Ive been rear ended this evening That force pushed my car into the car in front of me also. luckily, no one has been injured; my car suffered damage to front and rear bumpers, etc.
I got the police report at the scene and only the one behind me got a citation, so I think its been established that he is at fault. The initial report has the driver and insurance information.
I am getting ready to call his insurance company to file a claim, but my question is should I call my insurance company to report the accident? I have a feeling the guy in front of me is going to call them anyway. If my insurance company (Progressive) knows about this, they might put this in my CLUE as a not-at-fault accident; although everybody says that wont affect my insurance rates in the future, I believe it will have an affect.
Call Progressive. That's why you've been paying them.
If in the off-chance this turns into some sort of stinkfest with the other party claiming you to be at fault and you have not called Progressive, Progressive could hold you as responsible for interfering with their right to defend.
Is it just me or have the forums been flooded with auto insurance claims questions lately? Suggest the mods make a new forum for this, or hopefully someone can make a sticky thread who is well versed in the insurance arena...
varmatheone
New Member
posted: Sep. 2, 2010 @ 9:09p
Is it a good idea to just report to Progressive, establish who is at fault and just deal with the other insurance company myself; that way I can do stuff like demand OEM parts only, diminished value, etc.
BEEFjerKAY said: Call Progressive. That's why you've been paying them. I'm going to disagree.
My rule is never to contact MY insurance company when I am not at fault. In certain states (NJ for sure) even a not-at-fault accident CAN raise your premium. Handle it through their insurance company and make sure you get OEM parts and diminished value.
I would hold off and wait to see who the person in front of you calls. He/she should contact the insurance company of the driver who was cited.
quaters said: BEEFjerKAY said: Call Progressive. That's why you've been paying them. I'm going to disagree.
My rule is never to contact MY insurance company when I am not at fault. In certain states (NJ for sure) even a not-at-fault accident CAN raise your premium. Handle it through their insurance company and make sure you get OEM parts and diminished value.
Check with your insurance company. With my insurance company reporting an accident will not raise your rates unless you are at fault AND the insurance company pays out more than $750.
My rule is never to contact MY insurance company when I am not at fault. In certain states (NJ for sure) even a not-at-fault accident CAN raise your premium. Handle it through their insurance company and make sure you get OEM parts and diminished value.
I would hold off and wait to see who the person in front of you calls. He/she should contact the insurance company of the driver who was cited.
Good luck and updated the thread when you reach a conclusion I'm interested to see how it all goes down.
I disagree with not contacting your insurance company. Although you can "try" to contact the other driver's insurance company, they may not even start processing a claim if their "insured" does not file a claim.
The rules vary from State to State, but you (OP) may have some liability to the driver you hit, regardless of the fact that you were hit from behind. Depending upon the circumstances, you may have partial fault in the damage to the vehicle in front of you for being "too close".
I personally would contact your insurance company and let them sort it out. You pay your deductible, get your car fixed, and your insurance company will pursue reimbursement with the other insurance company (subrogation). If your deemed "not at fault" you'll eventually get your deductible back.
Of course it's only viable if you have collision insurance through your insurance company.
NotSoHard said: quaters said: I'm going to disagree.
My rule is never to contact MY insurance company when I am not at fault. In certain states (NJ for sure) even a not-at-fault accident CAN raise your premium. Handle it through their insurance company and make sure you get OEM parts and diminished value.
I would hold off and wait to see who the person in front of you calls. He/she should contact the insurance company of the driver who was cited.
Good luck and updated the thread when you reach a conclusion I'm interested to see how it all goes down.
I disagree with not contacting your insurance company. Although you can "try" to contact the other driver's insurance company, they may not even start processing a claim if their "insured" does not file a claim.
The rules vary from State to State, but you (OP) may have some liability to the driver you hit, regardless of the fact that you were hit from behind. Depending upon the circumstances, you may have partial fault in the damage to the vehicle in front of you for being "too close".
I personally would contact your insurance company and let them sort it out. You pay your deductible, get your car fixed, and your insurance company will pursue reimbursement with the other insurance company (subrogation). If your deemed "not at fault" you'll eventually get your deductible back.
Of course it's only viable if you have collision insurance through your insurance company. I've "tried" 7 times and never had issue with them processing the claim. I had one guy deny it happened and it was his fault, after he gave me his insurance info. His insurance company was still obligated to investigate my claim. All without me notifying my insurance company.
