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First Car Accident Question
Advent
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I searched the other accident posts, I'm looking for a bit more detail and some things more pertinent to my specific situation.
As per the title, I got in my first accident today. New york state driver, 24, and I've had my liscense just over a year. I drive a 93 Dodge Spirit under my parent's insurance.
I'm curious if anyone has gone through or knows anything about the insurance process for New York, specifcally Allstate.
I was making a right out of my parents driveway onto a 30 mph stretch. Looking left there was an older model blue truck oncomming, looking right, nothing (there's a fork about fifteen feet down on the right, sometimes people make illegal turns onto my road) looking back left there was nothing at all. It's a limited distance, about 40-50 yards, and then the road dips and curves right. As I'm making the turn a red Mustang hits me in the front left between the front wheel and where the fender starts to curve towards the front of the vehicle. I end up with some black and red smudges on the front left quarter. He ended up with an inch or so deep dent in his front right.
A neighbor witnessed it as he was taking his dog out. He told the police the Mustang was moving at a fair clip above the speed limit, and does so that road on a regular basis.
The passenger in my car didn't see the Mustang untill the accident as well.
I'm curious if any of you have had any experience with this type of thing? Will they put me at fault? If so, to what degree? How much would that increase my insurance and for how long? I'm currently paying 85 a month under my parent's policy.
Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
As per the title, I got in my first accident today. New york state driver, 24, and I've had my liscense just over a year. I drive a 93 Dodge Spirit under my parent's insurance.
I'm curious if anyone has gone through or knows anything about the insurance process for New York, specifcally Allstate.
I was making a right out of my parents driveway onto a 30 mph stretch. Looking left there was an older model blue truck oncomming, looking right, nothing (there's a fork about fifteen feet down on the right, sometimes people make illegal turns onto my road) looking back left there was nothing at all. It's a limited distance, about 40-50 yards, and then the road dips and curves right. As I'm making the turn a red Mustang hits me in the front left between the front wheel and where the fender starts to curve towards the front of the vehicle. I end up with some black and red smudges on the front left quarter. He ended up with an inch or so deep dent in his front right.
A neighbor witnessed it as he was taking his dog out. He told the police the Mustang was moving at a fair clip above the speed limit, and does so that road on a regular basis.
The passenger in my car didn't see the Mustang untill the accident as well.
I'm curious if any of you have had any experience with this type of thing? Will they put me at fault? If so, to what degree? How much would that increase my insurance and for how long? I'm currently paying 85 a month under my parent's policy.
Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
Advent on
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However, New York is a no-fault state, so you should be getting your check from your insurance company, I believe (they'll probably collect from the other company). Get your car looked at, get an estimate or two, and see what you can do to get it fixed. Don't expect anything to move quickly. I had my check in hand in 3 weeks when a dude rear-ended me (I wasn't moving, it was completely his fault), and that's considered ridiculously fast; my agent was shocked.
This is where what % fault is assigned would come into play. I had no collision on my car when a woman ran a red light and totaled me a few years ago here in NY. My witness put her at 100% at fault and her insurance company had to pay out 100% of my totaled car value. I got my check within 5 days.
So even if you had no collision insurance, if the other driver is assigned 80% fault then you'd be looking at them paying out some % of your damages since they were at greater fault than you were.
Just a clarification. No Fault refers strictly to medical bills and pain/suffering, not to property damage. You can indeed not be covered under your policy depending on the type of accident it was. This was a collision accident (not a comprehensive).
However, from the sounds of things the other driver was at 100% fault.
From here you have 2 options:
1 - Talk to your insurance company, file a claim with them and get your car repaired. They will then subrogate the claim with the other driver's insurance company to collect the money they shelled out to fix your car.
2 - Contact the other driver's insurance company, or wait for them to contact you. They will pay you or a body shop to ave repairs done on your car. However, you still need to contact your insurance company and tell them you were in an accident but you are going through the other driver's insurance. Also, remember that you can go to ANY body shop of YOUR choosing. Do not let the other company bully you into going to one they choose unless you want to go there.
As for your premium, I wouldn't worry about it at all. Unless you were found negligent in the accident the chances of it changing are slim. If you're really worried about it, call your rep/underwriter.
If you have any further questions please let me know. I worked as a claims rep for State Farm in NY for a while.
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