Car Insurance

[archenemy]

Can anyone tell me which of these answers is correct:

 

1. In WA, car insurance follow the car

2. In WA, car insurance follows the driver

3. In WA, car insurance may follow one, the other, or both depending on the company you insure with.

 

Here's the scoop:

I loaned my car to someone, they crashed it. Cops came and assigned 50/50 blame to the other driver and to the driver of my car. No ticket was issued, a case number was assigned. Now my insurance says I am going to take a hit on my insurance record even though I wasn't driving or in the car. I can't believe this is right. I understood that the driver takes the hit on thier insurance record no matter what car they are driving.

 

I have also called the other person's insurance (they (the driver and the insurance) are based in ID) and they can't seem to answer my questions either.

 

I've also called my company back with the following question:

If my insurance follows my car, I would like to just sell the car w/o fixing it and forgo the bad mark on my record. No one can figure out what to do with that (no one can answer if that will save my record if it does turn out that it will be fucked as a result of the other person driving my car).

 

Has anyone here been through this recently in this state? Or, any atty here care to venture an answer? I am completely fed up with these insurance assholes, no one knows anything and I get two different answers from two differnt people at the insurance place.

[ClimbingPanther]

I've had a 50/50 with no police involvement, and I believe it works like this...

Your insurance has to pay 50% of the other person's damage, and the other person's insurance has to pay 50% of your damage. If the other person claims any damage, your insurance will therefore have to pay regardless of the damage on your car, resulting in a mark on your insurance record. If they don't claim anything, I don't know for sure what will happen to your insurance. Leaving your car unfixed may or may not help your case... depends if the total dollar amount of damages your company pays determines the amount your rates will increase, or if that's just based on the simple fact of having an accident at all.

Since the driver didn't get a citation, he/she actually may walk away from this without any adverse effects at all. Oh, the injustice!

 

for the record, I have state farm, and the other driver also had state farm, and I believe insurance follows the car, not the driver with them.

Edited July 30, 2007 by ClimbingPanther

[fenderfour]

Please tell me it wasn't the Atomic Orange car.

[olyclimber]

i wonder how much insurance costs for this sweet ride:

 

[TREETOAD]

We have government run car insurance here..it's always George Bush's fault

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

don't loan your car. :-(

[ketch]

Sorry Archy, In Wa state the insurance follows the car. If the vehicle has no insurance the driver is secondary. In that case the owner of the vehicle picks up the fine for no insurance. It is generally not possible to fight the assignments by the state. :(

[TREETOAD]

Is it not mandatory to have car insurance in the states? I see cars driving around without license plates.

[i_like_sun]

Archy, that is bullshit. According to PEMCO, I think insurance follows the driver, not the car. I mean, you have to pay more for your Humvee, but you can still drive any car and keep your insurance.

 

The fact that they are making you pay for your buddy's mistake is insane. Definately fight it. When it comes to insurance companies, I just always remember that they are "companies", which means that all they want is your cash. So squeeze em and threaten them with nuclear attack if you have to! Fuck em.

 

There is no way someones else's driving mistake should EVER go on your permenant record, even if you do own the car.

 

Good luck!

[Dechristo]

Boy,...I mean... GIRL, that's a total bummer. What a fuckin' drag.

 

On the other hand, here's some good news(!):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just saved a ton of money on my car insurance!

[Sherri]

Please tell me it wasn't the Atomic Orange car.

 

Ditto!

[archenemy]

Sorry Archy, In Wa state the insurance follows the car. If the vehicle has no insurance the driver is secondary. In that case the owner of the vehicle picks up the fine for no insurance. It is generally not possible to fight the assignments by the state. :(

You are totally right, insurance follows the car.

The driver does have their own insurance, but they said I have to go through my insurance then that person's insurance recoups from mine (what a crazy system, eh?).

But that isn't quite the thing I am grappling with. I am upset that my insurance has said that my rates will go up b/c of this. Mind you, I have other tickets on my insurance and have no goodwill with them. But still, this one wasn't my fault and so I am struggling to understand why I am being penalized by this.

 

any words of wisdom?

[minx]

words of wisdom?

 

don't eat the yellow snow

 

 

 

its the same way with homeowners insurance. say some nutjob sets your house ablaze. you file a claim. your rates go up. any time your insurance company pays out on your behalf, your rates go up. doesn't matter whose fault it is.

 

ask them this question: since i was not driving, if i do not have the car repaired, do my rates go up?

