My partner’s car was rear ended at a stop sign.
State Farm Insurance covers it - will they also write you a check for the damages? How could you negotiate it with them?
Anytime someone hit you from behind, he his automatically at fault. His insurance company should pay for all damages caused to your car.
More than likely they will send you to a local body shop to have your car fixed, on their dime.
You can get a check cut to you, yes, and you’re under no obligation to fix the damage. The money is to compensate you for your loss, and if you want to funnel that compensation into non-loss-related pursuits, that’s your choice.
However, they will not give you more money if you later decide that you want to fix it after all.
And if you do take the check and get it fixed on your own, then when the (almost inevitable) “we need more money” line comes from the body shop, you might have a harder time getting it out of the ins. co than if you had them pay the body shop directly and negotiate on your behalf.
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This is often stated but like everything there’s no absolutes in life. I once rear ended someone and my own insurance took me before the insurance commissioner citing that same misconception. I argued the circumstances of the case and the insurance commissioner agreed with me. They lost.
What about a car with a lienholder? Don’t they have some say in the disposition? Never had a car loan so just asking…
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Depends on the loan. New/late model used car? Yes unless you take the insurance money and pay off the loan with it. Old used car a college kid got an unsecured loan for or had his dad cosign for? No.
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Not if you pulled out in front of the other vehicle and the driver couldn’t stop in time.
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Not as my stepdaughter did. She was rear ended by backing into a car at a drive through.
And another reason to not use drive through unless you have a physical problem .
Insurance company will pay up to the value of the car. And if that person doesn’t have insurance then hopefully you do have insurance. In NH that’s very possible since you don’t have to have auto insurance.
Depends on the state. In some states that’s illegal. Insurance companies can NOT influence where you get your vehicle fixed. I’d prefer to find my own body-shop. They also may ask to bring it in for their estimate. This is legal, but it’s best to get other estimates. Insurance companies like to low-ball their estimates.
The other car has to be moving
If the other driver had insurance, you deal with them. Mostly his or her insurance information will have a phone number for claims, but if not then Google is your friend. File an accident report with the police. If the driver had no insurance then contact your own company.
Everything is negotiable. You can go to a body shop of your choice most of the time. The body shop may be willing to deal with the insurance company for you, which is helpful. If you have a car loan then, if a check is to be issued, it will be made out to you AND the lender, and can’t be cashed without both endorsements.
The amount of the damages is negotiable, and includes repairing the car, the loss of value the car might suffer, damage or destruction of property you had in the car, medical costs you had, loss of income you had because of the injuries you had as well as the time it took to deal with this, permanent injuries, pain and suffering, etc.
Schedule an appointment or just stop by at the agent’s office and have a chat with them about what’s possible in your particular situation. Insist on meeting with the agent themselves, rather than the staff employee who’s manning the desk outside the agent’s office. Life is a flea market. Let the bargaining begin.
Why would I do that? That’s why I pay insurance on my car so they can handle it. I call my insurance, they fix it and deal with the other insurance to recoup both my insurer’s loss and my deductable. I was self insured for 30 years and had to do this a number of times. The tactics they use to drag it out are quite frustrating. I believe they don’t try to pull the same stuff on other insurance companies because they know it doesn’t work…
I got backed into in a drive through too. Durango versus G6. $3000 in damage before all was said and done. Couldn’t get it into reverse fast enough when the lady got upset at the speaker. At any rate luckily I had the police report when she tried to wiggle out of it and they paid everything.
Several times though I argued with the National Safety Council conclusions on the fault of an accident. According to them no one is faultless regardless since you could have anticipated the situation and taken evasive measures. Just sayin’ that the other company may try to weasel out by 10-20% of fault. State Farm has generally been good for me and either gave me a check or paid the body shop directly, my choice. If you don’t have it fixed though, that portion of the car is not covered in the future and if there is a lien on the car, the bank can compel the repair or find you in default on the loan.
About a year ago, I legally parked my car by the curbside and walked to a meeting.
When I came out, my car had been sideswiped, and a note was left on the windshield
How the heck could I have anticipated the situation?
How could I have taken evasive measures?
I’d like this safety council to explain to me how I have any fault in that situation . . .
Wifey got rear ended sittng at a stoplight, 3 years ago, whiplash headaches, nerve ablaton etc. At First I was like let the insurance deal with it and wait for them to make an offer. American General after 3 months had not responded, we paid the deductible to get the car fixed and she hired a lawyer. She was like what kind of a car would you like, figuring a settlement. Well the other driver had 50k coverage and lawyer is now going after our insurance company for under insured motorist, as we might get 2 or 3 grand at most after medical bills and lawyer fees. Her issues and suffering are not over either.
Sorry to hear of your spouse’s injuries @Barkydog . Reminds us all that the car experience – no matter how well designed the vehicles are – is never 100% safe.
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Yeah, I’m not in agreement with it but the basic premise for comparative negligence states that assign percentage of blame, it goes like this-
Just the fact your car was in that spot assigns you some small percentage of blame because even though the other car deviated from their lane through their own negligence, they would not have had an accident if your car was not there. I think to most normal people this makes little sense but the lawyers and other legal eagles seem to have hammered out this aspect in assigning blame…
Most states have modified versions where this has no impact on your right to recover but there are states where that percentage is subtracted from the amount you can recover.
The legal concept is “last clear chance”. If you had a last chance to avoid the accident or limit the loss, you have to try and avoid. Simply being present is not enough to assign liability, unless you are present in a place you should not be. And making the effort should be something that’s “reasonable and prudent”, not something that’s also very risky. Dodging into the opposite direction traffic to avoid a head-on is not reasonable and prudent. Stepping aside so a person running at you won’t hit you is.
You can argue this kind of stuff forever, which is what law students and lawyers who don’t understand how to settle cases do. After a few decades of practice it becomes more clear what the goal really is. It’s not to have a Court decide you are right, it’s to achieve a fair and equitable result for your client.