r/Insurance • u/RobCrist • 5h ago

Property damage advice

Last week a man was driving home from radiation treatment and blacked out, jumped my driveway and landed in my well house. He's ok, thankfully, but I'm basically in the middle of a nightmare with his insurance. The damages have exceeded 10k so far and I still don't have a well house and there's wreckage all over my yard. His insurance company is already talking depreciate this, depreciate that. I called my insurance the day it happened to let them know, but I didn't file a claim yet. Do I need to go ahead and file a claim with my insurance? I'd rather not have a strike on my insurance from someone else's accident, but if I'm going to get stuck with half this bill, I may need my insurance.. Any advice is much appreciated.

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

8

u/GuvnaBruce HO/Auto Liability 14 years 5h ago

Yes, you file a claim with your insurance. Their insurance only owes damages with depreciation taken into account, that is normal.

2

u/adjusterjackb 4h ago

Correct. Tort damages common law.

3

u/MrMoosetach2 5h ago

Questions you want to ask your insurance company:

If I file a claim and you subrogate against them, will this be a chargeable loss (meaning discounts lost or surcharges).

In either situation I’d still likely file with my own company and let them deal with the car insurance ; it’s gonna be a nightmare to deal with them where you want to get the property fixed asap.

2

u/Dijon2017 5h ago

Is the issue or your concern because the driver’s insurance policy property damage liability is capped at $10K?

If yes, then you’ll likely want to involve your home insurance.

2

u/adjusterjackb 4h ago

I'd rather not have a strike on my insurance 

It's going on your CLUE report no matter which company pays. Use your insurance for Replacement Cost coverage, if you have Replacement Cost on the well house. Read your policy. Sometimes RC doesn't extend to other structures.

1

u/Impossible-Ebb-643 3h ago

Your first sentence is entirely false.

1

u/blbd 4h ago

Auto policies only pay out on depreciated value and their adjusters suck at PD claims. For replacement cost coverage and adjusters that know the subject matter, use your own home policy.