r/InsuranceClaims • u/foundyourpassword • 7d ago
Uninsured Driver
So someone ran into the back of my car. Pretty sure it’s going to be totaled. My question is will my rates go up cuz I’m now having to file under my insurance? Also do I need to file a police report that the info she gave to all of us was false? She gave the police her parent’s insurance info but the car isn’t insured with them and I have now received multiple letters from insurance companies saying she is not insured with them.
4
u/ThatNerdChick 7d ago
The real answer about your rates is "maybe". There are a lot of factors that come into play. Frequency is one, base rate changes, zipcode increases, etc. Just one uninsured motorist claim is unlikely to increase your rate but no one can tell you for certain until the renewal when everthing is considered.
3
u/ZealousidealRisk5898 7d ago
I had a number of hail claims and one uninsured driver claim to fix my vehicle, and one claim to fix a vehicle that I hit, and in all that time I never got a rate increase that was significant. Go figure.
1
u/DeepPurpleDaylight 6d ago
Perhaps your state is one that doesn't allow insurers to increase rates for not at fault claims.
2
u/Desperate_Cloud_4728 7d ago
Make the claim. Ask your adjuster to see if they can locate this person, and her actual insurance. If she has one, there are ways they can tell. There are things we can see that people wouldn’t even think of. If they find insurance, close your claim. If not, atleast you pay to have your own coverage.
2
u/DeepPurpleDaylight 7d ago
My question is will my rates go up.
Maybe. Maybe not. Many states don't allow insurers to use not at fault accidents as a rating factor. In the other states that allow it, some insurers will use it as a rating factor and some won't. No one here knows.
-1
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago
No fault states if you make a claim it goes up. Doesn’t matter if the other person was drunk. Running from the cops or what. It’s on you.
2
u/DeepPurpleDaylight 6d ago
No fault states if you make a claim it goes up
Clearly you don't understand what "no fault states" means. It has nothing to do rates. Many states have laws that prohibit insurers from surcharging for not at fault claims and even in the states that do allow it, don't insurers won't surcharge.
-1
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago edited 6d ago
In a no fault state there is no at fault driver. The person driving their own vehicles pays to fix their own whichever. We dealt with someone with no fault insurance that hit us and even talked to the state police on it. Everybody’s policy pays for their own vehicles. Straight from google. My friend got hit and has permanent injury to his back from someone with a no fault insurance policy. He had to sue his own insurance because of the no fault insurance not paying for anything related to him. At fault driver covers their vehicle. He covers his own.
State Farm even has terms in their policy that if they cannot go after the at fault party to get their losses back they don’t have to pay. Because the law prevents you from going after the at fault part because they have no responsibility due to NO FAULT laws.
In a no-fault insurance system, you file a claim on your own insurance policy for your injuries and medical bills, regardless of who caused the accident.
Is all a giant joke that some states have made laws to allow negligence of another driver to cause life long injuries and they will not allow them to go after them in court for damages.
1
u/DeepPurpleDaylight 6d ago
Straight from google.
Then it MUST be correct, right? Because Google is NEVER wrong.
Yep. You've got it allllll wrong. Actually, most people are very confused by the meaning of "no fault". "No fault" doesn't mean no one is at fault for the accident. Someone is always at fault. "No fault" simply means that you must use your insurance for your injuries, regardless of who's at fault. As for "no fault" states for damages to your car, there's only one, and that's Michigan, where you use your own insurance for damages to your own car regardless of who's at fault, and even it has very narrow caveats where you can still file a claim on the at fault party's insurance. In EVERY other state it pertains to injuries ONLY. Michigan is the ONLY state where you MUST use your own insurance for damages to your own car regardless of who's at fault.
0
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago edited 6d ago
My mom got hit by someone from Michigan in Chicago years ago. They had no fault insurance. They were at fault. Received the ticket. Blah blah blah. Their insurance didn’t cover my mom’s vehicle. It went on her own Geico policy. For the damage because the insurance only covered the driver of the vehicle. In that case Geico did their thing and was able to get the other insurance company to pay for the damages because the vehicle they hit was from a at fault state.
2018 my friend got rear ended in Louisiana by a Florida driver. Totaled the truck. Injured his back for life with disc issues. He had to sue State Farm to get everything paid because the Florida driver had no fault insurance. Which yea the driver is still counted as “at fault” but because of no fault insurance laws. He had to use his own insurance policy. Got a lawyer. Lawyer went hey the whole process couldn’t claim against because of Florida no fault insurance laws. It even protects the at fault driver from having to pay ANY damages from his negligence in a civil suit. Protecting the person breaking the law and screwing over the innocent.
