Expert: Bennie719 - 1/8/2009

Question
Hi,
A friend of mine was invovled in a car accident.  Both cars were equally at fault.  She was on the 1st lane trying to change to the center lane (to her left), while the other car was trying to change to the center lane from the 3rd lane.  They stopped and she found out that this person's car is a very new car without license plate, and they don't have any insurance information.  Their car was hardly demaged, but my friend's car had body demage.  There were no other witnesses.  She has not reported this accident yet (it's been over one week).  She's concerned that her insurance company might not pay for the repair since she couldn't get any information from the other party and that it happened over one week ago.  She's also worried that her insurance premium might increase if she report it.  Please advise on how this should be handled.  Thanks a lot.

Answer
Hi Sarah,

Your friend should IMMEDIATELY report this accident to her company.  Under the legal terms of the policy she is required to make a "timely" report or the claim can be denied for lack of proper notice.

The more time that passes before the car is inspected and photographed will create doubts between "old" and "new" damage.

You are correct in the fact that both drivers are at fault in this accident.  Settlement will be based on the insurance laws of her state and each party will be responsible for their own damage or the insurance companies will thoroughly investigate the accident to determine a degree of fault for each driver then each company will pay that percentage of the others damage and the drivers company will pay the balance.  Each party will be required to pay their deductible.

Since each party is at fault, there is a possibility that your friend will see her rates increase, depending on the amount of the damage and
the guidelines used to establish rates in her state.  Only her own agent could give her an answer to that question.

I hope that you find this information to be helpful.

Your feedback by rating my answer will be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area