rear ended on a two month old car by a driver without drivers license and insurance policy, what are my options?

[thu1]

Hi all,

As title suggests, got rear ended on my 1.5 months old LR MS while waiting at traffic light.(Attached picture for damage) Damage seems to be only on bumper but who knows. Here is the situation
1. The at-fault driver has neither drivers license nor insurance policy based on hand gesture communication(Driver only speak Spanish). I called police to the scene and they have to get a translator for the driver to get more information out of him
2. I described the course of the accident to the police and promised to send the tesla cam footage to police after I got home. (Which I did by now)
3. I have to leave the scene before the translator arrives because I was attending a wedding and I am groomsman. Police gave me a business card with the case#, and asked me to give the case# to my insurance company once I made the claim

So now question is, what are my options? Since it's likely the other driver is uninsured(not 100% sure if he has insurance policy since we cannot communicate with him, but no drivers license for sure), I am assuming I have to file a claim to my own insurance company which is Farmers. My policy has uninsured motorist coverage and $1000 deductible on collision. Does that means most likely I have to pay $1000 out of my own pocket even I did nothing wrong? Is there a way I can recover my financial loss?

Thanks.

 

[ZenRockGarden]

typically this scenario is exactly what the uninsured-motorist coverage section of your policy is intended to handle...

 

[thu1]

But what I read is you have to pay deductible first before they can apply your uninsured motorist coverage in California. Am I wrong here?

 

[jmaddr]

Correct. You are out a grand for the deductible. You can go after the guy via small claims or other means for the deductible and diminished value, but chalk it up to the universe.
As @ZenRockGarden said this is exactly why you have insurance. If you wanted no liability you could have had zero deductible on that part of your insurance and then you would have paid more in premium. Think of it like your home insurance, if you have a fire over there or a hurricane where I’m from, you have a deductible to pay before the benefits kick in.

 

[ucmndd]

Does that means most likely I have to pay $1000 out of my own pocket even I did nothing wrong?

Unless your policy includes and you opted into a collision deductible waiver for uninsured motorist coverage, yes.

Is there a way I can recover my financial loss?

Sure. You can sue the unlicensed, uninsured driver and then try your hand at recovering the judgment from said individual… good luck!

 

[wchang3t]

Paying $1000 out of pocket sucks, but it is still probably better than paying additional premium to have $0 deductible. I did the comparison a couple years ago for my insurance. It would have cost me additional $300 a year to have $0 deductible vs $1000 deductible. That means I would have to have a claim every 3 years to make it worth it.

 

[wwu123]

Unless your policy includes and you opted into a collision deductible waiver for uninsured motorist coverage, yes.

Sure. You can sue the unlicensed, uninsured driver and then try your hand at recovering the judgment from said individual… good luck!

I think if there's anything to be gotten out of the individual, your insurance company should be going to bat for you, by going after him and his assets, for not just your deductible but all of the damages they paid you. Then send you a check if they recover anything. Though in this case, prob no assets worth going after.

One thing I cannot fault Allstate is, they took care of me. An uninsured, license-suspended, DUI driver totaled my SUV a decade ago. It was parked in a driveway, so it was covered under comp, not collision, but I had to pay the deductible. Allstate later sent me another check for the deductible, I didn't ask but presumably they recovered it from the at-fault individual. Just too bad Allstate didn't want to insure Tesla, I had to part with them.

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

As a retired chief of police I can assure you that should you be hit by an uninsured, unregistered, unlicensed illegal alien you are out of luck. When my guys would ticket such a person the local judge would toss the case. I suspect because he didn't want to be bothered with dealing with the nonsense.

If you are looking for justice in the criminal-justice system, sorry, you won't find much there.

Rich
(+20 yrs NYPD, retired lt., +20 years chief of police, Cape Cod town)

PS
I carry uninsured/underinsured ins for just such a situation.

 

[thu1]

Thank you guys for all the inputs. Here is an update from my insurance company(farmers):

They let me make the claim under uninsured motorist coverage and waive my collision deductible. Since I provided the teslacam footage to them and they say they will run his license plate to see if they can recover anything from him. Sad part is I called Tesla authorized bodyshop and they mentioned the rear bumper is on backorder for at least 6 months.(Bay area) Really sad I have to drive the car as-is for 6 months considering the car is only 1.5 months old.

 

[DerbyDave]

Glad it is drivable! Pretty good outcome. So sorry it is on your new car.

 

[y2khd]

So Painful...

 

[MD048]

I think if there's anything to be gotten out of the individual, your insurance company should be going to bat for you, by going after him and his assets, for not just your deductible but all of the damages they paid you. Then send you a check if they recover anything. Though in this case, prob no assets worth going after.

One thing I cannot fault Allstate is, they took care of me. An uninsured, license-suspended, DUI driver totaled my SUV a decade ago. It was parked in a driveway, so it was covered under comp, not collision, but I had to pay the deductible. Allstate later sent me another check for the deductible, I didn't ask but presumably they recovered it from the at-fault individual. Just too bad Allstate didn't want to insure Tesla, I had to part with them.

That's quite odd they didn't want to insure a Tesla. I just signed up with them for the MYP I will be taking delivery of this coming Wednesday. They actually had the best rates for the coverage I was looking for out of all of the companies I got quotes from.

 

[LT1Pat]

I doubt they'll go after him for damages, stuff like this happens all the time.

 

[Freshness]

Thank you guys for all the inputs. Here is an update from my insurance company(farmers):

They let me make the claim under uninsured motorist coverage and waive my collision deductible. Since I provided the teslacam footage to them and they say they will run his license plate to see if they can recover anything from him. Sad part is I called Tesla authorized bodyshop and they mentioned the rear bumper is on backorder for at least 6 months.(Bay area) Really sad I have to drive the car as-is for 6 months considering the car is only 1.5 months old.

I know you deserve a brand new bumper, but considering the facts—yours does look repairable, maybe just a new diffuser is all you need.

 

[thu1]

I doubt they'll go after him for damages, stuff like this happens all the time.

I know you deserve a brand new bumper, but considering the facts—yours does look repairable, maybe just a new diffuser is all you need.

Thank you guys for the comments. Just a quick update, the parts have arrived and I dropped my car off today at the tesla authorized body shop. total cost is ~$2800. My insurance company allowed me to claim the repair under uninsured motorist coverage and waived the deductible(since the at-fault driver is at the scene and I have tesla footage for the entire accident). Let's hope no additional damages after they take off the bumper.

 

[father_of_6]

Is that 9ANT979?

 

[thu1]

Is that 9ANT979?

yea, why?

 

[bedoig]

yea, why?

It would seem your effort to obfuscate the license plate failed, especially with your confirmation of the plate number All in good fun.

 

[father_of_6]

LOL... just thought it was fun to guess. Thanks for confirming.

 

[Pcm888usa]

When I received my 2nd Tesla, I compare the insurance with my then existing AAA insurance. To my surprise, insure by Tesla saved me over $1000 per year for 2 Tesla. AAA said it is because every repair of Tesla is done in-house by them, it is very expensive for them to pay for repair. So, I can understand why some insurance would not insure Tesla. I am glad I am able to get insurance from Tesla Insurance.