[JayB]

What happens if your friend pays the claims out of pocket (no claim filed with your insurance? Would it be possible to have your friend pay the claim directly, and then seek reimbursement from his insurance? If your friend doesn't have that kind of cash, do you have enough cash lying around to pay the damages out of pocket, then have your friend pay you back later, whether that's with insurance money he gets, or his/her own money?

 

Might be worth asking your insurance company what happens in the event that they don't have to pay a claim for the damages.

[selkirk]

ask them this question: since i was not driving, if i do not have the car repaired, do my rates go up?

 

probably, since it sounds like regardless of what you do, they will be paying 50% of the damages on the other guys car.

 

That pretty well bites What type of an accident was it? I had minor fender bender a couple years ago (well, bent my fender, ripped hers off) where the insurance ended up finding no fault and didn't increase my rates. Of course I was hit while stopped at yield sign, and somehow a 3rd party arbiter still ended finding it was still my fault wtf? The whack job was talking on her cell phone driving around the 1 and 1/2 lane wide streets in the u-district and ran into me. I'm not annoyed at all though

[archenemy]

ask them this question: since i was not driving, if i do not have the car repaired, do my rates go up?

 

probably, since it sounds like regardless of what you do, they will be paying 50% of the damages on the other guys car.

 

That pretty well bites What type of an accident was it? I had minor fender bender a couple years ago (well, bent my fender, ripped hers off) where the insurance ended up finding no fault and didn't increase my rates. Of course I was hit while stopped at yield sign, and somehow a 3rd party arbiter still ended finding it was still my fault wtf? The whack job was talking on her cell phone driving around the 1 and 1/2 lane wide streets in the u-district and ran into me. I'm not annoyed at all though

Yes, I have asked all these questions of the insurance people. I get two different answers from two different people whenever I get the answer "I am not the person who covers that area".

 

The accident caused quite a bit of damage, so the other person is not going to pay out of pocket. But again, their insurance has to go through my insurance, as well as the other person's insurance going through my insurance. I can't see a way out of getting a claim against my insurance.

 

Obviously, my first and main question to them is if/why this is affecting my rates when I was not a part of the accident.

I am wondering about others' experiences in this situation. Did your rates actually go up? If so, by how much? Was there a way to fight this? What if I change insurance companies, how long does this take to catch up in the system? Are there other ways around this?

[minx]

switch insurance companies?

[archenemy]

Jesus Minx, read my fucking posts before you reply to them!!!

[archenemy]

And I am going to call you Jesus Minx all day.

[JayB]

Looks like your only option is to compare the total costs of paying out of pocket yourself - including the interest/return that this money will no longer be earning for you - versus the lifetime increase in insurance costs that will result from filing a claim. Sounds like your best bet is to let the insurance cover it and prepare to deal with higher premiums.

 

If I was your friend, and responsible for wrecking your car, then if I couldn't cover the costs of the damages out of pocket, I'd at least offer to cover any increase in your premiums that resulted from the accident for as long as they affected your rates.

[minx]

oh fuck off. i missed a detail. i'm trying to help. further proof that no good deed goes unpunished, you shouldn't have loaned your car out and i shouldn't off er advice.

 

you may call my God

[archenemy]

 

If I was your friend, and responsible for wrecking your car, then if I couldn't cover the costs of the damages out of pocket, I'd at least offer to cover any increase in your premiums that resulted from the accident for as long as they affected your rates.

Good advice (that I didn't quote for this post--but I am going to follow).

 

And this is where I am right now--telling the person it's only right they pay me this increased expense. She is arguing with me about this, saying that there wouldn't be an increase if I hadn't already had tickets on my record. I said that was immaterial, and that even if I hadn't, I'd still be unpleased b/c her accident would have taken that bit of cushion anyway.

Also, this increase will probably be in effect for three years (then it goes off the record). So am I right to ask for this amount?

[fenderfour]

So am I right to ask for this amount?

 

Only if you want to lose a friend.

 

This is the only advice I can give: Suck it up, deal with the insurance increase and stop loaning out your car.

 

Live and learn.

[archenemy]

Yeah. Good point.

 

 

Worse than a friend, it was a family member; so I am stuck with them no matter what.

 

Thanks for the advice

[high_on_rock]

The only advice I could offer is to go talk to an independant insurance agent; one who has no financial stake in your issue. Take the guy/gal out to lunch, sweeten them up with favors, and get an inside perspective of your options and the inner workings of the industry.