AdvanSLF

Hi All,

For anyone that is reading, i'm hoping you can share your experience and provide input on my conundrums. Thanks in advance.

1) Car Accident - on my way to the dealership yesterday, a woman rear-ended my wife's camry. no one is hurt. it was gridlock traffic so we decide to just exchange #s, policy info, and took pictures of our cars and drivers' license. Told her i would follow-up with her.
My question is:
a) do i file a claim with her insurance company and leave mine out of it? will their company try to contact my company somehow or for whatever reason?
b) i have geico, if i file a no fault of mine claim, will my premium go up? maybe i should just file directly with the other woman's insurance instead and leave my insurer out of the picture?

2) Plastic covering on car's side? - so i didn't notice this when i went to pick up my car at the dealership yesterday, it was pretty dark out. however with some rain on the way to work this morning, i noticed some clear plastic/vinyl film on the rear doors near the bottom, due to the rain and road debris. tried peeling it off and it was a little tough and sticky so i stopped. do you know what this is? is this something they forgot to remove at port or dealership? See photo.

LexusFsprt

it's a clear vinyl to protect from debris and rock chipping. & haha no the dealer did not forget to take it off, it's meant to be there.

jnjmatts

Can't answer your insurance questions but that is scotch guard or some other brand of paint protection film that you're trying to peel off.

dojoman

iTrader: (5)

Normally you'd have to file a claim with your insurance not her's. Even though it's not your fault you'd still file a claim but your insurance company will work out with her's. Premium should not go up if it's not your fault.

iampraneel

iTrader: (3)

Work through your insurance company. Let them deal with the other company. What will most likely happen is that your insurance company will make you whole, then they will collect from the other parties insurance company.

If the accident was not your wife's fault then the premium shouldn't go up.

AdvanSLF

I've been searching all over the web looking for answers on the insurance situation. i'm reading that some agencies do spike up your insurance regardless of whose fault it is i guess a claim is a claim to them. i was hoping a CL community member might have had experience working in the auto insurance world and could shed some light..

as for the clear film..is that on everyone's car? i never noticed it.. it looks awful since all the debris get stuck on the outline/edge of the film..did everyone leave there's on or take it off?

jnjmatts

The clear film probably looks better than stone chips but your call.

IS350S2K

I have the film on my car.

JDR76

It's on all of them. I left it on, but am thinking of taking it off. I can't get the edge clean no matter what I try.

cpham4

Based on my experiences dealing with a handful of accidents that occurred with my vehicles in the past 10+ years.

a) do i file a claim with her insurance company and leave mine out of it? will their company try to contact my company somehow or for whatever reason?

No matter what, your insurance will know of the accident. The other insurance will contact your insurance. Remember, the other party is reporting your insurance to their carrier as part of the accident. My recommendation is to go through the other person's insurance and have them fix your vehicle. If you go through your insurance, you have to pay a deductable which may not always be reimbursed by the other insurance company. Sometimes you have to take the other party to court to recover it.


b) i have geico, if i file a no fault of mine claim, will my premium go up? maybe i should just file directly with the other woman's insurance instead and leave my insurer out of the picture?

Premium should not increase based on this accident, but it may increase for other reasons related to your market area. IE, more GTA's in your area in the past year, more claims based on your vehicle model/type, etc.

ISISGUY

Agreed!

Dealt with insurance companies and claims for several years. Go through hers, less out of pocket expenses, if any, including a rental car, and it's obvious it was her fault so they shouldn't give you a hard time about anything.

I would suggest going through your own only if they give you any trouble or if it's a crappy insurance co.

Bass Mech

my recommendation is you listen to none of the advice you hear from here unless the poster has an insurance license!
I've been doing insurance for 11 years..
first, if you got rear ended, you need not file the claim with your company because you were not at fault. file the claim with their insurance company.
contact your company just to let them know the claim number from company B just in case CO B drops the ball.

keep in mind that if you FILE with your company you have to pay your deductible unless and until the other company admits fault 100% on the part of their insured, if they do not take 100% you still pay your deductible.

be prepared! the other party will usually LIE about how it happened! this is why i drive with an accident camera in my car both front and back windows! because a Camera doesn't lie and it shows a liar every time.

if the person who hit you has no insurance (they may show it but if the policy is not paid up and in force) you will have to claim the damage on your collision or uninsured motorist property damage portion of your policy, (again have to pay the deductible) then you have no choice but to file a claim with your company.

you will be asked to give a recorded statement from the claims rep, so make sure you can explain the chain of events exactly as they happened, more often than not the other person will lie and their story will be different. so add as much detail to the story as possible because usually a liar has little detail and a lot of holes in their story.

also depending on what the car is worth you might want to look into diminished value, as the car having been in an accident may not be worth as much even repaired if reported to car fax. so if thats a concern about resale value you might want to ask for that as well.

edit, and BTW NEVER leave the scene of the accident without getting the police involved! first of all thats what they get paid to do, and second you need a 3rd party witness to look at the position of the cars and decide based on statements who was at fault. even if it's obvious still get the police involved.
the reason is because people LIE, LIE ,LIE!! almost every time! if they aren't claiming damage that was there before the accident they take the time to formulate a totally different story to avoid being at fault. with a cop there getting a statement most people don't have the time to think up a good story and have to give a statement.
they say they aren't hurt and then a week later claim all kinds of injuries, it's best to have a cop take their statement and they will ask if the other person is hurt at the scene.

also giving false information to a police officer is a felony! much less likely they will lie to a cop verses you.

if a cop is not a viable option then you did good, definitely get a PICTURE of the drivers license, insurance cards and the car as well as the driver! pictures of the position of the cars as they came to rest and the damage itself on both cars. this will make it easier to determine how the cars hit and what damage was a result of this accident verses un-repared previous accident.
ask for any witnesses at the scene and get their info if they are willing to give a statement.

oh and your rates will not got up if your not at fault. this is true of every company in every state. the reasons rates go up is because if your at fault, in other words your a higher risk driver than someone with no activity on their history, so because your a higher risk, you get charged more.
comprehensive claims such as theft, fire, flood, vandal, hail are all things that cannot be avoided and have nothing to do with your driving ability. therefore your rates would not change for a claim like that either.

hope this clears everything up for you.

DizzyEdge

Yep..that's the 3M Paint Protection the dealer installs and tries to charge you $500 for.
It's probably on your hood, side mirrors & rear bumper as well.

JDR76

No, this is not a dealer installed protector. We all have it, regardless of whether or not we purchased additional coverage from the dealer.

DizzyEdge

Hmm..guess the dealer lied to me.
He tried to charge me for it...but i said they can go ahead and take off the film then.
He left it on & took off the extra $500.
LOL.