Your deductible and personal threshold for an insurance claim.

Q: I was parked and I reversed and a car passed, then I made my way out and a car moved forward as I was turning out and I beeped the horn and everything was fine. I did not feel myself hit the car and the passengers didn’t either. I get a call an hour later from a friend(I found out I knew the person) saying I scratched their car, but my main concern was that it would look like it because I was hit in the front years prior, and that scratch would look like I scratched her car. So I met her up and she had a minor scratch on the side of her car and it was white, so I’m pretty sure it was me. I am unsure if I should go through insurance because I’m not sure if they would make my dad pay a deductible and if his rates would go up, or if I should just go the paint job way and pay out of pocket?

A: Okay there are actually two questions here, so let’s address each one separately.

1st: The only time you pay the deductible listed on your car insurance policy is when your insurance company is paying for the damage to your own vehicle. There is no deductible you have to pay if your insurance company pays for the damage to another person’s vehicle.

2nd: Never commit to paying for another person’s damage out of your pocket. Have them get a quote for how much it will cost to repair the scratch and then sit down with your dad and decide whether or not to file an insurance claim or not.

Being double charged for insurance happens more often than you may think.

Q: I was with an insurance company and they told me that they were cancelling my policy so I switched to another company. The 1st company actually never canceled my policy. Should the 2nd company owe me a refund since I was Double insured?

A: Actually, your first company owes you the refund because they never cancelled your insurance policy. Contact them as soon as possible and advise them that you have had insurance coverage with another company as you thought they were cancelling your policy with them.  They will want you to send them a copy of the new policy to verify the date the new policy started, and then they owe you a refund from that date forward as you cannot be double charged for insurance.

A car accident takes a while to jump ship from your car insurance policy.

Q: “So last year in 2014 in August, I was in a really bad car accident (it was my fault) and naturally my insurance went up drastically. (it went from 90$ to 190$) Its been almost a year and a half with my new car and no accident and still my insurance has not gone done. Not even a dollar. My question is how long will it take before my insurance goes down?”

A: Sorry to say, but you still have another year and a half to go. Car accidents stay on car insurance policies for about 3 years, depending on when your renewal falls. Once your 3 years anniversary of your car accident arrives, start talking to your car insurance agent or car insurance company about reviewing your policy.

Does my friend’s car insurance cover an accident or does mine, if I am driving his car?

Question: I got into a car accident when I was driving my friend’s car, will the accident be paid for under my insurance or my friend’s car insurance?

Answer: Insurance coverage always follows the car and not the driver. So your friend’s car insurance will be picking up the tab for this car accident as you were driving his car. This also means that most likely his car insurance premium will also be going up thanks to you.

Which is a good reason NOT to let other people drive your vehicle.

Medical expenses work differently if they come from your own car insurance policy.

Question: I was hurt when I hit a deer, is there compensation available besides just medical? Pain and suffering from Traumatic Rotator Cuff Tear?

Answer: Pain and suffering payments are made to someone to compensate for the negligence of the other person because of the life interruption and pain they caused. This type of payment is never made to you from your own insurance policy because you cannot compensate yourself for your own negligence.

So in this case, the only payments that would be made under your medical expenses would be to pay for your medical payments.