why do we even pay for car insurance?

we got rearended in my girlfriend's 2010 Impala on saturday.. we were sitting in a turning lane waiting for a few cars to go buy before turning left when we were hit straight in the middle of the trunk at 40 or so mph by a 20 year old kid that was looking at his phone while driving his employer's 98 Chevy K1500 WT..

the car is totalled, the stroller that was in the trunk is totalled, and our leftover food from the Mexican restaurant that we had just left was totalled..

anyways, i'm fine.. the girlfriend has mild whiplash, and our 5 month old daughter that was sprayed by glass from the rear window is fine..

anyways, her insurance company (won't say the name to avoid being accused of mud slinging, but it rhymes with Fate Starm) told her that she has to call the other company (Regressive) and not only report the accident, but keep on them about getting them to pay the claim.

this seems wrong to me: don't we pay insurance companies good money so that they will take care of this E36 M3 when something like this happens? in my 26 years of driving, i have never been in a situation where i had to try to get back some of the ransom money that the state has forced me to pay them in order to drive on the roads so i really don't know how this works.

Do you have collision? If you only have liability it is up to the other insurance company to make all payment and you to get it from them. If you have collision your company will make you whole and then go after the other party's insurance to recoup there costs.

In my experience in NY if there was only liability coverage on your vehicle then you are stuck going after the other party in your own. If you have collision coverage you should be able to submit the claim to your insurer and they can go after the other company. They will often still try and get you to go after the other company yourself because it's easier for them.

This is because the other guy has insurance. If they didn't, then your insurance would be covering you, provided you took out uninsured and underinsured coverage. Same thing happened to my wife once when she got t-boned by a woman running a red light. Our insurance company (which rhymes with morace hann) wouldn't even talk to her. We happened to be talking to the agent that handled our home insurance (rhymes with Fate Starm) and he took a long time to tell us what to do. Guess who got our auto insurance business?

the car had full coverage, with a $500 deductible... Fate Starm is saying that we need to pay the deductible or get Regressive to pay it before they can go ahead with anything on their end. i told the gf to keep yelling at them until they do the job that they are being paid to do. i can't really say or do anything, because we aren't married and i am not on the policy... i guess maybe i could suddenly develop a headache and a sore back since my seat wound up laid almost all the way back and in the back seat from the impact..

In reply to novaderrik:

From that situation, there's 2 ways forward: Either go after the other guy's insurance yourself and get them to pay (more time until you get money) or pay the deductible on your policy and let them give you money (faster way to get money). If you go with option 2, your insurance fights it out with the other guy's insurance to get their money back. If the other guy's insurance ends up paying, you should end up getting your deductible back.

You will have to pay the deductible, but you'll get it back after your insurance gets paid from their insurance, most likely.

Was a traffic citation issued to the other driver? Since it's probably a business insurance policy involved, there may be the dragging of feet. You've got a case to take the business to court to recoup losses, too.

You go through your insurance. They'll subtract your deductible off the settlement check. Then, your insurance company will go after the other company for the claim. When they're reimbursed, they'll refund the amount of your deductible. In a simple rear-end collision, it should be easy. [EDIT: rephrased to avoid language about "paying" the deductible.]

We were rear-ended a few years ago, but a third car rear-ended the car that hit ours. It was taking forever to go to arbitration (both the 2nd and 3rd car in the chain blamed the other), so we paid our deductible and went through our insurance. When the claim was finally settled in arbitration, we got our deductible back from our insurance company.

I've never paid a deductible to the insurance company, always the body shop. The insurance company should just cut a check minus the deductible. Then when they get their money back from the other company they reimburse you for the deductible. At least here you should never have give your insurer money to get the claim started, you've already been doing that when you pay your premium.

^^ Same. Only had to pay my ($500) deductible after the car was repaired, and cut the check directly to the bodyshop. In the case where my wife was rearended by a state owned vehicle, we did not have to pay anything. I am assuming by the time our car was repaired our insurance had worked out everything with the state.