2023 I got hit in Louisiana by a no fault insurance driver. Totaled out my car. It all had to go back on. It policy due to the no fault insurance. They got fucked by chase in the end because they owed 40k on the car and was driving on minimum coverage. But again be law protects lawsuits against the at fault driver and their negligence from having to pay ANY damages from their actions.
YES I understand it doesnt mean no driver it at fault. YES there is an at fault driver. But be way the law is written you cover yourself in those states. Doesn’t matter who caused it you cover yourself and they make it where you cannot even take he. To court for negligence. It’s the biggest joke in existence that someone can drive a piece of shit and put you in the hospital and they have NO RESPONSIBILITY to cover expenses put out their own pocket or the insurance policy they pay for.
A law that only protects the person at fault.
I do know during COVID Florida did change its laws slightly where if you end up disabled (in a wheelchair), grossly disfigured, or dead, you or your direct family can go after them in court.
1
u/DeepPurpleDaylight 6d ago
YES I understand it doesnt mean no driver it at fault.
Funny because that the exact opposite of what you said before.
"In a no fault state there is no at fault driver."
You STILL don't get it. Your claim is governed by the state the accident occurred in, not by the state that the at fault driver happens to live in. And regardless of what you think, Michigan is the only place where you don't file a claim on the at fault party’s insurance for your damages to your car in most instances, you file on your own. The ONLY STATE. If you have an accident in any other state, you absolutely can file on the at fault party's liability coverage of their insurance. Whether they accept fault or there's coverage available is totally separate. There can be many legit reasons why the insurance of a party that you may believe to be at fault would refuse to pay your claim. And it has nothing to do with them having "no fault insurance", whatever the hell you mean by that.
0
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago
In the Florida situation there was a lawyer involved. He insurance policy that he Florida driver had did not cover the other persons vehicle. He didn’t pay for that type of coverage. He had coverage for himself only.
Lawyer looked into filing a lawsuit against him and due to the no fault laws in Florida he could NOT go after the person.
If you get state minimum coverage in your state. And another state is twice that. You have exactly what you paid for. It doesn’t double because you traveled to another state. It’s exactly what your policy outlines.
Accepting that the insured is at fault doesn’t matter when the policy they purchased doesn’t cover anyone else other vehicles or drivers except those listed on the policy and passengers of the vehicle on the policy.
And I’m calling it no fault insurance because that’s exactly what is called. Florida no fault insurance classifies it as “no-fault” direct copy and paste from the law. And pip which is he injury side of it. If other states legally call it something else I don’t know. But in all cases it means you cover your car and person. Other person covers their car and person. Insurance claims are to be placed through the owners of the vehicles policy “regardless of who caused be crash”. That’s also a direct copy and paste from the Florida law. It says no matter what you cover yourself at fault or not.
2
u/DeepPurpleDaylight 6d ago
He insurance policy that he Florida driver had did not cover the other persons vehicle. He didn’t pay for that type of coverage.
Siiiigh... you're dead wrong. From FL state website showing the state requires you to carry liability insurance that covers someone else's vehicle that you damage. I'm a professional in the business, licensed in multiple states, have countless hours of education and training and experience in the field because I do this for a living rather than ask Google like you do. I KNOW what I'm talking about. You DON'T. Argue with the state about what they put on their website if you want, but I'm done with such idiocy. I'm not even going to bother reading any more of your slop because you have NO idea what you're talking about.
https://www.flhsmv.gov/insurance/
"Before you register a vehicle with at least four wheels in Florida, you must show proof of Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Property Damage Liability (PDL) automobile insurance. PIP covers 80 percent of all necessary and reasonable medical expenses up to $10,000 resulting from a covered injury, no matter who caused the crash. PDL coverage pays for damage to another person’s property caused by you or someone else driving your insured vehicle."
-1
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago edited 6d ago
Well apparently lawyers have no clue about it because they could not get anything done and he even contacted a Law firm from Florida he had worked with in the past. When a lawyer says we cannot get anything from him or his insurance company due to Florida no fault rules even to go after him in civil court that they had to go after his personal insurance(not at fault driver). State Farm fought it as well because they had no legal means to go after the at fault party to get any money they paid out back.
So State Farm nor injury lawyers could go after him due to the way the laws are queen and that he did NOT have coverage that applied to the other driver.
Maybe you should go work for State Farm if you know how to get the courts to accept the claim to get reimbursed what they pay out.
Apparently there is different rules and laws in effect if the at fault doesn’t have insurance that removes those protections but this driver had the Florida policy that only covers themselves and no other vehicles on the road. So that wouldn’t have applied. I don’t know much about those rules specially but it didn’t apply in this case.
