Car Accident: Insurance Question

[Hibernaculum]

I was in a car accident last week. I was driving on a surface street, two lanes each direction. There were some excavation trucks doing work on the side, and they had the right lane blocked off. So, I’m driving along. Daytime, clear weather. Suddenly, a car pulled out from an apartment building driveway RIGHT in front of me. I slammed on my brakes but was unable to avoid a collision, she had pulled out so suddenly. The impact spun around her car into the other lane of traffic, and I limped my car across the street to pull off on the far side, smelling burning rubber. I was OK. The driver of of the other car was OK. My airbag did not deploy. Her airbag did.

Called the police. An officer came out, took statements (the other driver’s statement was very similar to mine), and called tow trucks. To my knowledge, he didn’t cite the other driver. He provided me with her insurance company (USAA) and her policy number.

I had the tow truck tow me to a body shop. They said they needed to get a number from the other driver’s insurance company in order to provide a quote.

It took several days for me to obtain the police report, as the cop told me it would. I contacted my insurance company.

So, here’s the sticky wicket. A while back, my wife and I figured we’d forego comprehensive coverage, and just stick with enhanced levels of liability coverage. We figured that insurance is for things that would have a calamitous effect on finances, and since we could afford to buy a new car if we happened to crunch one of the ones we had, we’d likely be better off just self-insuring.

So, my insurance company provided me the police report, and basically said, “So long.” Understandable. I had hoped that they would provide some assistance in interfacing with the other insurance company, but it looks like they’re trying to close that door.

Here’s my question: What should I know before I call the other driver’s insurance company? Any tips folks can give me on increasing the odds that I get a payout under the other driver’s liability insurance? I’m concerned that the fact that the other driver wasn’t cited will work against me. She pulled out without duly ascertaining that the way was clear.

There was one fellow who came up afterwards and said he saw all of what happened, and that he worked at the dentist’s office nearby and would be willing to give a report. He didn’t stick around, but I should be able to track him down if I need to.

The other driver was young (22), and it appears that she is not the owner of the car. She indicated to me that she “got tired of waiting” and thus presumably just pulled out before she could tell with any certainty that the way was clear.

Her car was pretty banged up, with an impact on the driver-side rear door. The wrecker driver told her it was likely totalled. Our car, a 2013 Honda Odyssey minivan, had a fair bit of front-end damage, but hard to guess how much it would cost to fix it- the front fender is munched, the steel frame is dinged, the tires look aligned, engine is probably OK, hood is slightly wonky.

Best-case scenario: the other driver is deemed to be at fault, her insurance company pays for the tow truck, a rental car while the car is in the shop, the body shop quotes a figure that gets the car back to good-as-new and the insurance company pays that, and we can get by with repairing only some of the damage and manage to pocket the difference.

Worst-case scenario: the other insurance company pays for nothing, our car costs more to fix than a comparable used car, and we’re car shopping.

Hints moving forward?
Thanks!

p.s. We are NOT in a “no-fault” state...

[chemistk]

You're making what's called a third-party claim. All insurance companies have an avenue to make these claims and some are better than others.

The police report is going to be big in your favor if they did find the other driver at fault, but the final payout is ultimately up to USAA. They should find their insured at fault, but they will also do due diligence to make sure they can come to that conclusion.

In addition to the police report, you'll want pictures of your vehicle from the day (if you have them), pictures of the other vehicle (if you have them), and pictures of the scene THAT DAY (if you have them). If you don't, it's not a huge deal, but they certainly help. You'll also proof of any conversation you have with the other driver, most notably text conversations.

You'll contact USAA and let them know you're making a third party claim, they'll open a ticket with you and take down details but you might not actually be speaking to the claims representative who has the clearance to authorize payment. Some insurances have a portal where you can upload supporting information, and others want you to email it. USAA probably (hopefully) has a portal.

You'll upload your information, and then have to wait to speak to the claims rep who can authorize payment. They will review your information and then speak to the policyholder to seek positive acknowledgement of the incident. Some people are nice and will say "yeah, it happened" - if that's the case, they'll have you send over the estimate and work with the shop to sort out repairs. Other people are dicks and deny that it happened or ignore their insurance entirely. In that case, USAA will be going by your recounting of the incident as well as the police report and any other evidence. It'll just take a couple extra days potentially.

Now, just to be clear, is the other driver a named insured on their policy? You're going to have a hell of a challenge if they're not named on the policy...

I'd ignore the witness - insurance isn't likely to take their account, how are they to know that it's not your brother pretending to be a witness just to do you a favor...

I've been through this twice now, and it's annoying because the process takes so much longer when you have to go through someone else's insurance co.

[yachi]

This thread is making me reconsider what we do for collision coverage.  We have a minivan worth 10K and a pickup truck worth maybe 12K.  We dropped collision and comprehensive a few years ago, but I didn't realize how useless my insurance company would be in seeking reimbursement for an accident that was not my fault.

[Hibernaculum]

Chemistk- That's very helpful. Thank you!

I think it is likely the other driver will acknowledge the accident. I totally kept my cool after the accident, figuring it was my "Stoic challenge" for the day. She shook my hand before leaving with the tow truck. I think she was glad I wasn't ranting and raving.

[SunnyDays]

I’m in a no fault province, so can’t comment on the insurance side of things, but I had an accident this summer that caused what sounds like similar but less damage than yours.  The cost, out of pocket, to repair my 2003 Matrix, with no deductible because it was the other driver’s fault, was about 2.5K.  The biggest chunk of that by far was the rental car for the almost 2 months it took to fix it, around $1800.  Insurance wouldn’t cover the rental, even though I had loss of use, because it was a write off but I bought it back.  For me, it was still worth it because I love my car, it’s in great shape and used cars are currently selling for a premium.  You feelings for your van and replacement cost are yours to consider.

