[samvora]

So my wife was on her way to pick up our son from school and while waiting at the intersection in line for the light to turn green a stupid unlicensed 20 year old kid in a 20 year old mustang came and rammed into the rear of our X5.

His insurance is going to cover everything but my deductible is $1500 and my insurance company is saying that they are not sure if the other insurance company will pay my deductible and if they don’t then nothing that my insurance company can do about it. That just makes me so mad that I could potentially be out of $1500 for no fault of ours and just because a stupid kid who has no legal ID in USA, no license and just decided to text while driving at 5:15 pm - the busiest time of the evening and just rammed in to our car. Luckily no kids were in the car and my wife is OK but the car is bad from the rear.

[rundeyvoo]

Oooof I am so sorry this happened to you. It could be worse and am glad your wife was okay. I know it's no consolation, but this is what insurance is for. Let's just hope you can get the persons insurance to take care of everything (even your deductible). Let us know how everything turns out..

[goobies818]

I was rear ended in the 15 headed home from Vegas

Favorably, I got the drive recorder video so there was 0% questions as to the fault was the other driver

I ended up working directly with the other party’s insurance company directly instead of working through my insurance

As such, once I had an estimate submitted from a body shop of my choice (a BMW collision center), the other insurance cut me a check for the repairs (yay credit card miles) and any additional findings…the insurance paid the shop directly

Car rental was also handled by the other party’s insurance which was a good thing since my coverage was only for $30 a day while the other guy has to supply you with a somewhat equivalent vehicle for your loss (a Audi Q5 in this instance)

Car was in the shop a smidge over a month and I had zero issues with the other party insurance (safeco/liberty)

[sygazelle]

Sorry this happened to your car. Hope there are no injuries.

Question: Do you have uninsured/underinsured coverage on your policy?

[Cxk5075]

Glad your wife is OK. Cars can be replaced, people cannot. The exact same thing just happened to my wife over Memorial Day weekend in our 2019 X5. The repair estimate was a little over $21k. Fortunately we both had State Farm so they were going to have to pay either way. I'm working the claim through the other motorist's policy so it doesn't affect my premium in the future.

Not sure what the laws are in your state. Since you were hit from behind that's almost always a good indicator who was at fault, but insurance companies are not in business because they payout claims that's for sure. You could try to contact their insurance first and see what you can work out. Gat a copy of the police report first and see if there were any citations issued to the other driver - that will certainly help your case. He should have received one for operating without a valid license, and depending upon the officer could be failure to maintain control, following too close, etc. Could be a slew of violations. I'm surprised he had insurance frankly.

If this doesn't get you anywhere, you could ask your insurance company to make you whole and for your insurance company to go after the other party's insurance company for your out of pocket costs through a process called subrogation. Second option is to sue or the other driver directly in small claims court. Not sure what a 20 year old's ability to pay might be, but you miss all the shots you don't take.

Something else to go after: Your vehicle will be reported as having been in an accident on CarFax and generally speaking buyers/dealers will discount your repaired vehicle's market value by at least a few grand. Whoever's insurance this ends up going through, I'd demand they make what's known as a "diminished value adjustment" to compensate you for that in advance. The $1500 could turn in to $3-5K by the time you move on to your next vechicle. They will tell you it's not a thing if repaired properly, but I would not accept that answer. You will have to fight but don't back down. It's a very real thing and you should not foot that bill when you unload the car.
Good luck!

[MJBradley1967]

Sorry this happened and I'm glad everyone is OK.

Dang but the Ford took a lot of damage (it's a Ford, so...). I was expecting less from the pics of your X5.

Like others have suggested, fight tooth & nail for the other side to pay for everything and sue the driver and insurance company of they give you an ounce of trouble. And no small claims stuff either, I would insist they replace the vehicle based on what Cxk5075 posted.

[Guy Fleegman]

I've only been hit a couple of times in 50 years of driving, but the cars were never quite the same after repair. Squeeze them for every dime they have or will ever have.

Who is your insurer?

[tooloud10]

Originally Posted by samvora

His insurance is going to cover everything but my deductible is $1500 and my insurance company is saying that they are not sure if the other insurance company will pay my deductible and if they don’t then nothing that my insurance company can do about it.

If the guy is insured, your insurance company and deductible doesn't even come into play. The other insurance company is liable for all of the damage regardless of what your personal deductible is.