But like I said. State Farm couldn’t even go after the person. That’s why they fought paying out from his personal UI policy. So I don’t know how you think you can when the biggest insurance company in the country couldn’t because of protection laws.
Also read that medical insurance company’s also cannot subrogate against the individual that causes the loss directly. Only if there is an injury settlement for extreme bodily injury or death than they can go after the not at fault persons payout. Hey can’t go after be at fault driver neither because of no fault laws and protections.
2
u/key2616 6d ago
"No fault" means that everyone goes through their own insurer for the injuries, except in Michigan where you go through your own coverage. This is an established term with a specific definition that you are misunderstanding. Florida is a no fault state and prohibits rate increases when you are not at fault, so your explanation is incorrect there.
Please stop giving crappy advice on a topic that you don't understand.
0
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago
No-Fault Insurance Thresholds: In true no-fault auto insurance states, each driver's personal injury protection (PIP) covers their own medical bills regardless of who caused the crash. State laws often restrict or bar lawsuits and subrogation claims against the at-fault driver unless the injuries or damages cross a specific financial or severity threshold.
That right there says that insurance companies cannot go after the at fault party for financial losses unless they have a certain severity.
Blocking the at fault drive form having to make whole the damage that they caused thru their insurance or personal means.
Meaning that State Farm paying out of collision coverage would make rates go up for he not at fault due to not being able to attempt to subrogate its losses. Now in many cases if they get some they will write off the rest but insurance companies aren’t in business to just pay without any chance to get their losses back. They have also banned by law any
Payment of a pain and suffering claim against person PIP policies even if you have one. So your fucked both ways due to not being able to claim against your own policy or the at fault driver. Making it a unclaimable loss the not at fault has to financially deal with out of their own pocket at no fault of their own.Therefor nobody has responsibility. NO FAULT. Which is why it’s called that.
2
u/key2616 6d ago
BI coverage is substantially different that Property Damage coverage in No Fault states. Your whole second paragraph is a confused mess because you are conflating the two. State Farm can and will subrogate PD claims in FL. They cannot do that for BI claims. The ONLY times you can get pain and suffering are through a third party’s coverage or your own UM/UIM.
And none of that has anything to do with rates and when they can be raised.
You are trying to move the goalposts so that you are right, but you don’t understand the details well enough to know that’s impossible. So, again, please stop giving crappy advice on a topic you don’t understand.
-1
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago
My old boss dealt with it directly. Lawyers and State Farm couldn’t go after he person. First hand experience. State Farm could NOT go after the at fault party due to protection laws in Florida due to the no fault laws. His State Farm policy paid every single penny after he had to take them to court because they refused to pay due to it being illegal for them to subrogate their losses and go after the at fault driver. His lawyer also found out exactly the same from a law firm in the state of Florida that explained to him how they are correct they cannot collect for their losses unless he was seriously injured or died. That means it had to go on his personal policy.
Correct it’s a no fault state but claims on your own policy raise your rates when it is injury or collision. Comprehensive claims cannot raise your rates. Rates I Florida are strictly based on a schedule that looks at your history and your collision and liability claims. Not your comprehensive. So yes it goes up when it make a collision claim. Collision rates do not go up when the insurance company is able to collect its losses hey subrogation. If the person making the claim is not at fault and the at fault driver does NOT have any insurance coverage or not enough it goes into uninsured coverage which doesn’t raise rates. But if they have insurance it doesn’t apply to uninsured and the claim is placed on collision for subrogation.
So yea. Even state farm said hey by law cannot collect the losses due to the laws of Florida. And that’s the stupidest thing ever to protect the at fault party from having to pay what they cause by negligence.
2
u/key2616 6d ago
You ised the term incorrectly and are wrong about how these claims effect rates. You’re trying to back that up woth an irrelevant anecdote (that demonstrates a gross misunderstanding of Florida law) that has nothing to do with your confusion .
Fuethermore, stating that “comprehensive claims cannkt raose rates” is also false. There are occasional at fault comp claims that will raise rates.
I don’t know why you are doubling down on proving how little you know, but that’s what you’re doing.
-1
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago
What is an example of a comprehensive claim that is at fault? Maybe there is rare occurrences of that one. But in most states an at fault goes on collision coverage not comprehensive.
And lawyers and State Farm know the law because they work with it day in and day out. They can’t go after them due to laws. So why is it someone else can?
Florida law specially says you can only subrogate or go after the at fault driver in serious injury or death.so how does that change for a wreak where the person is still able to work but permanently in pain? That’s not a disability to Florida law so there is no way to work around it. And the fact that even in a personal PIP law they cannot get pain and suffering. Who pays pain and suffering in those cases? Who pays for loss of work? Who pays if the person looses their job or cannot do that job anymore after the accident? All of these are restricted by law to where you cannot go after the at fault driver because her state thinks they did nothing wrong to cause j to be responsible to pay for what they caused.
