Wife hit mailbox - insurance help
06-16-2004, 06:25 PM
#1
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Wife hit mailbox - insurance help
Hi,
My wife who has her Learners Licence was parking our Acura-Tl in front of the mailboxes at our appartment. Instead of hitting the brake, she hit the accelerator and hit the mailboxes (this is a structure made of wood with lots of mailboxes). She managed to dislodge the whole structure and shift it around 30 degrees looking from above.
The car had only a few scratches on the bumper. I managed to fix it by using some black paint.
The appartment folks got a price quote to repair the structure for $4,000 (four thousand).
The deductable for property damage on my policy is $250.
1) Can I still call Progressive and make a claim even though the event occurred last week?
2) Is it a good idea to file a claim as it is my understanding that this will affect my insurance rates for the rest of my life.
3) Can I still file a claim even though my wife does not have insurance...she is only listed as 'Excluded Driver' on my policy
4) Should I instead get a loan from the bank @5% interest rate.
5) The appartment complex is not willing to pay any money towards repairing this (don't they have insurance)
Please advise.
Thanks.
My wife who has her Learners Licence was parking our Acura-Tl in front of the mailboxes at our appartment. Instead of hitting the brake, she hit the accelerator and hit the mailboxes (this is a structure made of wood with lots of mailboxes). She managed to dislodge the whole structure and shift it around 30 degrees looking from above.
The car had only a few scratches on the bumper. I managed to fix it by using some black paint.
The appartment folks got a price quote to repair the structure for $4,000 (four thousand).
The deductable for property damage on my policy is $250.
1) Can I still call Progressive and make a claim even though the event occurred last week?
2) Is it a good idea to file a claim as it is my understanding that this will affect my insurance rates for the rest of my life.
3) Can I still file a claim even though my wife does not have insurance...she is only listed as 'Excluded Driver' on my policy
4) Should I instead get a loan from the bank @5% interest rate.
5) The appartment complex is not willing to pay any money towards repairing this (don't they have insurance)
Please advise.
Thanks.
06-16-2004, 09:33 PM
#2
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Tough lesson learned for both of you. If your insurance is willing I would file a claim. It will only effect you rate for a few years not your life time.
06-17-2004, 08:04 AM
#3
Burning Brakes
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Wait... did you say "Excluded driver"? What is that all about? You can claim for a long time... just harder to prove as time goes by. $4000 seams excesive. Is that a replacement quote or a repair quote. And did you get 3 different quotes? I would work it out with the property owners. Maybe you (your wife most definitley) can pitch in some time and elbow grease to getting the damage repaired. Amazing what can be acomplished by showing communication and cooperation (I learned that from sesame street).
06-17-2004, 08:52 AM
#4
Burning Brakes
1. Yes.
2. You pay the insurance company for times like this - when something happens where there's a lot of money involved. Your rates may go up, but as mentioned above, not forever.
3. I'm not sure what "excluded driver" means in your policy. If it means they aren't going to insure her (she’s excluded from your policy and doesn’t have one of her own), then you may not be able to file a claim if she was the driver. This all really depends on your insurance company and your policy.
4. If your insurance company won't cover you, or you'd prefer getting a loan, then sure, get a loan.
5. Since you're at fault, you have to pay for the damage you (or wife) caused. The apartment complex probably does have insurance, but that's to protect them if sometime happens (fire, flood, resident trips while in the lease office and needs stitches, etc) where the complex would be at fault. They're not going to pay for something that someone else did.
2. You pay the insurance company for times like this - when something happens where there's a lot of money involved. Your rates may go up, but as mentioned above, not forever.
3. I'm not sure what "excluded driver" means in your policy. If it means they aren't going to insure her (she’s excluded from your policy and doesn’t have one of her own), then you may not be able to file a claim if she was the driver. This all really depends on your insurance company and your policy.
4. If your insurance company won't cover you, or you'd prefer getting a loan, then sure, get a loan.
5. Since you're at fault, you have to pay for the damage you (or wife) caused. The apartment complex probably does have insurance, but that's to protect them if sometime happens (fire, flood, resident trips while in the lease office and needs stitches, etc) where the complex would be at fault. They're not going to pay for something that someone else did.
06-17-2004, 09:56 AM
#5
What your problem is?
$4000 for mailboxes???? That is freakin nuts... man, where do you live in Hollywood? Get some concrete from Homedepot and reposition that shit your damn self.... Man, talk about gouging folks... I will definitely call around and get some qoutes, the apartment complex is going through its managment firm and they are ofcourse going to tack on a hefty profit...
Take pics and show us what she did, if worse comes to worse, just pay for my plane ticket to where you live and I will fix the damn thing...