I've never heard of being "too close". I've heard of moving and stopped. So according to that logic you can be paralell parked on the road and some rear-ends you could be at fault for being parked too close to the car in front of you?
There is no reason for OP to contact his insurance company yet. If he can get it settled without contacting his company he is ahead of the game. Worst case is he has to or an other driver does. What does he lose by waiting?
The downside is his premium can go up for the next 6 years why take that chance if he can be made whole without his insurance company involved?
varmatheone
New Member
posted: Sep. 2, 2010 @ 11:51p
I filed with his insurance now. I am not going to bother with calling mine unless I run into any issues.
I did this 5 years ago, with a not at fault accident and filed with my insurance first (Geico). They promptly reported to CLUE, even though they did not pay anything (other insurance paid the shop). From what Ive been reading all along, not at fault accidents DO have an an effect on insurance (you might be denied insurance if you have 5 of them, for example).
story 1: I once reported an accident to my insurance company when the other person was at fault. I was t-boned by someone who ran the stop sign. She said she couldn't see because of the sun. She wasn't even insured. My premium didn't go up, but when I switched insurance providers a few years later I got a higher quote due to an accident on record. I had to dispute to have them ignore the accident on record.
story 2: I was hit again a few years ago in a parking lot. Someone backed into my door. Both of our insurance parties ruled the other person at fault. I suspect they both agreed to do that to cut claim costs. I wanted to fight that, but it was out of state and I don't have the time/resources to go through that in another state. Long story short, because I went through my insurance company another company has me reported at fault.
Q: is it possible to fight for diminished value if you go through your insurance company? I've never been presented that option.
kichubhai99
Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 12:51a
varmatheone said: Is it a good idea to just report to Progressive, establish who is at fault and just deal with the other insurance company myself; that way I can do stuff like demand OEM parts only, diminished value, etc. AKA happened to me. Did not waste a min in calling the insurance. Got the claim started 20min into the accident. Got a check the following weekend. Guys argue to goto insurance. Nobody cares. If the guy dies next day....???(hope not). Not being to rude. my car got scratches and they paid me to repaint the bumper etc,. The guy can just claim that the bumper damage was all there. so please please call u r insurance.....Another friend of mine was at fault. i Just kissed the car in front. the old lady claimed 4k in medical and 1 k in bumper damage . the cop reported no damage etc.. Lesson learnt always let others(insurance) fight for u....
Crazytree
Senior Member - 7K
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 1:33a
varmatheone said: I have a feeling the guy in front of me is going to call them anyway.His people will be calling your people shortly.
FoolishJumper
Senior Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 3:37a
Just to add a bit of perspective, this happened to me (in VA) except I was in the front car. For whatever reason (state law or the traffic citation or what), the middle car had to pay our insurance claim and the back car had to pay the middle car's claim. The back car only had liability, so she was SOL and had to buy herself a new car.
I figured it would all be through the back car's insurance, but we were told to contact the middle car's insurance and filed the claim with them. I believe they then filed the charges (plus their own claim) to the back car's insurance. But since the back car (which caused the damage to two stopped cars) never touched my car, I guess they aren't directly liable for the accident, but instead are liable for pushing the middle car into my car.
Call the front car's insurance (you should have that info in the police report) and ask if you need to provide anything for them. If you do, give them your insurance info and let your insurance deal with it. You really don't want to be dealing with the insurance claim of the front car!
You already know the other guy is going to report it to your insurer. You hit them from the back.
It is very rare that someone will NOT call your insurance these days. Even in cases where the damage is small and you guys agree to "settle out of pocket" the other party most often is lying, and just trying to take casgh from you BEFORE they go ahead and report it anyway.
Perhaps years back when people were honest you could "handle things between men". Nowdays, every single person out there cannot be trusted.
ALWAYS REPORT IT. And get police reports whenever possible, because the other party will lie later if its to their advantage.
This is going to appear on your clue report anyway, just report it.
Q: is it possible to fight for diminished value if you go through your insurance company? I've never been presented that option.No insurance company volunteers to pay DV - so you will never be presented the option
In all states - you can claim (and win) DV against the other party / other party's insurance company when they are at fault
In most states, your own insurance company specifically excludes paying DV to their own insured party
SUCKISSTAPLES said: This is going to appear on your clue report anyway, just report it.Exactly. The insurance companies collect the police reports - the same way that CarFax does.
quaters said: NotSoHard said: quaters said: I'm going to disagree.
