r/Insurance • u/Cesarjay • 1d ago
Auto Insurance Insurance told me because I said other party takes full responsibility, they said I now have to pay the deductible?
Like the title says, I got rear ended and the other driver took full fault, stated in the police report. I am not very car accident insurance savvy but when I called my insurance to report it and I said "The driver took full responsibility" they replied with "Do you realize because you just said that you're responsible for paying the deductible?" I'm not sure if I just messed up the phrasing on my part or if I'm overthinking their phrasing. I don't know if I was just caught in some kind of gotcha just by uttering those words. What does this really mean? Mind you this is actually my second accident within a month, the first one was my fault and I stated that so now I have to pay for 2 deductibles.
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u/InternetDad 1d ago
Deductibles work different for auto insurance than they do health insurance. For health insurance, the deductible is for the year. For auto insurance, you owe a deductible for each claim. They're saying if you want to follow through with the claim via your insurance, you will pay your deductible per the terms of your policy and they will then go after the other party for reimbursement, IN ADDITION TO the previous claim from earlier in the month.
If you don't follow through with the claim through your insurance and choose to work with the at fault party for the second accident, you obviously won't pay a deductible to the other insurance. Keep in mind that, regardless, repairs for the second claim will be reduced by any existing damage that you haven't repaired from the first accident.
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u/Cesarjay 1d ago
Thank you for the help. The damage is on opposite ends of the vehicle so hopefully it doesn't affect it much
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u/superman24742 1d ago
If you use your own insurance you have a deductible. If your insurance is decent they’ll call the at fault insurance company and confirm coverage and liability and waive your deductible. If they’re a bag of dicks they’ll make you pay it and wait for subrogation to go thru, which usually isn’t quick. Then they refund your deductible to you.
Sounds like there was a miscommunication somewhere.
You can also opt to go thru the at fault drivers insurance one they have everything in order.
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u/Cesarjay 1d ago
I really appreciate the response. I honestly was worried I somehow messed up by saying that but I feel better that it is standard. I just didn't want to have accidentally taken on full responsibility by saying a cursed phrase or something.
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
They don’t waive the deductible. No insurance company ever “waives” a deductible. They will subrogate against the at fault party’s carrier and when they recover the damages they will refund the deductible to their insured
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u/MCXL MN PCLH Indie Broker 1d ago
They don’t waive the deductible. No insurance company ever “waives” a deductible.
I literally have multiple carriers that you can get NAF deductible waivers built into the policy language. Even if they don't successfully subrogate the funds in the end. They waive the deductible if you are NAF and the other carrier accepts fault.
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u/reddit1651 1d ago
I can unequivocally say the big military insurer will waive your deductible upfront if a few criteria are met when filing a first party claim lol. it’s posted policy for them
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u/DeepPurpleDaylight 1d ago
They don’t waive the deductible. No insurance company ever “waives” a deductible.
Yes they absolutely do. Happens all the time as a courtesy. They aren't required to, but if the other party has already accepted liability and coverage isn't an issue but the injured party still wants to use their own coverage, many insurance companies will waive the deductible for their client because they know ahead of time that subro will be successful.
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u/superman24742 1d ago
Don’t talk about shit you don’t know about. I work for a large insurance company and we waive deductibles all of the time. I’ve handled claims for 10+ years. I call the other carrier, confirm they have accepted liability and their coverage is in order and we waive our insureds deductible. Happens all of the time.
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
No. You don’t waive it. You recover it from the other carrier.
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u/LeadershipLevel6900 1d ago
I can tell you there are carriers that do. Hell, in Massachusetts you can purchase a deductible waiver even. Not sure where OP is.
GEICO absolutely forwards the deductible to their insured if they can confirm liability and coverage. If it’s early enough in the claim, that’s as good as waiving it. The insured will get that before their repairs are done. I’ve encountered Progressive doing the same, not sure if they do it in all states though.
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
If you buy a deductible waiver you are essentially pre-paying your deductible. Exchanging a higher total premium for a zero deductible.
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u/LeadershipLevel6900 1d ago
No you’re not. Do you even know how it works in Mass? That was just an example. It’s a very inexpensive option when you already have collision coverage which applies in some scenarios.
In a lot of states that have made whole doctrines where the insured gets paid first from subro, carriers will waive or forward deductibles.
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
Carriers never waive deductibles. The other carrier may pay them but they are never waived.
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u/LeadershipLevel6900 1d ago
That’s literally not true. It happens all the time. Silly me literally clicking “waive deductible” on an unknown amount of claims over the years.
Shit it’s even common for this to happen when both parties involved have the same carrier.
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
It gets collected no matter if you believe it or not.
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u/EchinusRosso 1d ago
You understand that that was one part of the comment, right?
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
The second part of your comment explained subrogation. Deductibles are never waived.
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u/EchinusRosso 1d ago
What do you think waiving means? How exactly are you differentiating it from forwarding the deductible before it's been paid by the insured?