Take pics and show us what she did, if worse comes to worse, just pay for my plane ticket to where you live and I will fix the damn thing...
06-17-2004, 11:13 AM
#6
Here is a very simple answer coming from a man with significant insurance experience....
YOU ARE SCREWED.
Since your wife is listed as an "excluded driver," meaning she is in no way covered through your policy, you are going to have to pay this out of your own pocket. I guess you could always defraud your company by saying you were driving the car at the time of the accident.... but good luck with that and don't get caught. I actually believe $4,000 is way out of hand. Did they provide you with an estimate or did they verbally tell you it's $4k? Need to also take into consideration the condition of the mailbox before your wife hit it. If it looked pretty beat up, you need to take "betterment" into consideration. It's unfair for you to pay for a brand new mailbox.
For some miracle your insurance company decides to pay this (by you telling them a BS), you won't be paying anything out of your pocket, at least for the mailbox. the property damage deductible is only applicable for your car. what covers the other party's damage is your liability coverage.... you should check to see if you have that.
Addressing your potential resolution of getting a loan from your bank at 4k... I wouldn't. I would try to arrange some type of payment arrangement with the apartment complex. I'm pretty sure the apartment complex has insurance but will not be filing it due to high deductible.... or some other reasons. Most of the time they will not file any claims unless there was major damage.
Anyhow good luck! If you plan on continuing to let your wife drive, I would suggest you call your insurance company and add her to the policy to avoid this mess.
YOU ARE SCREWED.
Since your wife is listed as an "excluded driver," meaning she is in no way covered through your policy, you are going to have to pay this out of your own pocket. I guess you could always defraud your company by saying you were driving the car at the time of the accident.... but good luck with that and don't get caught. I actually believe $4,000 is way out of hand. Did they provide you with an estimate or did they verbally tell you it's $4k? Need to also take into consideration the condition of the mailbox before your wife hit it. If it looked pretty beat up, you need to take "betterment" into consideration. It's unfair for you to pay for a brand new mailbox.
For some miracle your insurance company decides to pay this (by you telling them a BS), you won't be paying anything out of your pocket, at least for the mailbox. the property damage deductible is only applicable for your car. what covers the other party's damage is your liability coverage.... you should check to see if you have that.
Addressing your potential resolution of getting a loan from your bank at 4k... I wouldn't. I would try to arrange some type of payment arrangement with the apartment complex. I'm pretty sure the apartment complex has insurance but will not be filing it due to high deductible.... or some other reasons. Most of the time they will not file any claims unless there was major damage.
Anyhow good luck! If you plan on continuing to let your wife drive, I would suggest you call your insurance company and add her to the policy to avoid this mess.
06-17-2004, 11:35 AM
#7
BlingBling INSPIRE 32V
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Originally Posted by Mongolian
Here is a very simple answer coming from a man with significant insurance experience....
YOU ARE SCREWED.
Since your wife is listed as an "excluded driver," meaning she is in no way covered through your policy, you are going to have to pay this out of your own pocket. I guess you could always defraud your company by saying you were driving the car at the time of the accident.... but good luck with that and don't get caught. I actually believe $4,000 is way out of hand. Did they provide you with an estimate or did they verbally tell you it's $4k? Need to also take into consideration the condition of the mailbox before your wife hit it. If it looked pretty beat up, you need to take "betterment" into consideration. It's unfair for you to pay for a brand new mailbox.
For some miracle your insurance company decides to pay this (by you telling them a BS), you won't be paying anything out of your pocket, at least for the mailbox. the property damage deductible is only applicable for your car. what covers the other party's damage is your liability coverage.... you should check to see if you have that.
Addressing your potential resolution of getting a loan from your bank at 4k... I wouldn't. I would try to arrange some type of payment arrangement with the apartment complex. I'm pretty sure the apartment complex has insurance but will not be filing it due to high deductible.... or some other reasons. Most of the time they will not file any claims unless there was major damage.
Anyhow good luck! If you plan on continuing to let your wife drive, I would suggest you call your insurance company and add her to the policy to avoid this mess.
YOU ARE SCREWED.
Since your wife is listed as an "excluded driver," meaning she is in no way covered through your policy, you are going to have to pay this out of your own pocket. I guess you could always defraud your company by saying you were driving the car at the time of the accident.... but good luck with that and don't get caught. I actually believe $4,000 is way out of hand. Did they provide you with an estimate or did they verbally tell you it's $4k? Need to also take into consideration the condition of the mailbox before your wife hit it. If it looked pretty beat up, you need to take "betterment" into consideration. It's unfair for you to pay for a brand new mailbox.
