CA resident here—I got into a nasty car accident yesterday where the other party will likely be found at fault (they didn’t admit it at the scene, but the CHP officer gave me the sense that I had nothing to worry about). I have a broken wrist and some other injuries, and my car is likely totaled.
I immediately called their insurance yesterday, because I plan to file a claim for personal injury and for damage to my vehicle, but I’m unsure whether I need to reach out to my own insurance company, since my car was a total beater, and I didn’t have any collision on it. My policy basically just had the legal minimum for the case of an accident where I was at fault.
Should I call my insurance company (GEICO) to report this accident, even though I technically have no reason to file a claim with them, since my policy doesn’t cover damage to my vehicle? Should I assume that the other party will call my insurance and they’ll find out about the accident that way?
The additional wrinkle is that the other driver is insured through a dinky little company that specializes in high risk drivers, and their online reviews suggest they suck and that it could take a long time for my claim to be resolved— does that make it more important that I involve my own insurance company?
Can you report an accident to your insurance without opening a claim with them?
byu/According-Citron-460 inInsurance
Posted by According-Citron-460
4 Comments
If you have a local agent’s office thru might note in on their internal file without opening a claim, but if you can the main company number or the claims number, they will 100% open a claim. There’s no need to call your insurance unless the other party tries to place blame on you. Then you’d need your insurance to defend you. But no need to inform your insurance about your damages since they can’t help you with that.
The answer to your question is no. Once you call your insurance company to inform them of the loss, they will open a claim to investigate coverage. They will quickly see that you didn’t purchase collision and will close the claim without payment, but it will remain on your loss runs and could potentially impact your policy.
You didn’t purchase coverage for your vehicle, so your insurance company does not have to do anything for you in this situation except deal with damage that you caused if you were accused of being at fault. You chose minimal insurance, so you will be at the mercy of the other driver and their insurance policy. You just have to hope it works out.
CHP has no authority to determine fault, nor do they usually have any more insurance knowledge than the average person. There are many scenarios in which you walk away with nothing here, but you’ll have to wait and see.
You don’t need to for the physical damage to the vehicle. But, if the other party’s injury insurance limit is low, you would also want to look at if your policy has Underinsured Motorists coverage that would apply. If need to, can, and intend to use UIM, you would need to notify your insurer before settling with the other carrier. Since you mentioned the other driver has high risk insurance, it is pretty likely they are getting state minimums for bodily injury insurance. I beleive CA’s mandatory limit for BI is $30,000. A fractured wrist could be worth significant money, particularly if it has interfered with your activities of daily living or if it prevents you from earning a wage.
Usually not