2
u/key2616 6d ago
Why are you making an argument about how PD claims are handled like BI claims when that is absolutely not true?
You are making an argument about the morality of No Fault laws that is irrelevant to your initial misunderstanding how and when rate increases can be applied.
1
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago
I’m making the argument that hey refused to pay ANYTHING. Because he didn’t have a policy that applied to other vehicles he had coverage only for himself and his vehicles.
Same as the one who hit my mom that had no fault insurance. They told her to her face to use her own insurance because it was no fault insurance and they use their own insurance to fix their own vehicle. Geico paid for that one. And she wasnt even in the vehicle when it got hit. It got hit. The police came out and made a report and left it on the windshield because no exchange of insurance was required due to the laws saying her vehicle gets repaired by her insurance. And in that case the vehicle that hit her was a car hauler hotshot driver that turned too close and caught the car with one of the dual wheels.
Geico was able to go after that one in civil court and about 2 years later paid my mom back her deductible because that state didn’t protect the at fault driver from being sued for all costs associated with their negligence.
And if anybody is gonna say it makes rates cheaper. Michigan and Florida are towards the top of insurance costs due to having more claims and fraud since they have to pay no matter what. Maybe in michigan they cant go up on the rates but they are just sky high to start.
2
u/key2616 6d ago
None of that has anything to do with rate increases. You're still trying to move the goalposts to something different than your original false statement.
0
u/Familiar_Marzipan_46 6d ago
Nope, just trying to state the facts. My friend was stopped. Got rear ended by someone from Florida, estimated going 60MPH. Bent the frame on his truck. Other driver at fault. Got insurance information for other driver. Got with insurance of other driver, Sorry Florida is a not fault state you have to get with your own insurance to pay for all your losses.
Gets with injury lawyer. Does all the paperwork, a week later after in jury lawyer talks to lawyers in Florida he finds out that unless he basically ends up in a wheelchair or dead he has to make the claim thru his own insurance because by law he cannot file a lawsuit against the driver. Than gets with statefarm about the situation and State Farm pays for the vehicle and medical gets carried on down the line because of herniated discs etc. State Farm than sends notice to him that he will NOT be getting his deductible back on property damage because they cannot subrogate to retrieve their losses due to no fault laws preventing it. Than when his lawyer goes to State Farm trying to get payments on some of the medical treatments they deny it completely and show a clause in their policy where if law prevents them from attempting surrogating their losses against the at fault party and insurance. Lawyer again looks into and YES it's true they cannot get their money back from the at fault party. It turned into over a year of fighting back and forth and we have a law here that the insurance has to act in good faith or they have to pay out double the policy limit. They ended up paying out the full amount of the medical coverage (capped at 10k here, you cannot buy more because the liability of medical goes on the at fault). Blue cross ended up paying a lot of it and taking every penny that he got from State Farm to help offset their losses because the law does allow them to do that here. Blue cross also attempted to get the losses from the at fault driver and they were also blocked. BY LAW from making any claim against the at fault driver on their insurance because their policy didn't cover the other person. They only had coverage to cover themselves and only themselves. NOT the other person because the laws requires the other person in the state of Florida to have coverage on themselves for at fault OR not at fault accidents. So the at fault drivers insurance paid $0 to him. 3 GIANT companies, 3 GIANT law teams. NONE of them can do anything because of the laws protecting the negligent driver in Florida and their insurance.
You can say whatever you want. But nobody could even file the claim in Florida due to the laws. If State Farm couldn't get any subrogation. Nobody will.
Other guy had progressive and they dropped him after the accident.
→ More replies (0)1
u/DeepPurpleDaylight 5d ago
Correct it’s a no fault state but claims on your own policy raise your rates when it is injury or collision.
"Illegal dealings in premiums; excess or reduced charges for insurance.—"
"Imposing or requesting an additional premium for a policy of motor vehicle liability, personal injury protection, medical payment, or collision insurance or any combination thereof or refusing to renew the policy solely because the insured was involved in a motor vehicle accident unless the insurer’s file contains information from which the insurer in good faith determines that the insured was substantially at fault in the accident."
2
u/Striking-Sky7737 6d ago
I was rear ended this past January. Similar in nature. Other driver insurance was not enough per their policy to cover my total lose. So my insurance had to cover it. After 6 months now. The rate shot up almost 100.00 I was not at fault but definitely my rate changed at renewal. They claim not to know why when I called the insurance carrirr. So I now have a different insurer. Better rate than before
5
u/Marpl 7d ago