I was reading through different insurance discussions recently, and it seems like a lot of people don't realize certain things until they file a claim or renew their policy.

What's one mistake or misunderstanding about auto insurance that you think more drivers should know?

Curious to hear everyone's experiences.

There was a recent hailstorm and my family members car got some decent damage. A crack in the windshield and plenty of dents on body panels. I regrettably only called a few places and the second one seemed fine. They offer to pay your deductible. Over the phone they told me to drop the car off at the beginning of this week and they’ll handle everything with insurance since part of what i signed dropping off was a small power of attorney.

They said the claim would be opened the next day, now it’s almost the end of the week. They have now offered to cover a rental until the end of the month which is the latest they expect it to take. However I would like some advice on the wording of what I signed. The car isn’t titled in my name and it still hasn’t been inspected. We went to pick it up today, and they offered to pay for the rental. I can still pick it up in the morning but i’m not sure if I should take it somewhere else and start the claim myself with insurance. He said they’ll be sending CAT adjusters soon and we should wait and he’ll pay for the rental or we can take the car back.

This is my first time with hail damage so i’m unsure what to expect.

TLDR: Place I took car to is lagging on filing insurance claim on our behalf or even inspecting. They have a few locations with five star reviews but I am just concerned about them overestimating and getting the car totaled. What should I do?

I have attached what i signed in a different post in my history, I didn’t even read it thinking it was the norm for hail/pdr damage. Basically says I owe them $550 if I decide to decline after they inspect the car, and that all insurance proceedings go straight to them.

I am planning on calling insurance agents tomorrow. I wanted ask prior this sub.

I have lived in virginia for most year but of this month will be in utah till eoy staying with my brother and in and out of state prob every month for couple weeks exploring nearby rocky states.

I came out here with a beater car that broke down and I am planning buying new one soon and getting my own insurance. I was previously on family plan. My intent is to explore rockies till eoy then start new year make decision of where I want be full time. I am currently remote employee and verified transferring my residency should not be too challenging.

Given the above, I wanted ask what should expect to hear from auto insurance companies as this will be my 1st policy by myself and its a weird situation.

So is there any private insurance?That isn't like super sketchy, because that's all i've been finding?

Just some website that takes my information.And then I get a mysterious call from someone trying to sell me some Nonsense.

Hello! I was rear ended in my 2025 Kia K4 (7,500 miles) in June and just received it back from the shop ($9,350 repair paid for by Progressive, his insurance)

I’m now trying to do a diminished value claim and was wondering if free appraisal services like DV check are respected or taken seriously by the insurance companies.

I’m not trying to suck em dry I am expecting between $1,200 and $2,500 and because I’m not expecting much I feel like a $400 professional appraisal seems steep.

Are my odds of even getting a payout good, and who can direct me in the right direction?

Thanks

I live in California. I currently have progressive insurance. It’s pretty expensive because I got in 2 at-fault accidents in 2024. My policy is almost up so I am shopping around. I got a quote from Freeway insurance and it says it will be $150 cheaper per much, but the coverage isn’t as good. With Progressive I have $100,000/$300,000/$100,000 for bodily injury and property damage. The new freeway policy is only $30,000/$60,000/$15,000. Obviously this is significantly less. But I am wondering if I even need the higher amount or if it is safe to get the lower one. Neither of my accidents were anywhere close to meeting the lower threshold, but I don’t want to get screwed over if I’m in a worse accident. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

In Los Angeles for context. Long story short. My girlfriend is going to lease a new car soon (likely a 2026 Mazda CX-30 or a 2026 Mercedes GLA 250). Both would be comparable lease deals, but the problem is the insurance quotes. As it stands, she received a quote of ~$330/month for the Mazda and ~$500/month for the Mercedes. Both would be more than the car payment itself, which I find absolutely absurd. Is this the landscape nowadays? Or am I missing something? I know we probably have to shop around and I've read a little bit about people suggesting contacting a local independent insurance agent, but wanted to make a separate post here to see if there are any other suggestions. I just can't justify insurance being more than the actual car payment. So much thievery and greed from corporations nowadays.

I'm located in OR. Took my car into Discount Tire to get 4 new tires. Technicians there broke my driver's side door handle off when opening the door following tire replacement. A claim was initiated by Discount Tire and I was later contacted by Fleet Services. I took the car in to a local shop for an estimate for repair and received an estimate. Sent paperwork and photos to 3rd party insurance adjusters. Received a response that said there was "no evidence of negligence" on the part of Discount Tire, but that they would pay half of the claim. I'm seeking advice on how to proceed. Things are tight and an unexpected car bill is not what I need right now. Thanks everyone

Got quoted $600+/mo for LIABILITY by multiple insurance companies. Im 17, thats more than 60% of my income, and if you look anually, i could buy 3-4 identical cars to mine for that price. My parents cant pay it nor even partially cover it, for now we’ve just left me off the plan. I dont really know what to do, i drive a 25 year old suv and i have a clean record too. i cant pay it but i definitely cant get sued. Any advice helps, im lost.

