Edit: I used “no fault” in the title because I thought that’s what my insurance agent called it, but apparently that’s inaccurate. I just meant the AAA agent said I’m not at fault.
I work at my daughter’s elementary school and today I left work to find a note on my windshield from the parent of one of my kiddo’s classmates. The note said she had hit my parked car, apologized, said she wanted to “make it right” and she left her number but no additional info. I texted her and she said we should have a phone conversation some time when I’m available. I told her when I’m available and she said great we can talk about how to handle it then.
I didn’t ask for her insurance info, but she didn’t offer it either … so I suspect she wants to handle it without involving the insurance company. The damage is relatively small — I was parallel parked and she backed into me (at an angle from the looks of it?), hitting my front driver side corner / bumper. I don’t see any dents but part of the rubber cladding (whatever it’s called) around the fog light popped out so maybe the body is bent and I just can’t visually tell. The paint is scraped and scratched, for sure. She may be thinking it’s just a few scuffs and they can pay out of pocket. I wouldn’t be very comfortable with that though, for a few reasons.
In preparation for our talk, what I want advice on is this: *if* I’m right that she wants to pay out of pocket and not involve insurance, is there a situation under which that’s *not* risky for me? What would my options be? We live in a small town and this is a family I’m gonna see at birthday parties and school every week for the next 10 years, so I don’t want to upset anyone. How can I diplomatically be like “nah thx but I‘m going through insurance“ and try to keep things as pleasant as possible? I’m sure they are nice folks and I don’t want to be a jerk, but I literally canceled a root canal appointment recently cuz I have no money; I can’t afford to have this go badly (like for them to offer me less than the actual cost of the repair).
If I’m lucky she’ll just give me her info — or 1 million dollars. You never know …
No fault accident with probably minimal damage but at-fault party doesn’t want to go through insurance (I’m guessing)
byu/Plus_Confusion_1344 inInsurance
Posted by Plus_Confusion_1344
5 Comments
Get a few quotes from auto body shops. Present the quotes to her. See what happens
First and foremost, no-fault claims apply to personal injury, not property damage. Secondly, take her information and call your insurance company. They will track down her insurance and you can file a claim. As I assume you are not a collision repair expert, you probably shouldn’t be deciding if the damage is “minor” or not. You need a full inspection, and for your vehicle to be properly repaired as required by law.
Make it clear she will be responsible for a rental vehicle and any supplemental payments the shop may require.
Once she sees the first estimate she’ll probably give in and file with her carrier. She is going to also probably complain about how “insane the estimate is” and “I think they’re trying to pull a fast one” only to send her adjuster the estimate and the estimate is actually on the lower end.
She sounds like a pain. If she wants to make it right she can give you her policy number.
You’ve put some real thought into this yet haven’t had a body shop provide an estimate. Get at least two written estimates from licensed collision shops – three if the first two aren’t very close – and present them to the other owner. Referrals from trusted sources go a long way to selecting a shop. Two facts to know: 1) the written estimates should show a rough breakdown of what’s being repaired, labor, materials , etc but it will not be the line by line itemized report that an actual claim would entail; 2) auto body repair has gotten very expensive…combined with the complexity of modern cars, that will add up.
This isn’t no fault, it is clearly her fault. If it is minor, honestly, if she agrees to pay the amount a decent body shop says it costs to repair it, if it were me I would be fine with that. If it is a tiny claim it will follow her for years, and quite possibly cost her more in surcharges than the repair itself. It also has the likelihood of tagging your car as having an accident/damage (think Carfax).
If the repair is more than minimal, she’s probably going to want to report it to insurance anyway. I guess it just depends on how damaged it is…