No fault Insurance

[Odesseiron]

I mean to say No Fault insurance. Can a BG mod please change the title? Thanks!

Okay, not to drag it out so I'll get right to the point.

Was in the Bronx the other day with a friend and got dinner. After we came out, side of the car had damage. Near the rear wheel on the passenger side. No note, no nothing. Just damage. Took it to friends auto body shop. Estimated $2000. Doesn't look bad in picture, but the damage is extensive, and as it is a metallic paint, the whole right side of the car needs to be re-painted in order to make it look right.

Got other estimates, they said 3k+. So friends shop is the most reasonable and I know for a fact the do the best work in the tri-state area, hands down.

Anyway, I have never had to make a claim with my insurance company. My friend was saying call and be as non descript as possible citing a no-fault insurance claim. So my insurance wouldn't get jacked up and all I'd have to pay is a couple hundred vs a couple thousand.

Anyone got experience doing a no-fault claim? Anything I should say/do? Was told to not give details other than "i don't know" and "it was just like that when I got there" which was the case. Any info ya'll can provide is appreciated.

[BaneTheBrawler]

How new is this car? If the insurance company isn't going to cover it, and it's an older car, I'd say ignore the damage. It's purely cosmetic (as far as i can tell from the picture, anyway) and you probably don't want to dump a lot of cash into an older car.

[Odesseiron]

Car is little more than a year old. I'll have this car for at least 7-10 years and want to keep it as nice as possible for when I re-sell it. It's nothing major, but it fucking screams at me whenever I go out in the morning.

[Keisuke88]

I actually work at allstate insurance in Brooklyn and i can honestly say that you are kinda boned. When ever a hit and run type accident happens you are liable for all the damage unless you have any information on the vehcile that hit you. This happens all the time and i get calls on it alot. If you call it into your insurance they can pay for most of the damage minus the deducatable but your insurnace will more than likely go up because it will be a surchargeable damage since you haven o information on the other car. Dont do what your friend said and lie beccause it doesnt matter. Just mention when you setup a claim that you came out side from eatting dinner and there was damage to your car ( send them the picture.) Best thing to do is find out if there were any witness's that saw it happen (no relative or friend). We atke their statements and if they got a plate # number and find out what insurance company they have an attempt to go after them. It would be a long drawn out process that could take 6+ months.

Its kind of confusing let me know if this helps.

Edit: No-Fault insurnace in NY state has nothing to do with your damage to your vehicle either. Sorry forgot to mention that. No-Fault Insurance only applies to injured people that were in your vehicle at the time of accident.

[Kalmado]

Keisuke is spot on. I too worked for Allstate and also State Farm and I work in Michigan(No Fault state). Your damage doesn't fall under "no fault". As stated, you will have to pay your deductible to get repairs done. I'm unsure if it will be comprehensive since it could be considered vandalism or if they'll consider it collision. A claims adjuster will determine that.

As far as where you get it fixed, that will likely be up to your insurance company. Majority of companies have approved shops for repairs.

If you follow your friends advice and attempt to not be forthcoming with information, they will pick up on it (they are trained to do so to protect against fraud) and think you are attempting to hide things and the entire process will become much much more difficult than it needs to be. Just tell them what happened and you will be fine.

[Dngnhack]

Not to hijack but since people worked for insurance companies... I filed a claim on my car not that long ago and they raised my deductible in the middle of it stating my cars value was too high for my current deductible or something along those lines.. i mean wtf they knew what kind of car and its value when i started the policy. Is that ok for them to do? (it caused them to deny claim since new deductible was over repair cost) Makes me wish i had just fixed it out of pocket and avoided the carfax hit.

[Kalmado]

Raised your deductible? That's very weird. Ask them to prove the date in which you changed it, because only you can change how much your deductible is, and if they give you a hard time, which they probably will, start going up the customer service ladder at the corporate level. I know that's not good news, but it's the truth