Howdy yall! USA/Georgia auto claim here.
A week ago my wife was taking our 1 year old to swim lessons, when a man ran a red light and hit her car. The man got a DUI, drug possession, fleeing the scene (grabbed his fishing gear and was walking down the road) then pulled a knife of the cops who tried to stop him and earned himself several more felony charges in the process.
Reaching out to the auto owners adjuster, the man had let his coverage lapse or got booted, either way it now falls under uninsured motorist through our insurance, USAA.
We had several things we wanted to be compensated for, car seat, swim lessons, loss of wages, car rental, medical. Not to mention all the emotional trauma of getting into a car accident with your 1 year old in the car and the fear and nightmares it has caused for both of them. My son is afraid of the car and his car seat now, when it used to be his favorite thing. We had an amazing 2.65% APR, and now who knows what we’ll get and the stress of it all is crushing my wife.
Knowing now that it’s going through OUR insurance she doesn’t want to make a fuss or claim things like we would have if it was someone else’s insurance, and I’m trying to explain to her that we should still tell our insurance company about all of those things but I don’t know enough about how the system works.
I looked at some previous posts and brought up how they’ll have a creditor go out and repo his wrecked car and he’ll have to pay what he can from jail, but my wife checked Facebook and knows he has children and thinks she’s taking food out of their mouths.
Any advice or info that could be shared would be greatly appreciated. Really dreading the rest of the process.
Looking for help in relieving my wife’s guilt over uninsured claim.
byu/Okinawa_Stormtrooper inInsurance
Posted by Okinawa_Stormtrooper
6 Comments
You pay extra for uninsured coverage, minus well use it. Otherwise, you will be responsible for all medical bills and property damage as a result of the accident. You probably shouldn’t pay for uninsured coverage if you don’t intend to use it.
Go through your insurance for everything.
In most areas child car seats are guaranteed replacements after a collision. In my area when an appraiser goes to look at a vehicle for an estimate many times they destroy them on site and immediately give a voucher or check for a new one immediately.
If you’re going through your policy for uninsured coverage tell them all of what you stated, if your kid was in the car when the MVA happened they should replace the carseat and there would be bodily injury available up to your limits for you, your wife, and your son for injuries and pain and suffering. As far as going after the person at fault, that’s something your insurance handles in subrogation and sometimes if they don’t have any assets the insurance basically just writes off getting anything from them but that’s up to your insurance how they handle it.
The accident should not show up as an at-fault accident. Your insurance company will subrogate against the other party and try to recover what they paid out on your claim.
Your claim will pay out up to the liability limits on your UM coverage, which should include the car seat, medical expenses, you may ask about counseling for her and the child. I’m not an adjuster so I’m not sure what they will approve, however, use the coverage. That’s why you pay for it.
I’m glad both your wife and son are okay!!
I get how your wife feels for the guy, but he needs to suffer the consequences of all of his bad choices now, before he kills someone the next time.
Like the other posters have said, its your coverage that you have been paying for all of this time. Might as well use it to the fullest.
Your wife isn’t taking anything away from this man or his family. *He* made the choices he made, he caused the crash, he injured *your* family. You pay for insurance to protect yourself in situations exactly like this. Seeking reimbursement for real, justified expenses is not in any way taking something from this man and his family.
Speaking as a wife and mother, I can absolutely appreciate (and admire!) your wife’s empathy in this situation. But she’s not suing the man or trying to take advantage. There is nothing wrong or immoral about using a service that you pay for to make yourselves whole.