Car insurance accident report, yes or no?

bostonianinmo

Check your policy. Some companies require you to report all accidents, some only require you to report those that exceed state limits -- typically around $500 - $1,000 worth of damage or involving any personal injury, and some don't care unless you're filing a claim.

I would strongly recommend that you report it to your insurance company and let them subrogate the claim to the other driver's insurance company. This will help to protect your rights as well as your insurance company's. Since you are not at fault, your rates won't be affected.

If you deal with the other driver's insurance company, they are going to demand a signed release of liability and further claims before they pay. Should hidden damage surface later (to you or your car), you'll be stuck with the repair or medical bills yourself. Your insurance won't help you in this case, since you signed the release.

If you deal with your insurance company, there will be no release of liability and future claims will be handled by your insurer, subrogated to the other driver's insurance.

nonanonymous

Report the accident as an incident report only so that the insurer has the incident on record. Irrespective of what another party in an accident may say at the scene of an accident, "It was my fault", etc., stories change. If your insurer has all of the facts from you, their insured, then any subsequent calls to them by the other party or the other party's attorney will not come as a surprise.

You should not be surcharged for a not-at-fault accident.

As far as resolving this claim, you should always work with the other party's insurer if they agree that their insured (the other party) was at fault. You will not have to come out of pocket for your deductible or other costs such as rentals that your insurance may not cover but which can be claimed against the other party's insurance. Do not depend on your insurer to subrogate against (collect from on your behalf) the other party's insurer - typically subrogation claims are settled between insurers for less than 100 cents on the dollar which means that a) you may not get your deductible back, and b) your insurer will be left holding the bag for some of the claim.

Your expectations should be that the other party's insurance will put you in the same position after repairs are complete that you would have been in had the accident not occurred. This would include paying for a rental vehicle. Additionally, if your vehicle is owned and not leased and there is significant damage to your vehicle, some states permit diminution in value claims on the basis that a vehicle that has been damaged in an accident will sell for less than an identical vehicle that was not damaged.

Sierrawolfe929er

The decision really depends on what state you're in. When I lived in TX, it wasn't required that one should invlove their insurance comapny in an accident that was not their fault. Here in NY, you must.

I'll be straight with you, your insurance goes up even when you don't have a claim against your insurance but are in an accident (that they find out about). It's not that they pin you for the accident, but being in one in the first place increases the odds that you will be in one again and increases your risk level. If your premium does not go up right off the bat, you can expect it to when you renew (if they find out).

If the police were involved in the accident and there was a county report made up, it'll probably hit your driving record anyway (and be there for your insurer to see next time they review your record).
A lot of the time, though, when there are local police involved, it never makes it that far.

Your call.

Infinity606

some companies may raise rates just for reporting...but here's what i suggest. if you really believe you are not at fault, go ahead and go through the other insurance company and don't report to your company yet. if it starts to go not in your favor, report it to your insurance company, let them take care of your damages (unfortunately that includes paying your deductible) and let them argue it out with each other. Also, if you just want to cover all your bases...go ahead and go through the other insurance company and what you can do with yours is report it to them as a "report only" and tell them that you're just putting them on notice in case the other company argues. one way or the other, you're damages are taken care of, and you have to do minimal arguing. good luck!!

bmwdriver11

It wont hurt you to call them, if the accident isnt your fault. That being said, there is no reason to call them either.

trailsman1961

Please tel your insurance, what if the other company delays repairs or refuses to repair or finds you at fault and you call your company late this will be a red flag for your company.

ddevilish_txnfml

Yes, because if your car needs to be repaired, they must send an inquiry to where you want it to be repaired. Also, even though it wasn't your fault, all accidents must be reported to go on filed. Hopefully a accident report was filed out by the police and they will need a copy of that.

And no, it does not increase your premium as it was not your fault. It only increases if you were at fault. It just goes on your file.

butch

You'd be surprised what your insurance company knows about you already- they will know details of your accident regardless of your informing them. No, if you're not at fault, you will not receive an increase in premium.

rlchv70

Yes, if you have problems with the claim, they may be able to help.

Pucci88

Don't contact your insurance unless there are problems with the other insurance company paying your claim right away. Your insurance company will have a claim on your policy even if they end up not paying anything.

David W

NO. There's no reason to involve them. Only call them if you expect them to pay the claim.

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