Articles
Giving Notice to Your Insurance Company
When is it necessary to report an accident? The answer is simple. Every time there is one. Almost all insurance policies, regardless of fault, require prompt notice to be given of any accident or event whether it causes damage or loss to your vehicle but most especially if it causes damage or harm to some one else's vehicle or their person.
Obviously, where you make a claim under your own insurance policy you have to give notice of the event out of which it arises. But when it seems clear that the other person is at fault and caused the accident, many people hesitate or fail altogether to give timely notice of the event to their own insurance company.
They fear the report will cause their insurance premium to go up. They prefer not to bother their insurance company in the often mistaken belief the other person's insurance company will handle the matter fairly and to their satisfaction.
In this way they think their insurance company will be none the wiser. This is a big mistake.
In Texas insurance policies under a section called "Duties after an Accident or Loss" it is stated among other requirements that: "We must be notified promptly of how, when, and where the accident or loss happened."
If one fails to provide this required notice to the insurance company, and it can show the failure to provide notice prejudices [its] defense, it can void any responsibility to provide liability coverage under the policy."
Put simply, if you fail to report an accident, where it can show prejudice to its defense, an insurance company can avoid the obligations under the policy. Never ever give the insurance company this kind of opportunity or leverage.
When dealing with an insurance company of a person you believe to be responsible for the accident, unexpected problems may develop. The other fellow's company may not be as willing to handle the matter as expected. You will often be surprised how the story of the other person involved will change by the time the event is reported to his insurance company.
In Texas where fault must be reasonably clear before a claim will be paid, the insurance company may take the position no matter how much you may disagree, that the accident was not the fault of its insured. It may take the position that you or some other person contributed to the accident to some degree. In some cases, it may even take the position that the accident was due to some force outside the control of the people involved in the accident. Though almost always unfair, this is most often the case where bad weather is involved.
In cases of stop and go rush hour traffic, insurance companies love to claim the accident was not the result of the fault of their insured, but was the result of a sudden emergency which could not be avoided. There are all sorts of unexpected positions an insurance company may take to avoid paying the claim altogether or to reduce its obligation of payment.
Where the insurance company does not attempt to avoid payment altogether, it may take the position the accident was not entirely the responsibility of its insured. When this is the case, it will attempt to reduce its obligation to make payment of the claim by reduction based on a percentage of responsibility which it attributes to the claimant's conduct or that of some other person in bringing about the accident.
For example, in an accident resulting in a $6,000.00 loss in which the insurance company for a responsible person takes the position that you or some other person involved in the accident were 30% at fault, the offer might be cut by that percent to $4,200.00.
The problem is bad enough when just you and its insured were involved in the accident. It becomes even worse, if more than just your two vehicles were involved. In any case, having the adjuster attempt to reduce the cost of reasonable repair or the replacement value of your vehicle, if it will cost $6,000.00, either way, is not a happy turn of events.
The insurance company's desire to cut its offer to you may make it necessary to look to your own "Collision Coverage" if you have it, to avoid fooling with these complications. After all, absorbing a $250.00 or even $500.00 deductable may be less of a bite out of your recovery than an arbitrary thirty percent reduction imposed on you by the adjuster for the responsible party and there is always the prospect that you will recover your deductable later on.
There is a further problem with not given prompt notice of the accident to your insurance company. Surprise, surprise, as unfair as it may seem to you, other people involved in an accident often make an unexpected claim against you.
Giving the insurance company a way out of its policy obligations is not wise. If you do not report the accident and find your policy coverage denied, you could stand to lose a lot more than any potential premium increase. Do not take chances in this respect. You are obligated to report any accident or loss by the terms of your policy. Do it!
There is a difference between reporting the fact of an accident and making a claim. Merely reporting the event to your insurance company does not constitute making a claim under your policy. Reporting an event does not provide a basis for your insurance company to increase your premium. If you are to be protected by your insurance company it will need all the facts as soon as possible to take whatever steps may be necessary should an unexpected claim be made against you, or should your conviction that the other driver was at fault, falls through.
Understand your agent is not your insurance company, but as a company agent notice to him is usually considered notice to the company. The agent or someone in his office, will want as much detail as you can provide and generally will make some suggestions. If it appears from the facts that the accident is the fault of another person, the agent will often suggest you let the other person's insurance handle the matter completely.
There is nothing wrong with this suggestion in itself, but you need to keep in mind agents and their staff have a way of looking out for any excuse to shift your focus from your insurance company to that of the other person whether that is best for you or not under the circumstances.
Without an attorney, you must be able to make this decision on your own and then proceed appropriately to your best advantage. In most instances however, you will not know whether to follow the agents suggestions or not. How best to make these choices is one of the reasons to have your own attorney.
