Hi wnewport,
I actually work at a Farmers Insurance office. The laws vary from state to state, and I'm in California; however, I don't see why you would need to pay your deductible at all. If the other party who damaged your vehicle has already admitted fault, you can claim their policy directly and you won't need to pay a deductible. If you decide to claim through your own insurance policy, then you will need to pay your deductible, but you will get that deductible back after the claim closes (as long as you are deemed to be the non-fault party.)
Again, the laws in your state might be a little bit different, but I think something as clear cut as your case shouldn't be much of a problem.
Of course it's easier if the other party can just pay you out of his or her pocket, as it skips the entire insurance process; however, if you don't feel like you can trust them, it's in your best interest to claim through the insurance company, be it theirs or yours.
You can send me a PM if you have any questions.
edit: By the way, absolutely do not let the other party file the claim on his auto insurance policy stating that he backed into your car. That can actually be considered insurance fraud, as that was not really what happened.
***If you get his insurance information, make sure you get the information for his Contractors General Liability policy (sometimes called Commercial General Liability policy) and not his Commercial Auto policy or Personal Auto policy!***
My guess is that he wants to claim it under his commercial auto and not his GL policy, because a claim on his auto wont cost him as much of a premium increase on his renewal as it would if you claimed his contractors gl policy. The commercial auto is absolutely the wrong policy to file your claim against considering how the damages happened to your car. If you want to be safe, you have the pics of your car w/ the piece of roof. File through your own insurance company and show them the pictures. Your claims rep will know exactly what policy to claim if you tell them exactly what happened.
Furthermore, as Uncle Erik stated, if you decide to let the other party pay out of their pocket, you should send him a letter with the estimates, and mention the verbal agreement... Verbal agreements are fine and all, but ALWAYS have something in writing, because "verbal agreements" mean nothing in court, but if you have it in writing, you have something solid to back you up just in case this whole ordeal goes south.
Quote:
I wish you were my real uncle. Thanks a lot for the advice!
Here's the update, before I got replies to this thread I spoke with the owner/manager of the roofing company. He verbally agreed to cover the cost if I went and got estimates. He said he'd rather pay out of pocket if it was around 1k, or he would claim it on his auto insurance that he backed into me. That was yesterday, today I went and got 2 estimates. One for $1,834, the other for $1,783. Do I need a third? Before I contact him with these estimates, what should I plan on telling him?
If he gives me $1800 cash, is that fair and fine? Will he want a receipt from the body shop? If he wants to claim it on his insurance, am I still responsible for the deductible on my insurance?
I talked to my insurance agent, who is also a family friend, and he said I should try to get him to pay for it to avoid me spending $250+ (or whatever my deductible is).
