I got rear ended by someone who doesn't have the auto insurance. I got police report saying that they are at fault, and listing their insurance info. When I contacted their insurer they they told me that the vehicle is actually not insured and sent me a letter to that effect. Since I don't have collision insurance I also got confirmation from my insurance that I'm on the hook. I moved in from another country and unfortunately didn't realize how differently the insurance works here – so that's my bad. Still, do I have any options? Can I still ask my company to try and recover the repair cost from the party at fault? I'm ready to pay the deductible, etc.
Other options I have all seem to be outside the realm of insurance, such as taking the party at fault to the small claims court. It seems like a very convenient loophole to simply not insure your car and get off the hook for any damage you cause in traffic. So I'm hoping there is still something I can do with the insurance.
Car collision, uninsured party at fault but I have no collision coverage
byu/LordShlyva inInsurance
Posted by LordShlyva
5 Comments
Unfortunately, no. You don’t currently pay to have your insurance company cover you for this kind of event (an accident where you were not at fault.)
The other insurance company was also not paid to cover this event (specific vehicle, driver, etc.)
The only thing that may be possible is the other driver having a different insurance policy that would afford coverage but failing that your option now is to directly pursue the at fault party for the damages to your vehicle. Depending on the amount that can be through small claims court, or a full on suit.
I would suggest adding either collision coverage, or you can add uninsured / underinsured motorists’ coverage to your policy to cover you for these types of accidents in the future.
Your options are: Fix your car out of pocket and then take the at fault driver to court to recover the funds
Then
Get collision coverage on your vehicle so you pay more monthly but have coverage for future issues.
You, unfortunately, chose to only protect other people’s assets with your current policy
>Can I still ask my company to try and recover the repair cost from the party at fault? I’m ready to pay the deductible, etc.
You can ask, but the answer is going to be no. Unfortunately, your insurance company will not help you with your damages because you don’t carry collision coverage. All you can really do to try to recover here is to sue the at fault driver in small claims. Of course, someone who chooses to drive without insurance probably doesn’t make a whole lot of money, so depending on their financial state and how much the damage is, it could take years to fully recover any judgement if you can even recover at all.
This is why it’s important to have collision coverage and also preferably uninsured motorist coverage too
Your insurance can’t help you because you didn’t purchase collision coverage. You have to deductible to pay, no matter how willing you are to pay it, because you didn’t purchase collision coverage. Unless you have uninsured coverage (UMPD), which isn’t available in all states, then your only option is to sue the other party but collecting once you win your case could be difficult to impossible.