My rule is never to contact MY insurance company when I am not at fault. In certain states (NJ for sure) even a not-at-fault accident CAN raise your premium. Handle it through their insurance company and make sure you get OEM parts and diminished value.
I would hold off and wait to see who the person in front of you calls. He/she should contact the insurance company of the driver who was cited.
Good luck and updated the thread when you reach a conclusion I'm interested to see how it all goes down.
I disagree with not contacting your insurance company. Although you can "try" to contact the other driver's insurance company, they may not even start processing a claim if their "insured" does not file a claim.
The rules vary from State to State, but you (OP) may have some liability to the driver you hit, regardless of the fact that you were hit from behind. Depending upon the circumstances, you may have partial fault in the damage to the vehicle in front of you for being "too close".
I personally would contact your insurance company and let them sort it out. You pay your deductible, get your car fixed, and your insurance company will pursue reimbursement with the other insurance company (subrogation). If your deemed "not at fault" you'll eventually get your deductible back.
Of course it's only viable if you have collision insurance through your insurance company. I've "tried" 7 times and never had issue with them processing the claim. I had one guy deny it happened and it was his fault, after he gave me his insurance info. His insurance company was still obligated to investigate my claim. All without me notifying my insurance company.
I've never heard of being "too close". I've heard of moving and stopped. So according to that logic you can be paralell parked on the road and some rear-ends you could be at fault for being parked too close to the car in front of you?
There is no reason for OP to contact his insurance company yet. If he can get it settled without contacting his company he is ahead of the game. Worst case is he has to or an other driver does. What does he lose by waiting?
The downside is his premium can go up for the next 6 years why take that chance if he can be made whole without his insurance company involved?
Seven times? You're in too many accidents =D.
You need to keep in mind that we are talking about an incident with drivers on the road, not empty vehicles parallel parked. Although the OP was not cited, I'm assuming the vehicle operator that hit him received a "Failure to maintain safe distance" citation. The OP didn't state he was stopped, parked, or moving. However, it can be inferred that the OP was in the vehicle when the accident happened.
If you are the driver of a vehicle, IN the vehicle, and you are involved in an accident, you certainly could be found partially at fault if your vehicle damages another vehicle. The 3rd vehicle's insurance company is not going to just roll over and pay for the vehicle the OP hit. The OP's vehicle did the damage to the car it hit, not the vehicle that hit the OP.
By waiting and not notifying your insurance company, you give your insurance company a disadvantage when they are blindsided by one of the other driver's claim on your insurance policy for an accident you were involved in. Since your insurance company is behind the curve on the investigation, it will take that much longer to process.
Insurance companies have lawyers for a reason. Let them do the fighting for you.
You already know the other guy is going to report it to your insurer. You hit them from the back.
It is very rare that someone will NOT call your insurance these days. Even in cases where the damage is small and you guys agree to "settle out of pocket" the other party most often is lying, and just trying to take casgh from you BEFORE they go ahead and report it anyway.
Perhaps years back when people were honest you could "handle things between men". Nowdays, every single person out there cannot be trusted.
ALWAYS REPORT IT. And get police reports whenever possible, because the other party will lie later if its to their advantage.
This is going to appear on your clue report anyway, just report it.
1. You don't know the guy in front is going to report to his insurer, he might report to the third cars insurer.
2. I am not talking about settling out of pocket, but rather settling through the at faults' insurance company.
3. Still no disadvantage to waiting it out and seeing if you can settle with the other insurance company.
4. Depending on the state and the police reporting system, it might not show on his CLUE report.
4. What is the advantage for reporting it to your own insurance company now?
varmatheone
New Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 11:22a
Thanks everyone for your input. I claimed with the rear drivers insurance and waiting at this point.
As far as the CLUE is concerned, I don't believe CLUE/CARFAX will find out from the police report. My last not-at-fault incident is not in CARFAX, and is in CLUE because of my insurance company(even though there is a police report). Anybody with inside knowledge on this? (Im in AZ).
