When my car gets hit, when does it get fixed?

One of the stickiest situations for an insurance agent is when their client gets into an accident and it's the other person's fault.  Why, you ask?  Because any report, of any kind, to your own insurance company becomes part of your driving history.  So you're at the mercy of the other party's insurance carrier, and that's where things can get ugly, or usually just slow.

I'll explain more after the jump.



When your car gets rear-ended by someone else it shouldn't be the worst thing.  You're not at-fault, right?  But what usually happens is that you're at the mercy of the other party making the proper claim to their insurance company. 

Then you have to file a report with that other carrier, who, if everything goes well, asks you to take it to a shop to get an estimate. 

They'll probably want to send out an adjuster to see the car so they can "agree" to the damages that need to be repaired.

Then the carrier will haggle over how much the repairs should cost.

Then they will either accept responsibility or not.  If they are, then there's the question of when they pay for the repairs and whether or not your car will be released to you with or without payment.

I am often asked why our carriers aren't a good option in a case where the other company is dragging its feet.  There are a couple of reasons.

1. Any report of a traffic accident, even one where you are not-at-fault, is part of the record. Insurance companies have actuarial data that says a driver who is involved in a not-at-fault accident is more likely to be in an at-fault accident than someone with a completely clean history, so they charge accordingly.

2. If your insurance company gets involved in fixing your own car, they will charge you your deductible.  If they subrogate (get the money back from the at-fault person's insurance carrier) that deductible of yours will be the last money returned. 

3. There is no guarantee that the subrogation process will take place at all.  The insurance company will weigh the options, will it cost them more to just pay the claim, or to try and recover the money through subrogation.  On small enough claims they may just eat it....and then charge you with higher premiums.

The fact is that most insurance companies are much better to their own clients than they are to the people their clients hit.  They want to keep their own customer's happy by fixing their car when it's damaged.  They don't care that much about fixing your car because it doesn't really affect their customer directly.

It's not a fun situation and there is no easy answer (other than hounding the responsible driver to nag his insurance company).  Just be prepared to have the entire process take longer than you think it should.  The time spent is better than the alternative, which is getting your carrier involved.

If you have any questions, or if you've run into a similar situation please post them in the comments section.

Thanks,
Dan