Garage Door Damaged by Auto Crash

Granny · 07-30-2009, 07:54 PM

A driver pulled into my driveway and her car brakes failed. This caused her car to crash into my garage and damage the garage door. The driver says my home insurance should pay for the garage door damage. I think the driver's auto insurance should pay for the garage door damage.

Who is correct? If the driver's auto insurance should pay, how can I collect for the damage?

Ron Van D · 07-30-2009, 08:40 PM

Hey Granny,

File a claim with her auto insurance. Or, you could have your homeowners policy cover it and subrogate against the driver.

Welcome to the forum.

xrac · 07-30-2009, 08:52 PM

Originally Posted by Granny

A driver pulled into my driveway and her car brakes failed. This caused her car to crash into my garage and damage the garage door. The driver says my home insurance should pay for the garage door damage. I think the driver's auto insurance should pay for the garage door damage.

Who is correct? If the driver's auto insurance should pay, how can I collect for the damage?

Welcome! THe driver is responsible. Contact your insurance and tell them what happened and let your insurance company go after them. Is this a friend????

russelltw · 07-30-2009, 08:57 PM

Your insurance company has no real standing in this. You need to call her insurance company. She is at fault. You will get better treatment from her insurance company when your insurance company is not involved. It will be under her property damage on her auto insurance.

You could also ask her to talk to her agent about paying it out of pocket. If the claim is more than a certain amount, your friend gets insurance points and her premium goes up for 3 years. I would have her call her agent to find out how much her insurance will increase. She may find it better to pay for your door out of pocket.

But she is at fault and should pay or her auto policy should pay.

JustinUpright · 07-30-2009, 09:03 PM

I opened this post because the other day I was in a hurry and almost ran through my garage door from the inside LOL.

So my question would be which policy would cover if I hit it? Homeowners, Auto, or me since I wouldn't want to call that in?

Granny · 07-30-2009, 09:05 PM

Yes, the woman whose car did the damage is a close friend. We don't want to collect from her, but we would like to collect a reasonable amount from her insurance agency.

xrac · 07-30-2009, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by Granny

Yes, the woman whose car did the damage is a close friend. We don't want to collect from her, but we would like to collect a reasonable amount from her insurance agency.

My advice on getting your insurance company involved was that this was a hostile situation and you might have to pursue subrogation.

There is no way around the fact that your friend is at fault and liable. She should either turn this into her company or she should pay you the damages out of pocket. The first thing you may want to do is get an estimate on the repair so you know the dollar amount you are dealing with.

JustinUpright · 07-31-2009, 06:32 PM

I agree with xrac. If it is a small amount and the person is a good friend I would pay for it out of my own pocket and tell my friend that my insurance took care of it. Garage door repair isn't that expensive even if you have to replace the door. I don't think I would put a strain on a friendship over a few hundred bucks.

Gulliver · 08-01-2009, 08:09 PM

The car insurance is responsible hands down. If it is a friend and the cost is not outrageous just discuss it with them and try to get them to help pay for it. Your home insurance will not pay for it unless you lie about how it happened. The next best case is your car backed into it and then your car insurance is responsible. There is no easy way out of this.

Gulliver

xpirtdesign · 09-24-2009, 01:36 AM

Man that seriously sucks

superfly33 · 09-26-2009, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by Granny

Yes, the woman whose car did the damage is a close friend. We don't want to collect from her, but we would like to collect a reasonable amount from her insurance agency.

You can call in the claim to her insurance company and therefore will be collecting from the insurance company. However they would raise your friends rates on her auto policy, so essentially you're collecting from her. Insurance Companies don't like people thinking they're ATMs.

djs · 09-26-2009, 12:59 PM

. . . and her car brakes failed

Sorry, but this always makes me chuckle. As a P&C guy, I hear this a lot. Face it, more than likely, it was a simple 'oops'. No big deal. As long as nobody is hurt, everything else is fixable.

For the most part, claims follow a very orderly process on who pays for what. This is straightforward, not something that is really open for debate either.

If you could file the claim against your homeowners, you would be responsible to cover your home deductible (probably more than the repairs) and if the carrier paid, you're homeowners rates will go up. If the carrier subrogates back to the auto company (and they would), then you would get reimbursed for your deductible, your rates probably would not be impacted, but hers would be.

Here is where a good agent can help. You need to know the rules for rated accidents in the state you are in. It is going to depend on the dollar amount of the damage.

Dan

sanvister · 10-22-2009, 01:42 PM

If you crashed into the garage door with your car, your car insurance would be the one to respond. The liability portion of your renters cannot be used to respond to automobile claims. Further if the Landlord uses his insurance to pay for the damage, they will just go after you!
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daryllenriquez · 11-03-2009, 01:34 AM

If the one who crashed in on your garage door is a friend, then there wouldn't be any problem making her understand. If she refuses to pay or at least contact her insurance agent about this... hmn... maybe s/he's not a true friend at all.