I am a big advocate of reporting it. Then let your insurance company deal w/ everything (including dealing w/ the other parties' insurance companies)
You know all those horror stories of people being screwed over by insurance companies? Well have your insurance company fight for you so you don't have to. They deal w/ it everyday and are much less likely to get screwed around by the other party's insurance company. Your insurance company doesn't want to pay the damages and knows best how to present the case so the other guy has to pay for it.
varmatheone
New Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 3:17p
Update: I spoke with the other insurance company today and they accepted liability; They will be coming in to inspect this Tuesday and at a repair shop picked by me. They said they will be calling me to setup a rental.
The 3rd driver hasn't called them or mine yet. I will have to watch for that.
NotSoHard said: quaters said: I'm going to disagree.
My rule is never to contact MY insurance company when I am not at fault. In certain states (NJ for sure) even a not-at-fault accident CAN raise your premium. Handle it through their insurance company and make sure you get OEM parts and diminished value.
I would hold off and wait to see who the person in front of you calls. He/she should contact the insurance company of the driver who was cited.
Good luck and updated the thread when you reach a conclusion I'm interested to see how it all goes down.
I disagree with not contacting your insurance company. Although you can "try" to contact the other driver's insurance company, they may not even start processing a claim if their "insured" does not file a claim.
The rules vary from State to State, but you (OP) may have some liability to the driver you hit, regardless of the fact that you were hit from behind. Depending upon the circumstances, you may have partial fault in the damage to the vehicle in front of you for being "too close".
I personally would contact your insurance company and let them sort it out. You pay your deductible, get your car fixed, and your insurance company will pursue reimbursement with the other insurance company (subrogation). If your deemed "not at fault" you'll eventually get your deductible back.
Of course it's only viable if you have collision insurance through your insurance company.
My g/f's son was in this exact type of accident (NJ) and driver #3 was deemed at fault for damage to both cars in front of him.
He had come to a complete stop behind car #1 and was rear-ended into it.
Its a good idea to get an insurance quote from the other person and your own insurance. After my last car was totaled (their fault not mine) my insurance company offered $2,700 and the other person's offered %4,300. My insurance didn't go up either.
biomedeng
Senior Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 10:02p
Regarding the middle car being liable for the front car damage, I have heard this is often state specific. However, I personally feel that the back car should be fully liable. I can leave a huge gap of 10 feet but if a semi or bus plows into me I am going to be pushed forward until I hit the next car. I find it obsurd that I can be liable for not leaving enough space to prevent the idiot rear ending person from pushing me into the next car. Me sitting in my car, fully stopped, is no different than my car being parked. Some have posted here on FWF that if you are the middle car (hit from behind, pushed into the front car) you should emphasize to the police you were completely stopped at the time of getting hit from behind. Also they posted it was helpful to report you felt two impacts (the back car hitting you, and then you hitting the front car). This suggests to the police that you wouldn't have hit the front car on your own.
biomedeng
Senior Member
posted: Sep. 3, 2010 @ 10:17p
I find it interesting how on these type of threads there are always people who suggest you file on your own insurance. As someone that drives older cars (each worth less than $6000) I only carry liability insurance, with a rider for uninsured motorist coverage. I also believe that your own insurance company is just as likely to try to screw you over as is the other guy's insurance company.
biomedeng said: I find it interesting how on these type of threads there are always people who suggest you file on your own insurance. As someone that drives older cars (each worth less than $6000) I only carry liability insurance, with a rider for uninsured motorist coverage. I also believe that your own insurance company is just as likely to try to screw you over as is the other guy's insurance company.
Full coverage with good liability is the best, unless you can afford to quickly replace the car.
patstanley
New Member
posted: Sep. 23, 2010 @ 4:53a
Call your car insurance company at the earliest! In fact ask them to file the claim with the at fault driver’s insurance company on your behalf. If things turn sour now, you cannot ask them to intervene later on your behalf, if you didn’t bother to tell them in the first place.
patstanley said: Call your car insurance company at the earliest! In fact ask them to file the claim with the at fault driver’s insurance company on your behalf. If things turn sour now, you cannot ask them to intervene later on your behalf, if you didn’t bother to tell them in the first place. how much do you get paid for pimping the hartford?
varmatheone
New Member
posted: Sep. 23, 2010 @ 1:56p
Just an update on this. I initially didnt report to my insurance and just dealt with the other persons insurance as they have admitted fault. The 3rd guy in the accident called my insurance and opened a claim, but they were asked to contact the insurance of person at fault and claim on my insurance was closed.
My car repair is done and I am planning to file a diminished value claim soon. Can anyone point me to a Diminished value appraiser in Phoenix, AZ?
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