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Originally Posted by kray59
was involved in an accident saturday with my 71 daily driver . looking for any advice in dealing with at fault drivers insurance co. other driver admitted fault and was given a ticket . i seem to always feel done wrong when dealing with this sort of thing . thanks alot in advance . the guy was driving an enterprise rental car .  |
I own a collision shop in Oregon and deal with this every day. The other guys insurance will call you and get a recorded statement from you. Tell them what happened in detail. The key here is the other driver ADMITTED fault. That's something you never do so...he is screwed. If you withhold information and lawyer up right away this will take FOREVER and your lawyer will be the one that gets all the $. This will work much smoother if you cooperate. Withholding information just makes you sound untrustworthy and they will immediately send you over to their lawyers...which are usually much better than yours. Since the other driver was in a rental car you need to find out if they were using the rental car companies insurance or their own. Everything depends on which insurance company you end up dealing with. Each one wants things done a different way. Give me that info and I can tell you what you want to do next. Since liability should be clear (he admitted fault) you definitely don't want to use your own coverage. That is called Subrogation and should be a last resort. Even though your insurance company will get their $ back from the other guys insurance, it's still $ paid out on your policy. If you decide to switch insurance carriers at some point that claim will show up as money paid out on your policy. This will make your quote on insurance more. If liability is clear with the guys insurance that hit you, always use that option 1st. The process will be smoother. You will also be entitled to a rental car while your vehicle is repaired at no cost to you. Hope this helps!