anyone in auto insurance?

[katygirl]

My husband was driving home from the Patriots game last night (yeah, Partiots, but that is for a different thread!) and he got rear-ended. What is MOST important is that everyone involved is Okay! It was right out the drive-way of the stadium, he had to quickly stop for the car in front of him but the car in back was NOT able to stop.

My DH and the guy exchanged info, and Steve (DH) called our agent today, he has an appt tomorrow to get the damage appraised and then our agent will call on Wednesday with the offer. We also HAD one of these on the back of our car http://www.etrailer.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/ci/ci221.jpgwith our Weber Gas Grill on it. The rack and the grill were totaled beyond belief which might have saved some wear and tear on our actual car. He wrote down the serial number of the grill but wasn't able to transport it home. Are we out of luck? It's a $500.00 grill and the rack was $50.00. There WAS an officer at the site who witnessed the accident, but I'm not sure an actual police report was written up etc.

I know we'll find out what is happening on Wednesday but I wondered if anyone had any advice. The actual person DH spoke to on the phone today basically just took down the info and said an actual agent will get back to him, so he didn't give any indication either way on if the grill will be covered.

Can anyone offer any advice?

TIA!

[Robyn1007]

I'm not positive but I believe the grill would have to be covered under your homeowners insurance. When I had a car broken into they covered the cd player that was stolen but not the cds. Good luck and I'm glad everyone was okay.

[tamawrite]

I used to be in insurance.

Robyn is correct -- the grill would be considered "vehicle contents" and therefore covered by your homeowners insurance. (Not a claim worth filing, as the value is probably at or under your deductible, and a claim would increase your premiums whether or not any $$ was actually paid out after the deductible.)

Nearly all rear-enders are considered the fault of the person who did the rear-ending. Wasn't the other driver insured? If so, HIS insurance should pay, not yours. Assuming the accident was the other driver's fault, his liability coverage ought to cover both your car repairs and a new grill.

Of course, it's possible that you live in a no-fault state, in which case the rules are different...

Good luck getting this taken care of! What a pain.

[katygirl]

He is insured, or so he says, so hopefully it will cover the car AND the grill. If we have to go through homeowners than I agree it won't be worth it.

I hate to be an "I told you so", but how did I know bringing our grill to each game would eventually end poorly.

Thanks for the advice!

[Chelle D]

It also depends on what the insurance law is of your state. Here in Michigan, it would be a homeowners claim, but you could claim property damage against the driver at-fault. I would wait to hear back from your agent.

It is always good to get something in writing though. I would either call the officer who witnessed t and get a police report or make sure the other driver is claiming fault and see if he will write something up along the lines of, "on <date> at <place>, I <name and contact info>, rear-ended <your husband's name and vehicle>, damaging a grill and grill rack that was attached the his vehicle. Make sure the contact info matching his driver's license. It will probably all work out, things like this usually do, but it's always nice to cover yourself in writing just in case.