Insurance deductible, can I get out of paying for being hit while legally parked?

Question

My parked car was hit by a van being guided by an unlicensed/uninsured driver. I am now facing a $1000 deductible, though I have liability/comprehensive coverage through AIG. Perfect driving record and hit while parked. Is there a way to avoid paying the 1000 and get my car repaired? The motorist makes $950 per month and the co[ps tell me I can only attempt to sue him civilly. I can't get money from an empty well

Answer 1

I'm terribly sorry, but you do have to pay the deductible. Life is a bit unfair at times, I know. I would definitely still try to get the money back from the culprit. You may not get it all in one lump sum, but at least you can get it in the end.

Do you know how much the damages were? If they aren't much more than the thousand dollars, I would just pay the whole thing yourself, even if you have to charge it and don't make a claim. You don't have to claim it on your own insurance if it isn't to your advantage to do so. With the increase you are likely to have in your premiums, it might not be worth it.

Well, I'm glad you weren't in the car and injured. :-)

Answer 2

This is exactly what is wrong with America. Get an attorney, Sue!!! First thing, No good attorney is going to take a claim like this as there is not money in it. Any settlement you get would be reduced by a third which is his take. Second, You have insurance. You chose your deductible. your deductible applies ANYTIME something happens to your vehicle regardless of fault. Third, the other insurance company has to do an investigation to determine if they are legally liable. Was the person whow as driving the vehicle the owner or a named driver on the policy? if not, this just got 10 times more difficult for you. If he hit more than one vehicle there may be a limits issue,which means there may not be enough insruance to go around. You have a duty to mitigate your damages. This would also mean your getting back and forth to work. The other insurance copmany will not owe for this as you could have taken public transpotration ( dear lord) or got a friend to take you or whatever and then saved the receipts for reimbursement or you could have added rental reimbursment to your own policy and handled everything there. My advice is let your insurance company take care of it and get you back on the road. They will handle all that needs to be handled with the other insurance company including trying to recover your deductible. if an attorney atcually took this case, your $6000 damages would end up paying your attorney $2000, and you $4000 less your dedutible of $1000 which leaves you with $3000 to repair damages of $6000!

Answer 3

Cops shouldn't be giving legal advice on matters for which they have no training...they are trained in criminal law, not civil law, and you don't really know if that is all the guy is making either or just "some line" they fed the police.

I would go ahead and sue.

Part of your insurance issue is the type of coverage you have. You have a choice of what type of deductables to have, and if it's not affordable, then pay the additional premium and carry the lower deductable. If you can't get your hands on the deductable, then it's not worth anything.

You still need to sue b/c if your state doesn't require someone to carry car insurance (and many don't), they usually also have a law that the FIRST accident that you cause where you cannot pay the damages, the will from then on, require the driver to have it...next time he may kill or injure someone.

Answer 4

Unfortunately no; you can have his wages garnished (25% of his gross pay per check) and get paid back the value of your deductible gradually if you can prove in court that he was at fault (which would be relatively easy since he is unlicensed and uninsured). Alternatively, you can pay the shop without filing the insurance claim, and get more of his money back without risk of having your rates rise. But you can't avoid initially paying out the money that the shop charges to repair your car. It's what you signed in the contract when you bought the policy from your insurance company.

Answer 5

It depends entirely on the insurance laws of the state. You don't specify a state, so it's difficult to say. In Virginia or West Virginia, for example, your claim would be covered under Uninsured Motorist coverage (not under Collision) and there is a separate deductible for UM as directed by the state (in the case of Virginia, that would be $250.)

You need to talk to your insurance agent about whether or not it's possible for this claim to be viewed as a UM claim. Keep in mind, that type of coverage may not even exist in some states.

Answer 6

You chose coverage of $1000 deductible. There is no way you can get out of paying this, even if you were hit by an unlicensed, uninsured driver.

Answer 7

Your deductible applies to any collision claim no matter who is at-fault. It is part of every insurance contract. No way around it.

If you have over a $1000 of damages and you collect from your insurance they will refer the file to their subrogation dept. This dept goes after at-fault drivers or their insurance company for reimbursement of the claim, including your deductible.

That way you don't have to sue the other driver, your company will do the dirty work for you. You may have to testify in court but that would be it.

If your damages are under $1000 your company won't be paying you anything and then you have to sue him yourself.

Be forewarned that winning in court and getting a judgment is not a guarantee of payment. The court will not collect the money for you, they leave that up to you and it is never easy to collect the money on a judgment.

Answer 8

Sometimes the company waves the $1,000 to $500 for unlicensed motorist... Usually though that is if you have coverage... You might want to get a quote from a body shop and compair the prices... I have no information on suing, you would need to talk to an attorney for that..

Answer 9

No. You can't get out of the deductible on your policy. That's illegal. The only way you get out of it, is by going through the other guy's insurance - which he doesn't have, so you can't.

Even if you have uninsured motorist physical damage coverage, it STILL has a deductible - and it's not available in all states.

Answer 10

If your insurance is paying the bill, then you'll have to pay the deductible. You can sue the other driver to repay you - but you're right, if he doesn't have it, getting a piece of paper that says he owes you could be pretty useless.