sneakers

iTrader: (1)

Someone must have put some voodoo on the G. Was reading another thread where someone commented there have been lots of G getting into accidents recently. Add me to the statistic .

The female driver who hit me got confuse which side of the folk to take and decided she likes my side better and side swipe me. No one got hurt. To dark to tell but appears to be cosmetic...couple of scratches on the rear drivers side door.

Question: We both have Geico insurance and she called in and admit it was her fault. Now that the insurance knows about it. 1) Will my insurance go up? 2) Can we cancel the claim and let her pay out of pocket? 3) If question 2 is yes, will accident show up in say carfax? Thanks in advance.

FourT2

Oh noes! Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Good thing it is minor and no one got hurt.

to answer your questions:
1) no, you are not at fault
2) not too sure. It might be too late. In either case it should not affect you.
3) even though it may not show on your carfax, it will show on your car's history. For example if your car gets totaled in the future and the insurance has to determine how much to pay you, they will pull this comprehensive report that will show all claims associated with the car.

Also, most dealers will be able to tell if any paint work was done to the car.

So my advice is to make sure you also get compensated for diminished value, in addition to fixing your car at the shop of your choice.

Good luck

'11G37S

iTrader: (4)

1) Theoretically your rates shouldn't go up since you were not at fault. I've read cases in which they have. I also have Geico and was side swiped a couple of years back and I forgot to get the girls insurance (lesson learned) and called Geico and gave them her license plate number and ran a insurance check and found out when company she was insured with and filed a claim. My rates did not go up, thankfully. I highly doubt yours will go up.
2) You can cancel a claim at any point, or should be able to. I wouldn't though just because your insurance company will go to bat for you if for some reason she doesn't follow through with paying out of pocket. You could go ahead and have her pay out of pocket and have Geico suspend the claim until its fixed and then cancel it.
3) It may not show up on carfax if you cancel the claim, but at the same time since it was reported to Geico it may. Even if it does not get reported to carfax dealerships have started checking the paint thickness and can tell that way if there has been and body work done on the car. So I honestly wouldn't even worry about it being reported or not, dealerships have ways of finding out on their own.

I would also recommend trying to get compensated for diminished value like FourT2 said above.

Sorry about the G but hopefully this helped some.

sneakers

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys for your advice.

For some reason, I thought if you are involved in an accident, your insurance will go up regardless who was at fault. Maybe its a misconception or me not understanding but thought the fact that you were involved in accident, the insurance see you as a liability and adjust rate over time.

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

Damn, that sucks, glad it was minor, but since we all love these cars it's MAJOR

Hope it gets taken care of to your satisfaction and ASAP too.

We really need to set up a "our G got smashed" mourning club
Or hell, at the rate it's been going a sub-forum on here.

Mine's still about 2-3 weeks from getting done

g37guy01

I don't know what state you live in but in my state the at fault driver's company pays for the damages, rentals, etc. The rub is proving who is at fault and do you have a police report?

blnewt

iTrader: (13)

If you're completely not at fault there should be no ding to your insurance premium, if you notice your rate starts to climb just switch to someone else. It's crazy competition for your insurance dollar so use that to your advantage.

00Max00

I have stayed away from Geico since they raised my rate after making a comprehensive claim for replacing a stone damaged windshield. They offer good rate as long as you never made claims regardless who's at fault.

sneakers

iTrader: (1)

Sorry to hear about your T-bone situation man. Hope you get your black beauty back on the road soon.

sneakers

iTrader: (1)

The driver was very apologetic about the situation. I had her call Geico to report the collision and she admitted to the operator it was her fault. But just in case, I took plenty of pics showing the car position and how her car was traveling toward a street corner and how she had to merge into my lane. Pics were uploaded to the claim file.

sneakers

iTrader: (1)

But in this situation, the claim was filed under the other driver. So that wouldnt/shouldnt affect my rate? I hope not .

sneakers

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! How does one pursue compensation for diminished value?

ap0c0lypt1c

I'm going through this too. Basically you make it known to the other person's insurance (in this case its the same company, talk to whoever is managing their claim) that you want to file a diminished value claim.

You need to hire an independent appraiser at your own cost (few hundred bucks.) The one I'm using in SoCal is Specialty Auto Appraiser - auto appraiser, diminished value, appraisals, classic, diminished but you will need to find one locally.

They will come and do a full report on the cars pre and post accident value and take into account extent of damage, quality of repairs, mods, etc and write a report. You then send this report to the claims person that says the difference in value and they cut you a check.

FourT2

You can either hire an independent appraiser or you can ask your dealer to give you some paperwork.

At some point I was looking at hiring an appraiser, they wanted $650 for their report. These guys are usually former insurance adjustors. Cash or check only, no CC. no guarantees of success either. DV is not easy and is a pain.

I've heard of people that would just contact the other person's insurance company and negotiate with them about DV compensation. Sometimes they get a few hundred bucks, sometimes a few grand.

If you have an attorney representing your case, just let them handle the DV as well.

sneakers

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys!. Now that I had a better look(over cast day) in the day hours, it appears there are no dents, just transfer of paint and couple of very minor scratches that appears it can be buffed out but that one deep 1inch scratch...aaargh. I have no idea about these type of thing so can't really say with authority. The pictures I have taken doesnt really translate how it truly looks.

I am not the type to take advantage of people but yet want to protect myself. You think I should contact the other driver to see if she wants to do out of pocket so her insurance dont go up?