Last night, a driver ran off the road and hit my garage and parked car. Repairs will be required.
I’ve made the initial phone call to the insurance company, but obviously things are just getting started and this is a new experience for me.
I’m not asking for specific legal advice, but I’d appreciate any input on:
(a) How the claims process generally works, and what I should expect to happen.
(b) Whether there are any things I should keep in mind, or questions/issues I might want to ask about. (Right now, I’m at the “I don’t know what I don’t know” stage.)
Assuming that you and the person who hit your home ad car both have reputable insurance companies, and that the other party is admitting fault, it should go something like this.
You get their insurance information. You call your insurance company and report the incident, and give them the other party’s information. They do the same on their side, and the insurance companies do all of the negotiating.
Since you were not at fault, you should be able to get repairs done by the vendor of your choice. The other person’s insurance company will most likely have a list of “recommended” repair shops/contractors. You are certainly free to accept their recommendation, but you are certainly not bound to it. If you have your own preferred shop, take your car there. The other insurance company must pay for repairs at the shop of your choice, not theirs.
The important thing is that you communicate only with your insurance company, and nobody else. Don’t talk to the person who hit you, and don’t talk to their insurance company. That’s what you have insurance for. Your claims adjuster is paid to do all of that communication for you.
Note that I live in California, so it’s possible that some rules and regulations may be different for you.
My last car wreck was not my fault. At first I talked to my company but they said it was simpler to just talk to the other person’s company so that is what I did. If I had a problem I could have gone back to my company but it went well and I did not need to do that.
As long as you don’t live in a no-fault state, the responsible person’s insurance company should take care of all of the damage as well as temporary transportation while your car is in the shop. If the car is currently not driveable, they should pay for a rental starting now. If it’s driveable, you should get at least one estimate from a body shop of your choice, get two estimates if you want to comparison shop. Submit the estimates to the other person’s insurance company and anticipate a check shortly thereafter.
There’s not much to do, really. It’s a simple claim and should be handled fairly quickly.
Some insurance companies will penalize you for filing a claim even if it isn’t your fault. I would suggest contacting your agent for advice on this point.
You really should pursue the other guy’s insurance. You may face two deductibles under your policies: one for the car one for the house/garage.
I have to disagree with Plankton. You’ll need to talk with the other adjuster. When they ask what happened refer them to the police report. Don’t discuss the facts of the accident, just the damage. (Though here I’m not sure what you did to contribute to the accident) They will need to inspect both the car and the garage for a repair estimate. They will likely use a cost estimating program. They will not use a contractor. So just like with your car make sure you get an estimate to repair the garage from a contractor you like or know. If you don’t have one you trust get two or three.