They're right. Either you front your deductible to them and they fix your car now, then when Progressive pays them you get your deductible back OR you pursue Progressive on your own.

IMO it's much better to let them chase after Progressive, so I recommend paying yoru $500 now. You'll get it back...

PAY THE DEDUCTIBLE NOW AND FILE WITH YOUR OWN COMPANY. DO IT NOW.

Same thing happened to me last year when I got rear-ended. I had full coverage. I decided not to file a claim with my company and just work amicably with the other guy's company, because it was so obvious who was at fault. Just doing the right thing, right?

WRONG. They will berkeley you any way they can. Delay getting your car to a shop. Delay repaying you for a rental. All these hoops to jump through just to get my car fixed at "their" shop that did a E36 M3 job.

You need YOUR company to fight for YOU. Pay the $500. Take it to the best shop. Let them deal with it. You will get your deductible back probably faster than the other guy's insurance will fix your car. You are in control. Not the other guy's company. Worst mistake of my life.

I'm commenting again because I just realized it's your GF not you. Urge her to pay the deductible. It is just not worth her time dealing with the other guy's insurance. I am still not over that whole experience.

No one deserves to be stuck in a CVT rental Sentra for a month and at the end receive a Saturn whose hatch doesn't quite seal all the way.

Pay the $500 and submit the claim to State Farm. I got hit head on by an uninsured driver, they went after the other driver and I got the $500 back when she paid state farm.

I got hit stopped at a stop sign by a truck that used the front of my Miata as a ramp. He took full blame, I notified my company, but went to the body shop that worked with his company. They helped me keep the car from being totalled. Not the best work I've ever seen, I mean the parking lights / turn signals should be plugged in when you leave the shop, but I didn't have to put any money out.

Glad everyone came out ok in the wreck. Hopefully the whiplash is a trmporary injury.

I just want to try to rhyme my insurance company. It sounds like you hess-hesse.

Generally not my style, but for the circumstances, at the first whiff of any resistance from the other guys insurance she could reach out to the line of lawyers waiting for this kind of case who would be more than happy to escalate things.

I often wonder why they make this stuff so hard. Cars like this getting smushed cost less than an ambulance ride and an overnight in the hospital. The collision part is peanuts.

My god... totaled the Mexican food... a travesty I say.

If the car is totaled, your girlfriend can just file with her company and get paid minus the deductible. When her insurance company collects from the other company she should get her deductible back. Since it appears straight forward as to blame, it should not take long to settle. Make sure she doesn't sign off on the medical right away. I was rear ended 2 years ago and 6 months later had to have a fusion at c4/5 due to the disc that ruptured . Then I had to have surgery a year later to repair the damage to my vocal chords from the fusion surgery.

I'm glad you guys don't seem to be hurt (much). I hope your girlfriend heals quickly.

We pay insurance (on every car, instead of every driver) because the insurance companies have spent years and millions bribing lawmakers. The insurance companies then take our money, only to do everything they can to avoid giving it back when we need it, even though they advertise that they love to give us back our money.

shiny happy people.

Insurance companies will tell you whatever you need to hear to get your money, getting it back is at best difficult. Pay your deductable and let your insurance go after theirs. You are already paying for lawyers, you might as well use them.

Car insurance is a very expensive piece of paper you need to make a car street-legal...anything more that you get from it should be considered a bonus.

The at fault drivers insurance is responsible to pay.

Did you exchange insurance information and obtain a police report.

The at fault driver should notify his company who will contact you.

Your insurance company wants the other company to pay but if not, they will pay.

We have a police report, case number, witnesses, his insurance and everything else.. car got towed directly to a body shop owned by her son's friend's dad.. estimate to fix it is $7000, car is valued at about $3500.. Fate Starm just needs to pay up, then get Regressive to pay them.. body shop called both insurance companies on behalf of my gf, kid hasn't reported it to Regressive yet.. if he doesn't by late tomorrow am i'm calling his employer (owner of the truck) myself and finding out if they even know about this and how they would feel about my gf dragging their asses to court..