Car accident question

[kaysixteen]

Folks, I had a minor car accident today, no one thankfully hurt, but was wondering if anyone had any advice.  This accident, unlike any I have had in the past, was unambiguously not my legal fault.  A 75 yo gentleman made a left turn straight into me as I was trying to drive on through an intersection.  We had been going in opposite directions.  I have no collision coverage on my policy so will have to file against him with his insurance company, which is not the same as mine.  When I talked with my company today, they told,me I had to speak to his company myself directly.  My insurance guy did tell me to call my company back should I be unhappy with what the other guy's company says.  I then called the other company and was told their client had already reported the accident and they will reach out to me within a day or two to arrange for an appraiser to come out.  The damage to my car is not extensive... I had my mechanic look at it earlier today... But it is not nonexistent either and I will need to replace a few things, etc.  And of course I don't want to pay for this.  Anyone have any suggestions on what I should do, what to and,not to say to appraiser and anyone else who might call, do I need a lawyer, etc.?  Thanks!

[nebo113]

Ugh!   I was in a similar situation last year and had to deal with the other woman's insurance company myself.  Here are my suggestions:  The the person's local agent will be of little help, and you will end up dealing with someone in a regional office somewhere.  That person will delay and obfuscate.  1.  Keep very good records/notes of every contact with the regional person. 2.   Get at direct phone number.  3.  Contact a supervisor if the delay becomes obstructive (you'll know when you get there).  4.  Get a specif call back time/date from whomever you talk with.  4.  Keep in mind (I learned the hard way) that the insurance company will send a check for repairs ONLY to certain repair shops in your area; otherwise, you can have the check sent directly to you (which is what I ended up doing, then took my car somewhere else for repairs that were half the cost quoted by the shop). 5.  Make sure that you get a copy of the repair estimate, and number associated with it, and stand next to the repair shop person while he or she faxes or emails the estimate to the out-of-town insurance person.  5.  Imbibe spirits.

[archaeo42]

Were the police called to file a report? I had something similar happen this summer. The other person's insurance company wouldn't cover my out of pocket cost until the police report was sent which clearly indicated the other party (e.g. their client) was found to be at fault.

[clean]

IF the insurance company uses a specific repair place, just use it. You should not be out of pocket anything and they will pay for a rental car while they fix it, assuming that you are able to  drive your car now.

[Hegemony]

One thing is that, in my experience, if you still have car payments, they will require that a check be sent directly to the repair place.  If you own the car free and clear, they will send you the check.  In that case, you can pick your own, cheaper, repair place (the "official" repair place cost a fortune, since I think they had a business of bilking the insurance company), or you can just pocket the check, if the damage to the car is minor and you don't care if it's fixed.  I did the latter once when the car got a scrape on it and the official repair place insisted it would cost $4000 to fix the scrape.  I left the scrape and used the $4000 to put a new roof on the house.