Last year I hit a car the damage was way less than the deductible. The person had on there car. The car insurance company wants me to pay for damage plus the deductible. Is that legal. I have know problem paying for damages, but the damages are only 1/3 of what they are demanding I pay.
At the time of the accident I didn’t have any insurance. Their deductable was 500 and the damages were 290. i have not been mailed any itemized paperwork about what exactly was damaged,
Do I have to pay what they are asking or can I just pay for the supposed damage?
By car insurance | 4 Comments
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May 14, 2010 @ 7:51 am
First, you the other insurance company should be dealing with your insurance company. It is called subrogation. If you do not have insurance, then contact the other insurance carrier. Ask for a copy of the appraisal. They generally send this out with their supporting documentation.
If the other party had a $500 deductible, and the damage was $600, then the amount paid to that party was only $100. The insurance company is attempting to recovery the deductible amount and what they paid out. This would be considered the total amount of damage you caused. It could be that there was additional hidden damage to the vehicle. and a supplemental appraisal had to be completed.
May 14, 2010 @ 8:33 am
yes, the other insurance company can ask you to pay for their loss and and the amount of the deductable their insured driver had to pay. Ask for a copy of the repair order (estimate) for the repair of the other vehicle.
May 14, 2010 @ 8:34 am
If you had insurance in place at the time of the accident, your insurance company would have paid the other insurance company for the damages. However in your situation you will need to pay the insurance company directly. They may sue you for the amount unless you can prove that the amount they are asking is too high. That sounds like it may be difficult.
May 14, 2010 @ 9:19 am
I own a company that represents insurance companies on claims against uninsured parties. (the process is called subrogation) Maybe I can shed some light on this situation for you.
First off, you have the right to have documentation outlining the amount of money they are asking for. Ask them for copies of the estimate, photos of the car and copy of the check used to pay for the damages.
Also keep in mind that depending on the accident facts you may not owe 100% of the damages. If you rear-ended the other car then you owe 100%. However, in most other kinds of accidents there is a chance that the other drivers has some “comparative negligence.” This allows for a reduction of the amount owed.
As an example, a very common accident is when somebody tries to make a left turn across oncoming traffic. Even the car going straight has the right-of-way they have a legal duty to make sure it is safe to enter the intersection. So if they don’t see the turning car the driver of the car going straight can be hit with comparative negligence in the area of 10 to 25%. Whatever the percentage is determined to be is taken off of the amount owed. So you need to determine if there is any comparative negligence on the other driver. The insurance company has a duty to tell you if any comparative negligence should be subtracted from the amount you owe. So make sure to ask them about it.
Not sure what you mean by “the damages are only 1/3 of what they are demanding I pay.” How do you know this? It is likely that once the car went into the shop that the parts prices increased or they found some hidden damages. Trust me insurance companies don’t pay more than they have to for repairs, so I wouldn’t worry that they are trying to scam you.
If you have the money available offer to pay them 65% to 75% of the amount the you owe (after subtracting any comparative negligence that the other driver has) within 2 weeks. They would rather do that and get their money quickly as opposed to suing you.
If you don’t have the cash handy to make them an offer as described above you probably can set up a monthly payment plan. Most companies will set up monthly payments but they will not give you a discount like they would if you can pay a lump sum amount in a couple of weeks.
If the damages are $1500.00 and the other driver has 15% comparative negligence then they should subtract $225 from what you owe. For this example, that would equal $1275. If you have the cash you would then offer them 65% to 75% of the $1275.00.
Make sure you come to some kind of settlement because if they have to sue you they get to add attorney fees, court costs and interest of up to 12%. PLUS in some states they can have your drivers license suspended/revoked.
Good Luck