[Cxk5075]

Originally Posted by tooloud10

If the guy is insured, your insurance company and deductible doesn't even come into play. The other insurance company is liable for all of the damage regardless of what your personal deductible is.

It really depends on the laws of the state. In PA, fault is assumed to be 50/50 unless you prove otherwise. In the case of my wife's accident, she was legally stopped waiting to make a left turn when she was struck from behind. The other driver received a slew of citations and since we both had State Farm they accepted 100% fault under the other motorist's policy.

After my post I received word from the BMW collision center - 2 months is the estimate mainly due to parts. Breakdown is roughly $15K in parts, $5K in labor, and $1K in misc paint/supplies.

I'll tell you what, the X5 held up pretty well considering what happened to the other car! She had a 2016 Subaru Forester. Her airbags went off and there is no way that thing is getting fixed considering what it will cost to repair it.

[Chonkapotamus]

So sorry you're experiencing this. I'm driving an X5 now because a college kid did this to my Jaguar back in January. As others have suggested, work directly with the other insurance carrier, don't file a claim through your own. There shouldn't be a deductible or anything less than you being made whole for your loss. That includes diminished value, for when that mess hits your Carfax.

All that said, try to pick a body shop that works with the other guy's insurance company. Make sure they are invoicing the insurer directly. You should not be fronting any money, which they might make you do if you pick a body shop they don't use themselves.

[hufington]

Wow. I am sorry for your accident. It sure sucks.

[eelnoraa]

damn, that sucks. I feel your pain.

[Jlewisinsyr]

Originally Posted by Cxk5075

It really depends on the laws of the state. In PA, fault is assumed to be 50/50 unless you prove otherwise. In the case of my wife's accident, she was legally stopped waiting to make a left turn when she was struck from behind. The other driver received a slew of citations and since we both had State Farm they accepted 100% fault under the other motorist's policy.

After my post I received word from the BMW collision center - 2 months is the estimate mainly due to parts. Breakdown is roughly $15K in parts, $5K in labor, and $1K in misc paint/supplies.

I'll tell you what, the X5 held up pretty well considering what happened to the other car! She had a 2016 Subaru Forester. Her airbags went off and there is no way that thing is getting fixed considering what it will cost to repair it.

PA is a comparative negiglence state, but accidents don’t default to 50/50, rather it means anyone who is at least 51% at fault is held liable and cannot collect damages from the other party. And if you are found at all responsible, say 25%, you are responsible for 25% of the damages to your property. Otherwise PA is a typical liability state for property damage, it is a no-fault state for medical claims and injuries.

[Blue87]

Glad to hear everyone is okay; however, let's talk about that $1500 deductible. How much money did you end up saving by going with that high of a deductible? If their insurance is covering the cost then you shouldn't have to worry about deductible anyways, that would only apply if you were filing against your own policy. If you live in a no-fault state then the insurance co. have to battle it out to determine who was at fault and which insurance is going to cover it or they might just have you each file against your own policies. Yeah the no-fault thing sucks but I guess it takes the police and lack of witnesses out of the equation to determine who is actually at fault.

Example: One time I was involved in a multi-car rear end collision and I slowed down and stopped in time and didn't hit the car in front of me, but the three cars behind me ran into each other and into my car. Then about three or four cars in front of me all hit each other and I was only one who didn't touch anyone else's car, yet the cop tried to insist that I made some contact. In the end there was no evidence that I made any contact with the bumper and so I wasn't at fault for anything, but they did try to pin some damage on me.

[Jlewisinsyr]

Originally Posted by Blue87

Glad to hear everyone is okay; however, let's talk about that $1500 deductible. How much money did you end up saving by going with that high of a deductible? If their insurance is covering the cost then you shouldn't have to worry about deductible anyways, that would only apply if you were filing against your own policy. If you live in a no-fault state then the insurance co. have to battle it out to determine who was at fault and which insurance is going to cover it or they might just have you each file against your own policies. Yeah the no-fault thing sucks but I guess it takes the police and lack of witnesses out of the equation to determine who is actually at fault.

Example: One time I was involved in a multi-car rear end collision and I slowed down and stopped in time and didn't hit the car in front of me, but the three cars behind me ran into each other and into my car. Then about three or four cars in front of me all hit each other and I was only one who didn't touch anyone else's car, yet the cop tried to insist that I made some contact. In the end there was no evidence that I made any contact with the bumper and so I wasn't at fault for anything, but they did try to pin some damage on me.

