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Worth Filing Police Report?
- Thread starter Runt8
- Start date
We don't know if the other driver stopped or not. Maybe he did but the OP never pulled over and stopped. And it doesn't matter who is at fault you are supposed to stop when you are in an accident. Granted since this was a minor accident not much is likely to come of it but in more serious accidents they have gone after someone that got hit even though it wasn't their fault for fleeing the scene.
I have several minutes of dash cam footage after what I posted. The other driver pulled out after me and did nothing to try to get my attention. He eventually passed by me when I turned onto the highway and he did not.
I was giving your original post the benefit of the doubt as being a joke, but it appears you’re just being ridiculous.
smatthew
Active Member
Suck it up. Bring it to a body shop and they can fill the mark and repaint. Its been far too long as the video doesn't show the damage only the impact. They'll argue in the time since the video you could have been hit by someone else. I also wouldn't bother with insurance. Its going to cost marginally over your deductible and then it will be a ding on the car fax.
I promise you, if you get hit by someone's vehicle (in a very minor accident such as this), don't realize it, and drive off, you will NEVER be in any legal trouble. Stop trying to fear monger and spread misinformation.
I can't tell you how many times in my career in insurance semi truck drivers actually cause accidents, don't realize it, and drive away. Do you know how many have been in any legal trouble? None. When the police get involved, they will often try to facilitate the exchange of information, but they've got much bigger fish to fry than to try and nail someone for leaving an accident that they didn't know they were involved in. Give me a break.
He'd have to pay his deductible up front and it would be recorded as a paid claim under his policy which inevitably could impact his premium, even with a full recovery (never a guarantee that they'd recover 100%). Why have a claim under your own policy if you don't have to? The fewer you can have the better.
It's Progressive. Initially they were going to have me pay the deductible and didn't mention anything about going after the other driver. I told them I wasn't sure I wanted to pay to have it fixed without talking to the other driver's insurance first. If it works out I'd rather go this route anyway.
thx. makes sense about premium, but in this case OP is not at fault.
But the other insurance co. might give OP hassle (esp. if one of those low cost carriers). I like to delegate this task to my own carrier b/c they're experts like some have mentioned.
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
Totally get wanting to use your own insurance because they often will look out for you. But with that said, even not at fault claims can count against you when it comes time for renewal of your policy.
I spoke to Geico (the other drivers insurance) today - I did a short 15 minute interview to answer questions about the accident. They took 100% responsibility for the damage, set me up for an estimate early next week, and set up a "luxury" rental car for me to use when my car goes in to be repaired.
Got to love dash cams!
Got to love dash cams!
PianoAl
Active Member
I work in insurance, specifically auto insurance. Very familiar with how it works.
Very true, California does not allow insurers to increase rates for a single not at fault loss. However, if you have 1 or 2 not at fault losses and then 1 or 2 at fault, they absolutely could raise your rates more than they otherwise would because you have 4 claims, even if 2 were not at fault. It’s all about assessing risk.
Now those other 3 claims may never happen, but if you can avoid using your own insurance, you’re going to be better off in the long run because you never know what else will happen.
is this advice also coming from a "don't bother us" perspective? I got that feeling from a USAA rep for a not at fault loss claim that I wanted them to follow up on, but they closed the claim. Luckily the other carrier paid for everything, other guy got the ticket so I didn't push it
Interestingly USAA is great for paying out their own claims, maybe I just got a bad rep.
Not at all. I don't actually handle claims directly any more, but I manage teams that do. I started my insurance career as an insurance adjuster, so I know what they go through. To be completely honest, claim adjusting is often extremely busy. During "busy times", many adjusters have much more work than they can complete in a day, so they can get overwhelmed and stressed. I'd be lying if I said that didn't sometimes come across on some of the claims they handle and in their interactions. It's the nature of the industry though. Claims are rarely steady, so you're likely either going to be understaffed or overstaffed, depending on the season. It takes so long to ramp someone up due to the complexity of the job, you can't just hire seasonally.
With that said, you might have just gotten a bad rep. Some are great at keeping any stress or unrelated issues separate from their job and the people they talk to on a daily basis - some aren't.
As someone who hires claims adjusters, I look for someone who can provide amazing customer service, handle a bit of stress, and leave bad days at home. I'm huge on providing a good customer experience to both policyholders & 3rd party claimants. I don't think anyone should be treated like crap. I'm thankful that's the culture of my company as well, so I don't have to work hard to press that point. Unfortunately not every insurance company has that culture though.
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