Insurance

[Majik]

Lets say someone backed over the front of a miata in a parking lot. Lets also say they didnt leave a note. If I go through my insurance, will I see a rate increase? THis is my only comprehensive claim, but I do have a fault accident on my record.

[tailchaser]

Let's say you had uninsured/under-insured coverage. If there were a police report filed, it would fall under that.

Otherwise, it's a collision, not comp, claim. I'd suggest staking out the parking lot where it occurred, identifying the culprit, and spray-painting her car purple.

[Majik]

What if I didnt notice till a few days after, so I didnt think to file a police report? Still collision, and f'ing me on the rates?

[ccage]

Let's say you had uninsured/under-insured coverage. If there were a police report filed, it would fall under that.

Otherwise, it's a collision, not comp, claim. I'd suggest staking out the parking lot where it occurred, identifying the culprit, and spray-painting her car purple.

This isn't necessarily the case. I had this exact situation happen to me. A guy in a truck decided he didn't want to pull out into traffic after all, rammed it in R, and backed into the front of my '93. He was illegal, had no identification of any kind. I tried to work it out with the guy that he claimed owned the truck, but his insurance company got no response from him and dropped his coverage. Months went by. Finally, I filed on my uninsured. I had no information regarding the person, though I did have some on-site pictures. They took the case and covered it under my uninsured.

YMMV. I have good insurance (State Farm) and have worked with the same agent since I was 15.

I'd certainly ask. They'll try to subrogate, but as far as I know that's no requirement for coverage.

Sadly, I've filed 8 times on others' insurance and twice on my own (for my own stupid mistakes). Two of those eight were on uninsured, and only one of them subrogated. (I got my $250 back!)

FWIW, I don't worry too much about rates. Truthfully, if there's serious damage (read: significantly more than your deductible), file. That's what it's for, and even if your rates were to double (they won't -- you'll be lucky to see a 10% increase if you're a total mess) you'd still pay less than the accident. On the other hand, if you're only talking about $500 worth of damage and you have a $250 deductible, you might think about it.

If you file on uninsured, you will not see a raise in rates -- you're not at fault.

Chuck

[Treibenschnell]

Main Entry: sub·ro·gate
Pronunciation: 's&-brO-"gAt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -gat·ed; -gat·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin subrogatus, past participle of subrogare, surrogare -- more at SURROGATE
: to put in the place of another; especially : to substitute (as a second creditor) for another with regard to a legal right or claim

You had me on this one... had to reference the ol' dictionary.

[srivendel]

Main Entry: sub·ro·gate
Pronunciation: 's&-brO-"gAt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): -gat·ed; -gat·ing
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin subrogatus, past participle of subrogare, surrogare -- more at SURROGATE
: to put in the place of another; especially : to substitute (as a second creditor) for another with regard to a legal right or claim

You had me on this one... had to reference the ol' dictionary.

My Word-a-Day calendar is only on Feb. 3. Subrogate isn't until mid-July.

S.

[onething]

and I thought your agent was your Daddy. You must have grown up in the office of an agent!!!

Either literally or figuratively speaking.

[ccage]

Man, it's my '97 Grand Cherokee that has the bad luck for the most part. It seems that my other vehicles came without that feature. Every time it went in the body shop I asked them to paint over the target, but I guess they forgot. :)

Chuck