[merula]

I've worked in Property & Casualty insurance for the past 15 years. I'm hoping I can sort out some common misconceptions that seem to be popping up in this thread, although I do want to say at the outset that Auto insurance is highly location-specific, and I'm really only going to be talking in generalities.

"No fault" *sounds* like it should mean that insurance pays regardless of fault. And it kind of does, but only in a very limited way, and only for injury, not for physical damage. "No-fault" states require that "personal injury protection coverage" be offered and purchased as part of an Auto insurance policy, so that if you are injured in a car accident, your insurance pays for your injuries and then pursues the other person's insurance to get paid back, a process known as subrogation. In states that are NOT "no fault" states, insurance companies still offer "personal injury protection coverage", which I highly recommend along with uninsured motorist coverage, as it's protection you're buying to cover yourself. Without it, you can end up with some pretty substantial medical bills.

"No fault" doesn't apply here because no one was injured.

Best-case scenario: the other driver is deemed to be at fault, her insurance company pays for the tow truck, a rental car while the car is in the shop, the body shop quotes a figure that gets the car back to good-as-new and the insurance company pays that, and we can get by with repairing only some of the damage and manage to pocket the difference.

Worst-case scenario: the other insurance company pays for nothing, our car costs more to fix than a comparable used car, and we’re car shopping.

This is pretty much it in a nutshell. There might be a fault determination percentage, so if the insurance company says that you were 50% at fault, they'll pay only 50%.

Here’s my question: What should I know before I call the other driver’s insurance company? Any tips folks can give me on increasing the odds that I get a payout under the other driver’s liability insurance? I’m concerned that the fact that the other driver wasn’t cited will work against me. She pulled out without duly ascertaining that the way was clear.

Know up-front that this is likely to take FOREVER. You're a third-party, as chemistk pointed out. You've probably never paid USAA a dime in your life, so this isn't really a situation where they have an incentive to settle your claim quickly and keep you as a customer. You might be pleasantly surprised (I have heard good things about USAA claims in general), but keep your expectations low.

Before you call:

• Get the witness's info, and tell them you're going to be giving it to the insurance company so they're prepared. You don't want a situation where they're caught off guard and forget key details.
• Write down everything you can remember about what happened. If you talk with the witness on the phone, you can ask what they remember/saw and add that to your notes. This is just for you to have available as a reference when talking to the claims representative.
• When you call, be calm and pleasant. Tell them that their driver was at fault and damaged your car. Most likely, you're just talking to a call center rep who's going to take down your story and then the actual claims adjuster will call you later.
• When the claims adjuster calls, be absolutely sure that you do not change any details from what you told the call center rep. The adjuster's job is to first "fix the facts", and if parts of your story change, that makes them much more suspicious about you.
• The adjuster wants to pay only what their company owes and no more, but they also want to close your claim because the entire claims department is overworked. Technically speaking, they don't have any flexibility in that, so you can't really haggle, but you can advocate for yourself with valuations and stuff, especially if you make it easier on them.
• The way to get a higher payout from insurance is to be injured and have medical bills, or to get an attorney involved. The problem with that is that you don't actually WANT to be injured and it opens up a whole lot more complexity to the claims process, and also, when attorneys get involved the amount the claimant actually gets after attorney fees in general stays about the same.

This thread is making me reconsider what we do for collision coverage.  We have a minivan worth 10K and a pickup truck worth maybe 12K.  We dropped collision and comprehensive a few years ago, but I didn't realize how useless my insurance company would be in seeking reimbursement for an accident that was not my fault.

Your insurance company may have been as worthless even if you did have comp/coll coverage. I have both, I was in an accident that was clearly not my fault last November. It took until January to get the payout from my insurance company, and they've been pursuing subrogation to get paid back, and they will then pay me back my deductible and car seat replacements. It's still not done, and I really feel like it would've been easier to have gone the third party route to start with. I don't really care about floating the $1500, it's just the headache of having it out there.

[lutorm]

Somewhere in my bookshelf I have a copy of https://www.amazon.com/How-Your-Personal-Injury-Claim/dp/141332519X/ref=pd_lpo_1?pd_rd_i=141332519X&psc=1, which is a sort of how-to for this. It didn't help me much because the guy that hit me was uninsured, but the knowledge in it was certainly worth 20 bucks.

I'm pretty sure one of the things they tell you is to not do argue details over the phone, see the section "preparing a demand letter"...

[Hibernaculum]

Well, it turns out to not be as difficult as I'd imagined. I called the other driver's insurance company, and before they even had me talk to a claims adjuster, they were able to let me know that both my car and her car already had claims. Then later in the day, the adjuster from her insurance company returned my call and said that the other driver was at fault. So they pay for the repair and the towing and a rental car through their preferred rental car company (they gave me a code to use so nothing out of pocket). Works for me. We're just out the cost of a few Uber trips during the week for my wife to get to work, and the cost of a rental car for a couple of days that we already booked so we could run the carpool to the kids' school. I'll claim that rental car and it might get paid as well.

Now it will probably take a while for everything to get settled and the car to get fixed, but as long as I have a rental car, that's OK with me. Seems like being friendly and non-stressed and non-angry at the time of the accident might have helped things after all.

[merula]

Great news! Worth asking if they'd reimburse the Ubers too, that comes up pretty frequently.