I’ve been a long time reader of these forums and use it as way to keep up with market trends. However, it’s my first time posting and I wish it were under different circumstances.
Saturday evening I was struck head on by another driver turning on to oncoming traffic. He either didn’t see or ignored the stop signed and turned right on to a county highway at the same speed he was traveling, lost control upon turning right and came on to the oncoming.
I believe the Frontier is totaled; all airbags deployed and a lot of frame and engine damage in the front. My vehicle was towed out to a near by body shop and I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. Yesterday I went and collected my belongings from my car and I was told by the shop owner the other vehicle involved was a rental (enterprise from what he said). I don’t have the police report yet to find out who the other party’s insurer may be.
NJ is a no fault state, so I have to go through my car insurance for medical expenses incurred (up to $50,000) and use my health insurance as secondary to cover co-pay + deductible; ~ $900 (please correct me if I’m wrong; this is what I was told by my insurance - Geico).
My policy limits are 50,000/100,000 with 50,000 personal injury protection. I was reading through my lease contract to see what next steps would be and read I should immediately call Nissan to inform them of the accident. The following terms stood out.
Fellow NJ hacker here. Sorry about the unfortunate accident. I hope everyone is safe. I had a similar incident happen in 2021. Total loss, not at fault, Geico. The car was a leased Genesis G70. I got the police report 3 days after the incident (Some towns take longer). You can also download the report online here (LN BuyCrash) once it’s available (I believe you pay more vs. going in person to the police station). Geico mobile app was very helpful and it guided me through the process at every stage. Once I had the police report and the claim is open, I filled out all the requested details in the app (uploaded police report, details about other party etc.)
After that Geico scheduled an inspection to estimate the repairs and declared it a total loss. I then called Genesis financial (my car’s lien holder), obtained payoff information and provided it to Geico. This was during crazy covid car buying times , Gieco arrived at a market value that’s $3000 more than the payoff. I initially thought Genesis financial would get the whole payment. But for some reason, Genesis financial was happy with just the payoff and I received the $2500 ($3000 - $500 deductible) check. It took about a month or so from the date of incident until the payments.
Geico then went after the other party for the damages and I kept getting updates that a litigation is happening and I would get my $500 deductible back after the process. And about a year later, I got my $500 back as well. Another tip, if you have to visit hospital for injuries related to the incident later, make sure to mention that you want to use your car insurance and mention the collision claim number. Hospitals by default bill your health insurance and many have separate teams that manage collision claims. Wish you good luck!
Glad you’re ok. Or at least okay enough to be posting here.
You shouldn’t go by what some minion at Geico is telling you. Or even a manager. They are looking out for their own interests, not yours.
Speak to one or more lawyers if necessary. A good chunk of them live for cases like these (virtually guaranteed judgment in favor and a well-capitalized payer who won’t declare bankruptcy).
I’m glad things worked out and Geico was able to process your claim promptly. I unfortunately don’t want to go through geico due to the potential rate increase the claim may result in come next renewal.
I’ve yet to receive the police report; I called and checked today and they said it will be ready hopefully by the end of the week. Once I have the responsible party’s information from the police report I will call their insurance and file a claim with them so I can avoid any potential rate increases.
If there is an issue with their insurance I will file with Geico.
Thank you! I’m okay outside of a small burn from the airbag. I don’t have the financial resources to hire an attorney at the moment. Though I wish I did, specially since my primary care physician refused to see me today as directed by the ER doctors on the count that this is an auto accident claim and that I would have to go through through my health insurance bc he doesn’t do auto claims
Police report came in and 100% liability was assigned to the other driver. However, he is underinsured and is also a Geico policyholder.
The claims representative urged me to go through my coverage for the auto claim and advised that the other driver only has $25,000, and that would not be sufficient In the event of a total loss (which is highly likely).
Then a bodily injury adjuster called me and asked me to fill out a questionnaire about medical treatment received as a result of the accident, and asked me to upload discharge documents so they can evaluate injuries and make me a settlement offer (this claim is on the at fault drivers policy).
Is this how this usually works? Do i submit docs to the bodily injury adjuster?
I signed for the car to be released from tow shop to Geico so they can take it to their inspection facility and write up an assessment.
Please advise on what I should look out for moving forward if you guys can. Thanks!