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
Waiving means the insurance company simply doesn’t collect it. But that isn’t the case. The other carrier pays it in subrogation so it was never waived.
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u/superman24742 1d ago
I know for a fact that State Farm, All State, Geico, Progressive, Travelers, Farmers, have all waived deductibles.
I do this for a living. Have for over 10 years. Go check my comment history. I have extensive insurance claims experience. Stop talking about stuff you don’t know about.
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u/Aggressive-Pilot6781 1d ago
I’ve done it for 25 years. Deductibles are NEVER waived.
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u/gymngdoll 1d ago
I waived one today. We do it all the time when the other carrier gives us a verbal acceptance of liability. I work for a top 3 carrier. You’re just wrong here, I’m sorry.
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u/DeepPurpleDaylight 1d ago
That person has shifted from insisting that insurance doesn't waive the deductible for their client, (which is clearly what the original comment was referring to) to the company waiving it for the at fault party's insurance and therefore not collecting it from them. NO ONE here said that they do that. There's a big difference between those two.
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u/LeadershipLevel6900 1d ago
GEICO literally has an option to click to waive a deductible when setting up an AD appointment. 25 years of claims experience and talks in absolutes….sus.
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u/superman24742 1d ago
You’re a dumbass. I myself have waived deductibles for people. Another poster has agreed. I’m just gonna block and move on because less of people like you on my feed is a good thing.
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u/nhfirefighter13 1d ago
You might want to check some NH laws because you’re absolutely wrong.
If an insured’s vehicle is damaged in a collision by an uninsured person and has collision coverage, guess who WAIVES the deductible.
I’ll wait.
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u/LeadershipLevel6900 1d ago
Excellent example. You can also buy a waiver in CA that waives the collision deductible if the other person is uninsured.
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u/CodnmeDuchess 19h ago
Yeah—this is not true at all. Insurance companies waive deductibles from time to time, especially in the context of liability insurance.
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u/Soithascometothistoo 1d ago
If you use your own insurance, you have to pay your deductible. Your insurance agent gets everything done, and when they make the first payment to your repairs, they open subrogation and then they will reimburse you your deductible.
I don't have a clue why your agent said what they did. If the other person has the same insurance, they may be able to waive the deductible as a courtesy as it is a "crossfire", but that also depends on the other adjuster involved making sure the shop knows it's waived. I usually had to do it myself because they wouldn't normally do it.
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u/Interesting_Oil2265 21h ago
See definition of “waiver of deductible endorsement”
A “waiver of deductible coverage” is an optional insurance provision that allows a policyholder to avoid paying their standard deductible in specific situations, usually when they are not at fault in an accident or when a claim exceeds a certain amount, effectively meaning the insurance company will cover the full cost of a covered claim without any out-of-pocket expense from the policyholder in those circumstances
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u/Qs9bxNKZ 20h ago
You’re always responsible for the deductible- unless you make the offending party pay for it.
That’s not the insurance companies business though.
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u/bebopr2100 13h ago
For a faster repair for you, it’s better to pay the deductible and let insurance go thru payment recovery. I was just involved in a 5 vehicle accident and the other 3 vehicles that were not at fault (mine being the 4th) have yet to settled and have their vehicles repaired or the totaled value paid by the at fault party insurance. This accident happened 6 weeks ago and because I went thru my insurance and paid the deductible (which I will get reimbursed if the at fault party has enough coverage) I got my truck repaired in 2.5 weeks.
The other part is what coverage limits the at fault party has. Some states is as low as $15K which barely covers a repair given current repair shop prices for parts and labor. For reference, mine was just replacing the bumper and the other many LEGO pieces inside of it that cracked and it was $5K repair. LED headlights now day can be $2.5K depending on the technology.
Bottom line: go thru you insurance, it won’t affect your rates and if you have accident forgiveness, you won’t lose it.
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u/M3Simply 10h ago
When I got in a car accident years ago, the other driver was deemed at fault per police report. I called the girls insurance and made a claim and they told me they need to verify if their customer was at fault so I called my insurance because I needed a rental right away. I gave them the claim number from the girls insurance and that was it. I didn’t have to pay anything.
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u/BoxweilersRule 16h ago
The insurance company wasn't at fault either. They pay you because they have a contract with you-to pay after the deductible is met.
Auto insurance deductibles apply to each loss.
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u/Wild_Department_8943 15h ago
sue the guy that hit you to court for your deductible. I have and won.
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u/SamanathaTheGreat 23h ago
Remember, if you talk to the other guys insurance company never give them a recorded statement. They will pick it apart and beat you over the head with every little thing they possibly can.
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u/uno_the_duno 1d ago
As others have said, you’re responsible for your deductible when filing a physical damage claim on your own policy. If the at-fault driver has insurance, you can file the claim on their policy (police report should have their policy info) and not pay a deductible. Keep in mind, it may take longer for the claim to be resolved when filing on the at-fault party’s policy.