How do you handle the insurance after a 'hit and run' when you took down the license plate number?

Answer 1

from a General AgentThere are no ifs ands or buts,, You should always make a police report after a Hit and Run incident. a Hit and Run is a crminal act. Then you call your Insurance carrier and report the incident. If you have collision coverage on your own policy then you have coverage. If not, then you will need to try to obtain the insurance information of the hit and run driver if any exists. The police department will assist you and provide you with any insurance information of the other driver if and when they are caught.

The question here is probably more along the lines of: "Do you have the applicable coverage for your vehicle?"

For instance, if you have collision coverage on your vehicle, you can make a claim with your carrier. If you have UMPD (or uninsured motorist's property damage) coverage, you should also be able to make a claim, though it's possible the UMPD won't be triggered by a hit-and-run.

If you don't carry full coverage on your vehicle, your carrier won't be able to help you. Instead, you'll need to make a police report, giving the officer the license plate number of the other vehicle as well as your friends' names (since they witnessed the accident). The police should be able to track down the other vehicle and, hopefully, include the insurance carrier for that vehicle on their report so you can make a claim with them. Of course, it's always possible that the other driver doesn't have insurance, at which point you can: 1. Advise the district attorney that you have damages, thus initiating a restitution order against the other driver when he/she appears in court (you'll need to provide the DA with a repair estimate); or, 2. Take the other driver to small claims court.

Again, if you have full coverage on your car, or the UMPD coverage, start with your own carrier. They will then do all the investigating for you, and most likely go after the other driver to get their money and your deductible back. Keep in mind that if you go through your own carrier, you will still be responsible for your deductible, since deductibles have nothing to do with liability. It's just the amount you agreed to pay whenever you suffer a loss.

Note: If you look at your insurance card, you might notice a coverage called "UMBI," which stands for uninsured- or underinsured-motorist bodily injury. This is not the same as UMPD, and will not pay for the damages to your car.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

You have to look at your policy to figure out if your company will process your claim through your collision coverage FIRST, or if they'll use the uninsured motorist property damage claim first....

the reason this is important is because in the future, your rates might STILL go up if there is a large collision claim on your record.. REGARDLESS of who was At Fault... it's a crappy situation that I'm in myself. Other insurance companies see my claims history and assume the collision claim (which was over $5,000) for my hit and run (not at fault as determined by my carrier)... is still an excused to give you a high rate.

Keep in mind though, that in many States, uninsured motorist coverage applies only to bodily injuries and not to property damage. That is, it applies only to injuries that you (the insured) have sustained as a result of a collision with someone who did not have bodily injury liability coverage. In that case, you are, in a sense, an adversary to your own insurer. The insurer will handle the claim in essentially the same way as a third-party injury claim. That is, the insurer will look to the severity of the injuury (for example, whether, and to what extent there is a permanent injury).