Should I turn this in to my insurance company?

Question

My wife wrecked her car into someones private property at 3AM.....she says a deer ran out in front of her and she swerved.......no one was hurt.....it caused about $3000 worth of damage to her car and about $500 worth of damage to the private property that she hit........it is now 14 hours later and we still have not notified either are insurance company, the property owner or the police of this accident......we can not afford to pay for this damage on are own and I know we must notify the property owner because it is the right thing to do....will our insurance company pay for the damage to our car and the private property?......will they be upset that it took us so long to report?......will are insurance premiums go up even though she has an excuse for having the accident?......have we broken the law by taking so long to report this accident?

Answer 1

Yes your insurance should pay, but due to the time it's taken to report it, question will arise such as - Why wasn't it reported last night? Was she drinking? etc. And the neighbor may be upset with you for a while.

Basically, it was a hit and run. And yes, you premiums will go up. Good luck with this one. The police should have been called immediately.

Answer 2

Too bad she didn't hit the deer!! If she had hit the deer, your insurance company probably would have covered it under comprehensive and your rates would not go up. And trust me if you try and tell the insurance company that is what happened, they will check to see if indeed the car was at least partially damaged by hitting a deer, when sending out a claims person. You failed to mention the state, but usually your rate will go up if the damage to your car is that much. And you could get an insurance surcharge for 3 years. Sometimes it does not pay to claim an accident. Usually your insurance company will tell you if you ask them about the accident. They should tell you if and what the surcharge will be and for how long. Just because you report the accident to the insurance company, does not mean you have to file a claim. And you caused property damage to someone elses property. At the very least notify the property owner. If they should find out your wife did the damage, there could be a lot of problems in the future. It is after all basically a hit and run even tough no one was hurt, their property was.

Answer 3

Well, lets take this by the numbers.

> You have property damage only. Most states have a mandatory filing if the value exceeds a certain amount.

> Your wife has left the scene of an accident without reporting it or leaving a note. In any scene this is called hit and run. Deer or no deer. In most cases it will likely be treated as a potential DWI situation when:

> Without having any further notice, the property owner is almost certain to call the police which will escalate the problem beyond your control very quickly.

> If you have collision and comp. insurance your company will cover you but may either raise your rates next year or cancel you for the hit and run.

Sooooo...

To avoid the Hit and Run you should immediately go an contact the property owner. Tell him you did not know how to find hime at 3am and it has taken a while to locate or that your wife was concerned being out alone at that hour (on her way home from the Prayer meeting for the sick child while delivering the meals for the poor).

If you can strike an agreement with the property owner and he has not contacted the police ... go for it.. That is prob. your best solution. If he has, make a bee line to the Police dept. and report the accident.. you have about 24 hours of grace sometimes since no one was injured. With that out of the way you can decide about the insurance company and your wife's car.

If you can not make an agreement, call the PD and report it.. then call your insurance company and step aside while they work out the whole thing for you. Be prepared to accept the consequences of the accident, but at least you will avoid the Hit and Run citation.

ok.. got to the bottom of this answer... think long and hard and if you decide to contact the owner, you should have already left before you reach this line.......

.

Answer 4

You should report this to the police, DMV and your insurance company immediately. At 14 hours you're probably not in violation of the law yet but you don't want to delay any further. If anyone asks about the delay, just say that you were "dazed and confused" over the whole incident, which is probably pretty true so you're not even lying about it. If anyone makes any comments about "hit and run" just tell them that at the early hour there was nobody around to notify.

Your property damage liability will cover the damage to the private property, no worries there. If you have collision coverage it will cover the damage to your car although you'll have to come up with the deductible. If you don't have collision coverage you'll have to take care of the damage to your car yourself.

Whether or not your premiums will go up will be up to your insurance company though that is always a possibility. If you've been accident & violation free with the same company for a number of years they might let it slide.

The most important thing to do now is to make the necessary notifications - police, DMV, insurance company, and of course the property owner whose property you damaged. Don't delay any further on that.

Answer 5

Yes you need to report this to the police.. When they do find out eventually if you don't tell them they can get you for failure to report an accident. If A deer did run out in front of your wife then it was a true accident and you should have nothing to worry about. Yes you insurance will probably go up depending on your insurance carrier. Usually you have 48 hours to report a non injury accident depending on where you live. If her car has $3000 dollars in damage then was it towed from the scene. I am sure someone seen your damaged car by now and will quickly put one and one together. Just do the right thing and turn it in.

Answer 6

They will pay for the property damage as well. (PD PL= Property Damage Personal Liability) Those are minimum required parts of your insurance policy in every state. If you do not have collision damage then the car repairs are on you.You should have reported this at the time of the accident to the police. Now you could be ticketed for leaving the scene of an accident or failure to report it. I do not know the maximum time limits allowed in your state for reporting accidents. Taking care of this on your own power will always show you in a better light than waiting for someone to discover who caused the damage. Make a report right away so that you do not add insult to injury.

The reason for having insurance is to help you recover from major events. $3-4 thousand dollars is worth reporting. $200 is not. The cold weather has brought a lot of black ice and tricky conditions late at night. They will understand. Your rates may go up but not $3,000.00 worth. Make the claim.

Maybe more important than the accident itself... I am glad she was not severely injured. I have to be thankful for good things even out of bad things. Some things to think about is why your wife is out at 3 a.m. if she is not coming home after a late work shift then that is one thing but if she is out partying then maybe some life choices need to be addressed. Was alcohol or drugs involved? These are questions for you and your family. If there is a problem then maybe this is a wake-up call to address some deeper issues than damage to the car or property before someone loses their life. Maybe it's the nature of my job but I am always vigilant of warning signs of this type of trouble.

Answer 7

If you have liability and collision then yes, your insurance company should pay for all damages less your deductible under collision. Report this tonight if possible! The longer you wait the worse it's going to be for you. Just tell the truth -- you weren't sure if the loss was worth claiming at the time of the accident but now you know it IS. Most likely your rates will go up...but not to the tune of 4K! Stay ticket and collision free for a year and they will start dropping again.

Answer 8

I am not sure if a law has been broke or not....but I have heard you're not suppose to leave the seen of an accident? I don't know if it is this kind of an accident though...and also I believe the insurance company is not going to pay for anything without a police report being done....sounds like a bad deal to me....But....my motto is...the truth will set you free...It isn't right to leave another person to have to pay for something you did....(or your wife in this case)

Answer 9

She broke the law when she fled the scene of an accident, this could be a felony if they decided to press charges. If she hit the deer, it is a non-chargeable accident. If she swerved and missed the deer, and hit the property she is responsibe for all damages and it will affect your insurance.

Answer 10

depending on the state in which you live, she may very well have broken a law when she drove away. if you don't have the money to pay for it, and you have full coverage, turn it into your insurance co. you were right when you said "it's the right thing to do". the property owner shouldn't have to pay for your wife's accident. and yes your rates will probably go up. but i don't see anyway around it.