To be clear, no fault is about medical liability, not property. This is often misunderstood item.

[Blue87]

Originally Posted by Jlewisinsyr

To be clear, no fault is about medical liability, not property. This is often misunderstood item.

Good to know. I definitely do not claim to be an insurance expert, that's just how it was explained to me once by a police officer. He basically told us to exchange insurance info and would have work it out through insurance to cover repairs.

[Flying Ace]

The unlicensed kid insurance? Why did he even bother? Unless the mustang is insured by by his parents?

In any case, if you're out an additional $1500, I would take the kid to small claims court

[samvora]

Thanks for chiming in everyone. I think everything is on track in terms of my insurance company paying me for the damage and them getting reimbursed by the other guy's insurance company so I don't think I need to go directly to his company just yet. If my company is not able to gather my deductible portion of this then I will go to them directly but we shall see on that.

The law in CA is that the person who rear ends the front car is always at 100% fault (or at least that is what my understanding is) so I am covered by that. In any case I have a front and rear dash cam and I have footage of him ramming into my car which was almost stationary. The cam recording shows the speed of my car at the time of impact and how it gradually slowed down from 35 MPH to 3-4 MPH.

Yes, the car was insured on the dad's name so I am good there. I don't care what happens to the kid for being unlicensed or not even having a US ID as long as my car is fixed, my premium does not go up, I don't have to pay anything out of my pocket and I get my deductible back.

If any one of this happens then I am not going to be happy and I am going to take someone to task and make sure I get things done right.

As of yesterday i dropped the car at the body shop with an initial estimate of $7100 from the insurance company. Not sure how much the supplemental will be but I assume this will cost anywhere between 10k and 15k. Will keep you all posted.

[Leotno]

I was rear ended in 2020 with similar damage and my repairs came out to be 35k. Best of luck!

[samvora]

So it seems like everything is on track still. My premium is not going to go up and I got reimbursed fully for my deductible that I had to pay. The opposite party insurance company is also agreeing to consider paying me the diminishing value, but here is where I am stuck. They need me to send an email to them, with proof that the value of my car has/will diminish because of this accident and they’ve asked me to provide supporting documents for that. I have never done this before with regards to claiming diminishing value, and I have no clue what proof to provide for this. The insurance agent of the opposite party told me that I basically just have to do my research and come up with the proof and the supporting documents. I told him that there is no way for me to provide proof at the moment that the value of my car has diminished because this is some thing that we are talking about for in the future that would happen, but he said that without a proof and supporting documents, he will not be able to issue anything to me.

Does anybody know what is a fair amount that I can ask for as a diminishing value? Also, does anybody know how I can draft this whole thing up so that it is solid and leaves nothing out for them to reject it? Any help? Here will be very very very highly appreciated.

[COKen]

If you have a good relationship with your insurance agent, they would be the best person to give you advice on how to proceed with the documentation.

[Cxk5075]

Originally Posted by samvora

So it seems like everything is on track still. My premium is not going to go up and I got reimbursed fully for my deductible that I had to pay. The opposite party insurance company is also agreeing to consider paying me the diminishing value, but here is where I am stuck. They need me to send an email to them, with proof that the value of my car has/will diminish because of this accident and they’ve asked me to provide supporting documents for that. I have never done this before with regards to claiming diminishing value, and I have no clue what proof to provide for this. The insurance agent of the opposite party told me that I basically just have to do my research and come up with the proof and the supporting documents. I told him that there is no way for me to provide proof at the moment that the value of my car has diminished because this is some thing that we are talking about for in the future that would happen, but he said that without a proof and supporting documents, he will not be able to issue anything to me.

Does anybody know what is a fair amount that I can ask for as a diminishing value? Also, does anybody know how I can draft this whole thing up so that it is solid and leaves nothing out for them to reject it? Any help? Here will be very very very highly appreciated.

One approach is to ask places like CarMax, Carvana, etc what they would give you for it cash price with and without an accident. You could also ask that question of the dealership you bought it from (assuming it was a new vehicle). There should be a delta there.

Another approach would be to take in this article below. There are many like this on the net. Keep in mind the typical 10% favors insurance companies, if they even acknowledge it's a thing. Retain copies of all the repair quotes/invoices/documentation to show a buyer when you do sell or trade the vehicle.

https://www.jdpower.com/cars/shoppin...minished-value

You have a nicer M Series so it's not going to be an insignificant amount!