As title states, was involved in an accident today (no injuries). I was stopped at a red light and got rammed head on by a car turning left. I am not at fault and the police report indicates same conclusion. My car is a 2018 X5.
I live in NJ and have Geico insurance. Looking for your help as I couldn’t find a clear answer.
Who’s insurance do I claim? I contacted Geico who said I can either claim through my policy or claim through the at fault driver’s policy. Claiming through my policy would have me paying deductible. Now, this just happened so his insurance has not admitted at fault and not sure what the process is for them to determine this. Looks obvious to me, and police agrees, but don’t want to file claim and end up getting denied by his insurance. Any thoughts?
Gap insurance is still included in BMWFS leases right?
Always go through the other insurance if you are not at fault. Provide the insurance company with a copy of the accident report to speed up the process. The car likely isn’t totalled so GAP is a non factor
Why would you even tell your insurance if you haven’t decided what to do? I would not recommend doing that in a situation where you are confident you’re not at fault.
Don’t forget to try for a diminished value claim as well. I’ve had luck with it on a previous lease. You’re likely not entitled to it, depending on your states laws,but it’s worth a shot. After all, if you had any plans to buy out the lease at the end it’s now worth less with an accident on the carfax.
You’re not entitled to it in pa with a lease. However the people that hit me had an insurance co based in Wisconsin and they paid me diminished value on my stelvio. Can’t hurt to try…
They offered $500 at first. I told them I wanted $5k. They offered $1700 and I just took it.
You can use an attorney to get the max amount minus whatever they charge but I didn’t want to take it that far. The $1700 was worth the inconvenience of dealing with the insurance company and loss of my stelvio for almost a month.
A couple things to check. What does the other insurance cover for a rental while yours is repaired? What do they cover for OEM parts? What repair shops do they cover?
They may stick you in an econobox car, only use salvage, use a crappy repair shop.
If your insurance is better, use them. You will pay your deductible, but your insurance company will go to the at fault insurance company to get reimbursed for the cost of repair, plus your deductible, so you’ll get that back once all the paperwork is done.
Also whether the police say you’re at fault or not, it is up to the insurance company to make the final decision, so they may come after you saying you were on the wrong side of a line or some BS like that, that is why you always contact your own insurance and let them handle it, they protect you from crap like that, that’s what you pay them for.
Thanks all for the replies. The suggestion from Hawkeye is what I am doing, it seems that it is the least hassle for me and the safest route. Sure, it could have implications on premiums and I do pay my deductible up front. Putting the ball in my insurance company’s court to subrogate from the at fault insurance co seems to be the right thing to do. In the end I should get my deductible back and rates minimally impacted. Thanks all again.
It will not affect for premiums, if you are not at fault, your insurance company is reimbursed by the other insurance and therefore cost your company nothing.
I’ve been through this before when a car dealership demolished my car with their snowplow. Their insurance provided crap and wanted me to use the worst place in town. Used my insurance, didn’t change my rate at all.
I filed once with the other party (Geico) since I was confident I wasn’t at fault, and the police report was in my favor. They ended up contacting my insurance company anyway (liberty mutual). I wanted to keep my insurance company out of the claim. Since they were notified about my accident, I said fuck it and went through my own insurance. Dick move on behalf of the geico claims agent.
Always reported yes, but I’ve never had to file through my own insurance first when the other party was at fault. I’ve always been able to keep claims off my policy and have filed directly with the other party. They’ve never had to notify my insurance company when there was zero liability on my part.
Wait, if you file a claim through your policy (Geico) and if it was determined not to be your fault, why do you still have to pay deductible?
I had an accident about 20 years ago and my insurance was through Farmers. Got hit by a car running a red light (got police report indicating so), so it was the other driver fault. Farmers agreed it was not my fault and I did not have to pay deductible to fix my car.
Regardless you usually always have to pay your deductible, if OP goes through at-fault driver insurance he won’t have to pay that deductible. There are cases where people have paid their deductibles and once their insurance company received full compensation from the at-fault driver’s insurance then you are able to ask for a refund on the deductible, this is no guarantee though.
Sorry, I am a bit confused by your statement above. If the other driver is at fault, are you paying the deductible or not?
Things may change today but with what I had to go through at the time, I didn’t have to pay deductible when it was determined the other driver was at fault.
I’ll clarify what I was saying- usually, you pay the deductible when going through your own insurance company, even if it is determined by the other driver’s insurance that they are completely at-fault. If OP goes through the at-fault drivers insurance he would avoid paying that deductible. There have been cases where you are able to ask for your deductible refund, this, however, is never a guarantee. Think of that deductible as the insurance company’s time for making the process easier for you and to fight on your behalf (in a way).
