Not at fault, post accident car insurance questions.

[raelynne]

A few days ago my wife was stoped at a red light in her 21' Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. There was a Tesla in front of her and she got hit pretty hard from behind by a distracted driver in a 2015 Honda Civic sedan pushing her into the Tesla. She was not hurt.

In my hobby auto mechanic opinion wife's vehicle sustained probably a total of $8k damage for a shop to fix. $6k in the rear and $2k in the front. Airbags did not go off. The Tesla likely sustained about $2k in damages? The Honda Civic the distracted driver was driving is likely totaled. The whole front end, of bumper, condenser, radiator, L&R fenders and hood was smashed in and the airbag deployed. His bumper slid under my wife's Cherokee because it sits a bit higher and he was hard breaking with front end down. The distracted driver was ticketed.

The distracted driver had insurance but apparently only a $10/20k policy.

The distracted drivers insurance called my wife today and said she needed to go through her insurance to pay for her damages and pay for car rental.

We have not dealt with our insurance yet.

Questions:

Shouldn't the driver that caused the accident and his insurance pay for the damages to my wife's vehicle and the Tesla first? Then any remaining charges be covered by our insurance?

If the accident wasn't our fault and the damages are more than the at faults insurance will cover, will we have to pay our deductible?

We are already paying for a rental out of pocket because neither of us had rental car coverage on our policy. We were told by the at fault drivers insurance that we or our insurance had to pay since the guy didn't have rental coverage.

Will our policy go up even though the accident wasn't our fault?

It seems like the at fault drivers insurance company is trying to get out of paying a full claim and just give the guy the $4k or $5k his Civic may have been worth?

Are we being misled by his insurance company? I can't remember the name but it's not one of the big ones.

We plan on calling our insurance (Progressive) tomorrow.

Do we also need to get an attorney? We don't want to incur any additional costs and attorneys aren't cheap!

 

[godseb]

@raelynne Okay, time to break everything down.

The distracted driver had insurance but apparently only a $10/20k policy.

This may be for medical bills only, as indicated by the 10/20 (10,000 per person, up to 20k per accident).

The distracted drivers insurance called my wife today and said she needed to go through her insurance to pay for her damages and pay for car rental.

This could be because the damage to your Jeep and the damage to the Tesla may exceed policy limits of the distracted driver. What they're trying to tell you is to file for your damages under your own policy and your insurance company will subrogate (i.e. send a bill) to the distracted driver's insurance and get back what they pay in damages for your car.

Equally, the distracted vehicle's policy may have lapsed, so they may not have coverage at all.

Shouldn't the driver that caused the accident and his insurance pay for the damages to my wife's vehicle and the Tesla first? Then any remaining charges be covered by our insurance?

Technically yes, but it would require you file under your own coverages.

If the accident wasn't our fault and the damages are more than the at faults insurance will cover, will we have to pay our deductible?

Yes, your deductible is owed all the time, every time, unless otherwise specified by your insurance company or waived as a policy provision. It is owed when repairs are complete to the repair facility you use. Some companies offer deductible waivers using Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist Property Damage coverage, confirm with your adjuster if you have that coverage and whether there's a waiver. If I remember correctly, Progressive also offers a neat feature called "Deductible Bank" or something similar, which saves a portion to a 'bank' and applies it to your deductible whenever you sustain a loss like this. Whether or not you have that on your policy, I wouldn't know, also good to check in with your adjuster.

We are already paying for a rental out of pocket because neither of us had rental car coverage on our policy. We were told by the at fault drivers insurance that we or our insurance had to pay since the guy didn't have rental coverage.

You're welcome to try and present these out of pocket coverages to the distracted driver's company, however if their coverage lapsed, or their limits are exhausted, you get nothing.

Will our policy go up even though the accident wasn't our fault?

No one can say for sure, other than an underwriter, and that's not reviewed until renewal.

It seems like the at fault drivers insurance company is trying to get out of paying a full claim and just give the guy the $4k or $5k his Civic may have been worth?

Civic's damages are not your concern, don't worry about what they're paying him.

Are we being misled by his insurance company? I can't remember the name but it's not one of the big ones.

No, they're ensuring you get your damages taken care of, again to preserve policy limit. They'll offer damages pro-rata (split reasonably) to the two other insurance companies involved in the accident.

Do we also need to get an attorney? We don't want to incur any additional costs and attorneys aren't cheap!

No, not a requirement. And chances are, if his limits are as low as I expect them to be, you'll end up paying the attorney and getting nothing back. However, I am not an attorney, and this is not legal advice. The decision is entirely yours.

Source: I am an insurance adjuster.

 

[raelynne]

@godseb Thank you so much for the breakdown and clearing this up!