My son, 16, was hit last night driving his mom's 2017 Accord. He driving west directly toward the sun, right at sunset. He hit the brakes hard, after the car ahead had done the same.
Third vehicle in line (F150) braked late, didn't stop fast enough. My son got tagged from behind. Minor damage to the bumper cover (puncture and scrapes, some newly opened panel gaps at both sides). No visible trunk lid damage. Lucky it wasn't worse.
Cobb Police made a report. Officer said to look it up online in a couple days, and that my son was free to go. Officer told the other driver to stick around, so we left. I presume the other guy was ticketed for following too close. Not sure - but the other guy most certainly said he had in fact hit my son.
Everyone said the sun reduced visibility and traffic came to a stop quickly. My son was fortunate to not hit, nor get pushed into the car ahead of him.
So my question.....
I have the other guy's insurance info. I haven't contacted anybody yet. I assume I need to notify USAA (my insurance) promptly.
But first.. I'm told GA is a "no fault" state. I have no idea what that means. What's it mean?
Next - how do I proceed in filing a claim, with a goal of not getting Progressive (other guys insurer) to fix the damage done by their customer?
I know this is elementary stuff, but I'm fortunate to have no recent experience with accidents and claims - so I'm kinda clueless.
Thanks in advance.
Edit: my goal is to get Progressive to pay, not avoid paying. dOH!
Ask USAA these questions, they've been super helpful when I've had to do claims through them - including everything from non-moving (ex's Golf got sideswiped in a parking lot by a person who drove off), animal damage to full on at-fault collision.
I'm in Georgia and have been in a similar accident, their insurance should cover the damage. My insurance said best to go through their insurance, that way it doesn't show up as a claim on your insurance policy. I've not heard of Georgia being a no-fault state for insurance.
OHSCrifle wrote:
But first.. I'm told GA is a "no fault" state. I have no idea what that means. What's it mean?
It means that insurance companies don't assign fault to any one party in an accident, the cost is spread to everyone involved, so your son's insurance will go up by the same proportion as the F150 driver's.
Georgia does not appear to be a no-fault state. I don't know where you heard that. Their insurance should cover it, without deductible or anything, especially if the other guy got ticketed.
Currently 12 states and Puerto Rico have no-fault auto insurance laws. Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have verbal thresholds. The other seven states—Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah—use a monetary threshold
From: http://www.iii.org/issue-update/no-fault-auto-insurance
Georgia generally considers it the fault of the driver who rear-ended a car unless there are some very unusual circumstances.
I would start with the other parties insurance first. If that goes sideways then file with yours and let them sort things out. You pay for insurance for a reason use it if you need it. As long as you are not at fault I don't think you should be penalized for filing a claim especially if the other insurance company ends up paying your insurnace company due to there client being at fault. This may vary state to state.
One thing to keep in mind is you will probably be at the mercy of there insurance for things like a rental (if they cover it).
Sorry to hear about the accident. Glad it wasn't too bad.
"No fault" is often very confusing to people who don't know insurance, as the term itself is misleading. Being a "no fault" state has to do with injury and your medical bills. In a "no fault" state such as PA, each injured party goes to their own insurance company for medical bills, regardless of who is at fault. But it has no bearing on damage to the vehicle (or potentially to a claim for pain and suffering...but that's an entirely different subject).
Payment for damages absolutely does have to do with who is at fault. The only state that doesn't really follow that is Michigan, which has really berkeleyed up statutes. The other 49 states have different versions of liability statutes. In GA, as long as someone is less than 50% liable, they can recover damages. In what you describe, it sounds pretty cut and dry, you should be able to recover 100%.
Yes, you can file with the other insurance company. You can put your carrier on notice of the claim, but you don't have to do it immediately. It's not at all uncommon for someone to not even report an accident to their own carrier, or report it a week later if the at fault carrier isn't handling the claim. It's usually not an issue, unless you did work on your car without letting the carrier see it.
Filing a claim is simple. Call Progressive, give them the info of the driver they insure and tell them about the accident. They'll need to talk to their policyholder and verify the facts of loss, etc... Assuming the guy is responsive, it shouldn't take long. They'd owe for a rental while yours is being fixed (unless it's not drivable, then they'd pay from the start).
Best of luck.
Thanks for all the responses.
New twist. Driver that hit my son is a Chiropractic student, resident of Michigan going to school in GA.... with Michigan auto insurance. The state with screwball rules.
I'm wondering how insurance statues apply when policies cross state lines. I guess I will find out soon when I visit Progressive's local drive-thru claim center.
I sure hope not to get berkeleyed because his insurance is from a no-fault state.
The other driver Was cited in GA for flowing too closely.
It will follow GA statutes. Just hope that Progressive was aware that he "resided" part time in GA. They could potentially raise a stink if they didn't know about this.
