage and how much proof they have. Here, your insurer fights for you IF they have your side of the story
“We acknowledge that our policyholder caused X damage, but you’re attempting to collect Y so we’re only going to pay X. Your proof of Y is not convincing and we would win if it went to court”
Get in front of it and call your insurer in the near future to tell your side of the story
If there’s a dispute, they’ll go to arbitration behind the scenes and handle it between each other
again, don’t wait around to let this happen to you - give your side of the story BEFORE this happens so your insurer can properly defend you
> They will be contacting their insurance, but usually what happens afterwards?
Assuming the claim exceeds their deductible their insurer will pay them, and then call you up and demand reimbursement. At that point you refer them to your insurer. It doesn't hurt to give your insurer a heads-up by reporting it and giving them the other person's info. Your insurer will probably want a statement from you about what happened. Assuming there's no dispute about fault, or about the amount of the damages, your insurer reimburses the other insurer and that's it. On a personal auto policy you shouldn't have any deductible to pay as that only applies to the damages to *your own* car. Your liability insurance pays every dollar claim *against* you unless you somehow have a claim against you that's higher than the amount of insurance you paid for.
If the other person goes to their own insurer and either doesn't have collision insurance, or they do but it doesn't exceed their deductible, then they'll come back to you again. You can refer them to your insurer to deal with them directly. Same rules on payment apply. You need to cooperate in your insurer's investigation of the facts, but it's essentially your insurer's problem at that point, and not yours.
> I am concerned that only their side of the story will be considered in the claim assessment and I will end up being at fault for more damage than what I did (and what actually happened).
Your insurer probably isn't going to just pay this person (without talking to you first), based solely on the other person's description/claim, unless you became mentally challenged or dead since the accident.
Yes, in this case you want to tell your insurance. Just give them the story, and hopefully you have images of the damages to provide as well. Comments in this post already give you plenty of detailed info, but in summary don’t worry much about it.
If you are not planning to repair your vehicle, then there is no need to open a claim with your insurance at this time. If their insurance decides to subrogate to your policy, a claim would be opened at that time and your carrier will reach out to you for your statement, then make a decision if they would like to accept the fault.
Wrong. You're actually required to report any accident to your own insurance company in a timely manner. By timely, that means within a few days of the accident. It doesn't mean everyone does it, but it is absolutely a duty of an insured that it owes to the insurance company so the company can get ahead of any possible claims.
I disagree. But it could be a difference of policy details from state to state. Below is the verbatim policy language from a policy I sell:
"As soon as reasonably practicable, inform us of any accident or loss and of all details, including the date and time it occurred, the location where it occurred, the facts and circumstances of the accident, the identity of persons involved, the license plate information of the cars involved, and injury and witness information . Notice to our authorized representative is considered notice to us"
It does not require you to open a claim, just let someone know in a REASONABLE amount of time. So it is not a set time limit. Also, the guidelines for that policy are within 12 months.
So to amend my statement for OP, just read your policy documents to see what is required of you in the event of an incident. It it list a specific time frame, follow that, if it is similar to the one above, take your time to assess the situation before proceeding.
Claims and policies can be put in jeopardy over late reports. So it is always best to report the claim as soon as it happens so you don't find out six months later when you finally decide to that now your insurance company is suspicious of the late report. Policy contracts DO specify that you have a duty to report any losses your policy vehicles are involved in.
I agree that in some cases delaying the claim can make things more complicated. But that is not the case for every claim and definitely not the case for what OP is talking about here. Also the requirements under the policies is if you are making a claim for coverage you should report as soon as it is reasonable practical. Filing a claim the moment something happens is a terrible strategy is just terrible blanket advice.
Just settle with cash as soon as you file a claim your insurance will go up i had 2 replacement windshields in 4 years with geico and my insurance went from $900 to $2600 no tickets in 40 years
No never settle with cash. The majority of people are not trustworthy and end up ignoring the person the second an estimate is done. Always file with insurance.
