got hit in accident not at fault i have no collision coverage

[hopefulchristiana]

I (A) was stopped at a red light with B behind me and C didn’t stop crashed into B which made B hit me (A). I have the worst damage where C car is completely fine and B front bumper is a little cracked. I don’t have collision coverage. My car is still drivable. I don’t have the report yet will take about 5 days, do i try to submit anything to my insurance or wait for the report and submit a claim to C? I’m in NJ if that is any help.

 

[davelew86]

@hopefulchristiana You can submit your claim now if you know C’s insurer. They may or may not want the police report. But you can get it started for sure.

 

[hopefulchristiana]

@davelew86 I didn’t get any of their info unfortunately. I guess i’ll wait for the report before I do anything

 

[sirhash]

@hopefulchristiana Did you get their plate? That’s all you need

 

[hopefulchristiana]

@sirhash yes i have that i took pictures of all cars

 

[sirhash]

@hopefulchristiana Give that to your insurance and they maybe able to tell you who the person uses. Then file a claim with their insurance

 

[justhime]

@hopefulchristiana Phone number? Any form of contact from the other party? Unfortunately you're cornered into a rather less than ideal situation. Your last resort should always be filing it through your insurance. If you don't have their info, handle it outside of insurance. Regardless of what your provider tells you, it will ALWAYS hurt your policy to make a claim, regardless of fault. Insurance companies rate you based on any and all occurrences (bar miniscule claims

 

[ifitry]

@justhime there are plenty of states that prohibit insurers from rating based on not-at-fault accidents by statute

 

[justhime]

@ifitry Not when discounts are considered, this is commonplace in the insurance industry. Most offer tiered discount structures in correlation to driving experience since occurrence. I hope this helps add transparency to your premiums!

At your next renewal, take a look at the discounts. The "Preferred Package", "Claim Free", "Safe driver", are a few buzzwords that come to mind.

 

[hopefulchristiana]

@justhime i would have asked but honestly the cop just told us to stay in our cars cause it’s a pretty busy road plus raining! all i have for the other car is their plate number i was only able to take pictures

 

[justhime]

@hopefulchristiana I'm confused, you all waited in your cars until a police officer told you to wait in your cars? Or there was an officer on scene?

 

[hopefulchristiana]

@justhime it happened in front of the police station so only took about a minute or 2 for the cops to get there. we pulled over driver in car C got out asked how we were then the cops got there and told everyone to get back in their cars.

 

[justhime]

@hopefulchristiana Understood! Unfortunately that limits your options for the moment... Best course of action in the long run is to be persistent, annoying even, to get that report. You are entitled to those reports, do you have a reference number? If you live in a county that provides public record access you might be able to find the report yourself...

 

[hopefulchristiana]

@justhime yes it will take 5-7 days before it’ll be available for me. to me that makes no sense but i guess that’s how my town does it.