For some miracle your insurance company decides to pay this (by you telling them a BS), you won't be paying anything out of your pocket, at least for the mailbox. the property damage deductible is only applicable for your car. what covers the other party's damage is your liability coverage.... you should check to see if you have that.
Addressing your potential resolution of getting a loan from your bank at 4k... I wouldn't. I would try to arrange some type of payment arrangement with the apartment complex. I'm pretty sure the apartment complex has insurance but will not be filing it due to high deductible.... or some other reasons. Most of the time they will not file any claims unless there was major damage.
Anyhow good luck! If you plan on continuing to let your wife drive, I would suggest you call your insurance company and add her to the policy to avoid this mess.
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06-17-2004, 02:23 PM
#10
Team Owner
In my townhouse community one of the neighbors got drunk and knocked down the mailboxes. It was a metal structure. The post office came and fixed it. I don't think he or our association paid a dime.
You should make sure that the post office doesn't own that thing.
You should make sure that the post office doesn't own that thing.
06-17-2004, 04:31 PM
#11
What your problem is?
The Post office is a federal agency and if they do own the units in question they will fix it. However, the complex knows who broke the structure (you) and they will undoubtly tell the post offce that you were at fault, the government will try to recoop the costs from you in this case....
If the post office does not own the structure I say get qoutes and fix the structure yourself.
For future driver training for your wife, I would suggest taking her into an old supermarket parking lot or a subdivision that is starting to be developed (i.e houses being erected but no one living there, these development have the roads already paved and is void of cars and other traffic).... Good Luck and tell us what happens....
If the post office does not own the structure I say get qoutes and fix the structure yourself.
For future driver training for your wife, I would suggest taking her into an old supermarket parking lot or a subdivision that is starting to be developed (i.e houses being erected but no one living there, these development have the roads already paved and is void of cars and other traffic).... Good Luck and tell us what happens....
08-16-2004, 02:12 PM
#12
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Originally Posted by songoku
That's right! There's huge difference between, listed as "EXCLUDED DRIVER" & no name at all. In your household, insurance company wants to list all the drivers who are more than ages of 18 and over. And they all need to be either, included in the policy or excluded from the policy. If your wife's name is listed as EXCLUDED driver, she wasnot supposed to driver the car. Sorry to hear that.
BINGO!
Excluded means exactly that... She is not covered by insurance... Anyone who drives your car is insured unless they are specificly excluded...
Sorry about your missfortune...
08-16-2004, 07:30 PM
#13
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Originally Posted by v6akord02
BINGO!
Excluded means exactly that... She is not covered by insurance... Anyone who drives your car is insured unless they are specificly excluded...
Sorry about your missfortune...
Excluded means exactly that... She is not covered by insurance... Anyone who drives your car is insured unless they are specificly excluded...
Sorry about your missfortune...
08-16-2004, 08:41 PM
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Originally Posted by thomas_rp
Hi,
My wife who has her Learners Licence was parking our Acura-Tl in front of the mailboxes at our appartment. Instead of hitting the brake, she hit the accelerator and hit the mailboxes (this is a structure made of wood with lots of mailboxes). She managed to dislodge the whole structure and shift it around 30 degrees looking from above.
The car had only a few scratches on the bumper. I managed to fix it by using some black paint.
The appartment folks got a price quote to repair the structure for $4,000 (four thousand).
The deductable for property damage on my policy is $250.
1) Can I still call Progressive and make a claim even though the event occurred last week?
2) Is it a good idea to file a claim as it is my understanding that this will affect my insurance rates for the rest of my life.
3) Can I still file a claim even though my wife does not have insurance...she is only listed as 'Excluded Driver' on my policy
4) Should I instead get a loan from the bank @5% interest rate.
5) The appartment complex is not willing to pay any money towards repairing this (don't they have insurance)
Please advise.
Thanks.
My wife who has her Learners Licence was parking our Acura-Tl in front of the mailboxes at our appartment. Instead of hitting the brake, she hit the accelerator and hit the mailboxes (this is a structure made of wood with lots of mailboxes). She managed to dislodge the whole structure and shift it around 30 degrees looking from above.
The car had only a few scratches on the bumper. I managed to fix it by using some black paint.
The appartment folks got a price quote to repair the structure for $4,000 (four thousand).
The deductable for property damage on my policy is $250.
1) Can I still call Progressive and make a claim even though the event occurred last week?
2) Is it a good idea to file a claim as it is my understanding that this will affect my insurance rates for the rest of my life.
3) Can I still file a claim even though my wife does not have insurance...she is only listed as 'Excluded Driver' on my policy
4) Should I instead get a loan from the bank @5% interest rate.
5) The appartment complex is not willing to pay any money towards repairing this (don't they have insurance)
Please advise.
Thanks.
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