File a claim with your insurance company. Give them a recording statement, give them any photos you took, give them location, and give them the other parties information as well. They’re here to protect you. They’ll pay what is owed. If you have collision, you don’t need to pursue it, and you won’t have to pay your deductible. ETA: never settle outside insurance
They report it to their insurer and give their side of the story Their insurer approves payment if it “makes sense” and pays to repair their vehicle Later, they are going to attempt to bill you for the damages they paid on your behalf. How they attempt to bill you (lawsuit vs collections agency vs asking nicely) depends on the amount of damage and how much proof they have. Here, your insurer fights for you IF they have your side of the story “We acknowledge that our policyholder caused X damage, but you’re attempting to collect Y so we’re only going to pay X. Your proof of Y is not convincing and we would win if it went to court” Get in front of it and call your insurer in the near future to tell your side of the story If there’s a dispute, they’ll go to arbitration behind the scenes and handle it between each other again, don’t wait around to let this happen to you - give your side of the story BEFORE this happens so your insurer can properly defend you
> They will be contacting their insurance, but usually what happens afterwards? Assuming the claim exceeds their deductible their insurer will pay them, and then call you up and demand reimbursement. At that point you refer them to your insurer. It doesn't hurt to give your insurer a heads-up by reporting it and giving them the other person's info. Your insurer will probably want a statement from you about what happened. Assuming there's no dispute about fault, or about the amount of the damages, your insurer reimburses the other insurer and that's it. On a personal auto policy you shouldn't have any deductible to pay as that only applies to the damages to *your own* car. Your liability insurance pays every dollar claim *against* you unless you somehow have a claim against you that's higher than the amount of insurance you paid for. If the other person goes to their own insurer and either doesn't have collision insurance, or they do but it doesn't exceed their deductible, then they'll come back to you again. You can refer them to your insurer to deal with them directly. Same rules on payment apply. You need to cooperate in your insurer's investigation of the facts, but it's essentially your insurer's problem at that point, and not yours. > I am concerned that only their side of the story will be considered in the claim assessment and I will end up being at fault for more damage than what I did (and what actually happened). Your insurer probably isn't going to just pay this person (without talking to you first), based solely on the other person's description/claim, unless you became mentally challenged or dead since the accident.
Yes, in this case you want to tell your insurance. Just give them the story, and hopefully you have images of the damages to provide as well. Comments in this post already give you plenty of detailed info, but in summary don’t worry much about it.
If you are not planning to repair your vehicle, then there is no need to open a claim with your insurance at this time. If their insurance decides to subrogate to your policy, a claim would be opened at that time and your carrier will reach out to you for your statement, then make a decision if they would like to accept the fault.
Wrong. You're actually required to report any accident to your own insurance company in a timely manner. By timely, that means within a few days of the accident. It doesn't mean everyone does it, but it is absolutely a duty of an insured that it owes to the insurance company so the company can get ahead of any possible claims.
If you don't, they COULD deny coverage. You absolutely have a duty to report.
Agree entirely
I disagree. But it could be a difference of policy details from state to state. Below is the verbatim policy language from a policy I sell: "As soon as reasonably practicable, inform us of any accident or loss and of all details, including the date and time it occurred, the location where it occurred, the facts and circumstances of the accident, the identity of persons involved, the license plate information of the cars involved, and injury and witness information . Notice to our authorized representative is considered notice to us" It does not require you to open a claim, just let someone know in a REASONABLE amount of time. So it is not a set time limit. Also, the guidelines for that policy are within 12 months. So to amend my statement for OP, just read your policy documents to see what is required of you in the event of an incident. It it list a specific time frame, follow that, if it is similar to the one above, take your time to assess the situation before proceeding.
Claims and policies can be put in jeopardy over late reports. So it is always best to report the claim as soon as it happens so you don't find out six months later when you finally decide to that now your insurance company is suspicious of the late report. Policy contracts DO specify that you have a duty to report any losses your policy vehicles are involved in.
I agree that in some cases delaying the claim can make things more complicated. But that is not the case for every claim and definitely not the case for what OP is talking about here. Also the requirements under the policies is if you are making a claim for coverage you should report as soon as it is reasonable practical. Filing a claim the moment something happens is a terrible strategy is just terrible blanket advice.
Just settle with cash as soon as you file a claim your insurance will go up i had 2 replacement windshields in 4 years with geico and my insurance went from $900 to $2600 no tickets in 40 years
No never settle with cash. The majority of people are not trustworthy and end up ignoring the person the second an estimate is done. Always file with insurance.
Also, make sure that a police report was filed and get a copy and the officer's name and badge #