Car Insurance Question

I'm not sure where to post this, but was hoping someone here can give me advice. My wife's car was rear-ended on the freeway by a guy with a driver's permit who was driving a car insured by Progressive but to another person. Progressive said their insurance won't cover the damages. Is there any legal action I can take? I'd estimate the damages to be about a couple thousand...rear bumper, bottom trim, and possibly the exhaust is damaged. My wife and daughter had to go to the ER and my wife needs physical therapy due to some neck and back pain from the accident.

 

If their insurance won't cover it, then you need to see if your insurance will cover it. If neither will, then you need to look into suing the driver for the damages.

 

Was the driver uninsured? I would sue him/her for damages, even if your insurance will cover it it'll probably jack up your rates.

Shitty situation for sure. I worry about scenarios like this living in LA all the time because of how many uninsured drivers we have out here

 

Thanks for the quick replies. My insurance will cover it but I have to pay the $500 deductible. Also they can't guarantee that our premium won't go up if we choose to fix it through them.

Progressive said they can't disclose information due to privacy reasons, but according to the police report the driver had a permit and the owner of the car (who wasn't present) had Progressive insurance on the car. I'm assuming the driver doesn't have insurance since he only has a driver's permit and probably doesn't have a car himself.

I'm not in a rush to fix the car since it's still driveable. If I can sue I'd go that route to make sure the guilty party has to pay for it. I don't think it's right that we have to pay for it.

 

What's $500 and increased rates compared to 2 trips to the ER for your wife and daughter, and a lingering spinal injury to your wife?

Maybe I'm confused.

 

I'm not clear on how drivers driving with a permit can get away with being uninsured, shouldn't they be covered by the insurance on the vehicle? Surely they aren't exempt from needing to have auto insurance, especially considering that they're higher risk?

 

Seems to me the vehicle is insured regardless of the driver.

But Progressive is kind of a bootleg provider in my mind.

 

Idk exactly if the driver is insured or not. Progressive won't give us any info other than the fact that the insurance that was on the vehicle won't cover the damages to our car and the health expenses for my wife and daughter.

And @DCSBFTMFW my wife and daughter already went to the ER and my wife is already going to physical therapy...she went to about four sessions already. So if Progressive won't cover it then we'll just pay the $500 and go through our insurance. But I was just wondering if anything else can be done instead of just telling Progressive ok and moving on paying for it myself.

 

From my understanding is insuring the car was an older way to do it.
And now they rate the people that drive them top of that.
Aka when I switched my insurance they rated my girlfriend on my policy because she lives here and may drive my car.
So I think progressive is trying to get out of covering it because the owner never had them rate that guy as a driver.
Basically I think if you were to sue you would sue the driver and the owner for letting the guy barrow a car he wasn't rated on.
Realistically this will take time and money.
Your insurance knows they are probably going to loose but they should be covering you and they should be the ones doing the sueing.
Unfortunately I think the only timely and cost efficient thing to do is claim it on your insurance. Most likely the body shop will try raise the cost $500 to offset your deductible and u will be stuck paying a higher rate for a few years. Hopefully it won't be to much since it's not at fault.
Good luck and I wish your family a speedy recovery.

 

was the permitted driver accompanied by a licensed driver?
does the permitted driver have insurance?
owner and permitted driver related or live at same residence?

seems like a hot mess...and the owners insurance plan might be minimal coverage.

If progressive doesn't want to cover it because the driver wasn't on the plan, then the owner and driver might be open to sue for damages/repair.

you will probably have to use your insurance and they should go after the driver and owner, since they are at fault.

may want to look at getting a lawyer, neck and back injuries are no joke and the costs can add up quick.

 

the injuries will be covered by YOUR insurance, that's what no-fault means. As others have said, your insurance company should be the ones pursuing the other guys. They don't want to pay out for someone else's screw up.

 

No the driver wasn't accompanied by a licensed driver...he had a younger teenager with him. It came down to two options for us: 1) take the driver or owner of the car to small claims court, or 2) pay the deductible and go through our insurance. We decided to just pay the deductible and go through our insurance...and Geico said they can try to collect from the driver or owner of the car but no guarantees if we will get any money back.

 

Use your insurance why is this even a question? Your insurance has tons of lawyers on tap, they will go after progressive to get their money back.

If they try to raise your rate tell them to pound sand.

 

I hope so. Just makes it harder that the driver of the car wasn't the owner and Progressive is telling us their insurance doesn't cover that but can't provide details why. And our insurance can't guarantee that they will get our money back and if our premium will go up or not.

 

probably have to deal with your insurance and you should have an option for civil court

 

Lawyer up.. take their car...house...dog.. leave nothing behind.

 

In all seriousness... get a good lawyer. If you win. They will even have to pay your court and lawyer fees.

If you can prove they were at fault. Improves your chances.. most freeways have cameras to monitor traffic flow. So you may be able to get your lawyer to get the court to subpoena the state for the tapes for that time.

 

My wife has to go to physical therapy twice a week. My 6-month old daughter screams every time we put her in her car seat and we don't even know for sure if she needs some sort of physical therapy yet. I just might do this.

 

Thanks. She was rear-ended and I think in most cases it's always the fault of the car that rear ends the other one. But that's a good tip too if it's possible.

 

Hire an attorney...period.