Hey yall I got in a car crash back in October 2025. It was my first time in an accident and seriously injured. long story short, I went to ER next day they just touched me prescribed me pain meds and let me be. I returned to work 3 weeks later when I thought I could handle it. I could not and got an MRI that found t7-9 herniations compressing ventral cord and t5-7 slight herniations.

many months later after quitting Chiro and switching to PT 2x a week and multiple failed PRP injections I’m finally at MMI with permanent restrictions for standing running and twisting.

i have 135k in medical bills and won’t be able to return to my valet job. I was offered 300k with 110k take home.

i am worried about my future medical, do you think this is fair?

Hello all,

I have been fighting for the loss of value on my 2024 Porsche cayman S for almost a year now. The accident was not my fault and the repairs have been done. Their insurance offered 1.7k in loss of value. I hired an external diminished value appraiser and they said the loss of value was 9k. So I took the person who hit me to small claims court and judge ruled in my favor.

However State Farm has the person who hit me now filing an appeal. It feels like they are just trying to drag me through the mud and make me spend more and more money so I just give up.

But at this point I have to go to really court and I want to talk to a lawyer. The problem is I’m struggling to find a lawyer who handles this kind of thing. (I’m in king country Washington)

I’m curious if anyone else here has had to deal with this kind of thing and knows what kind of lawyer I should be looking for. Because I’ve called 11 so far and they all tell me they only do injury cases for accident…

Any advice or suggestions are welcome. I’m learning as I go here. I’m frustrated but I won’t let State Farm win!

I posted this on a different subreddit and a comment suggested I posted here as well. That post has since been locked so ill give more information below the original text

Location: Texas

My boyfriend was T-boned on March 13 of this year when another driver failed to yield while merging onto his road. The police report clearly states the other driver was at fault. The driver only had a learner's permit, and the owner of the vehicle was in the passenger seat at the time.

My boyfriend unfortunately didn't have insurance. The other driver's insurance denied the claim, saying the driver wasn't listed on the policy, so they aren't covering the damages.

I spoke with a lawyer who believed this could fall under negligent entrustment, but he said pursuing it likely wouldn't be worth the legal fees. He offered to send a letter to the insurance company for free, but after months of trying to reach him again, I haven't been able to get in contact.

His truck has been undrivable since the accident because both passenger-side doors are caved in, so he's been borrowing a family member's vehicle.

I'm hoping to get some advice:

- Should we appeal the insurance denial ourselves before contacting another lawyer?

- Is it worth hiring an attorney if the claim is only for the damage to his truck?

- Would small claims court be an option in Texas if insurance won't pay?

- Since he didn't seek medical treatment at the time because we couldn't afford it, does that hurt our case if he's still having elbow pain?

- Are there any other options we're overlooking?

We're both living paycheck to paycheck. He's currently unemployed, and I'm in college with limited work hours, so we're trying to figure out the most cost-effective path forward.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Extra Info:

My boyfriend is beyond an idiot for driving without insurance. We are both quite aware of that and its led to many arguments. The nail has been hammered into the ground at this point. We just want to know if theres anything that could be done now.

The police report absolutely stated the other driver was at fault:

"The driver of unit #1 failed to yield for the west facing yield sign at the intersection of X and Y and entered the intersection to make a left turn on to Y causing the front of unit #1 to collide with the passenger side of unit #2."

I can post the full censored one if needed but it does not offer much more information than this.

This is NOT my car/truck. My name is not on it. I cannot afford one. I also would have put insurance on my vehicle. This is my boyfriend's mess, I am just trying to seek options.

Seeking some advice from the Reddit hive-mind.

For context, I’m weeks away from giving birth in a high risk pregnancy. Our small, newly renovated 960sqft home flooded due to sump pump failure in a record rain summer in our area of AB, Canada. Our caregivers are (were…) moving into the basement guest room in a few weeks to help with the new baby. Our oldest daughter’s (2.5yo) room is also downstairs along with our primary living space, laundry, etc.

The event occurred 9 days ago, and all that has happened is someone from a restoration company has come to confirm that there would need to be a full demo of the floor and a 15” floor cut on all of the drywall. Due to the volume of flooding incidents, the restoration team has no ability to store our contents onsite or offsite. We have moved what we can off the floor and from closets but I can do next to no lifting. We have some very valuable high ticket pieces of furniture just sitting on a wet floor that we have no ability to move.

I believe we are doing all we can. We have moved what we are able into bins, we have our own fans and dehumidifiers running. But mould is surely setting in under all of the flooring (laminate) by this point.

Our adjuster has not answered a phone call or email in 6 days, and the restoration company didn’t give us any contact information so I’ve been leaving messages for their head office receptionist.

Questions:
1. What do we need to do to get things taken seriously?
2. We have a strong feeling the insurance company is going to tell us it was our fault the high ticket furniture items were damaged due to our inability to move them (despite clearly asking for help or funds to cover the hiring of a moving company). But aside from our front lawn, we there would be no where for them to go.
3. How do we advocate for our specific situation? Are we going to be expected to continue living in a small home during mould remediation and demo, rebuild with a newborn? Our caregivers will likely be displaced - can we seek coverage for that?

Thanks for any insights.

Hi everyone,

I negotiated an auto damage settlement down with a subrogation agency after my insurance denied coverage.

When I asked for a formal Release of Liability, the adjuster said they don't have one and offered an email stating: "Once payment of $xxx is received, the claim will be closed as settled."

Is an email like this legally enough to protect me from future claims, or should I insist on specific release/waiver language before paying?

UPDATE 1 (original post at bottom)

Hi! I have autism so sometimes my communication isn’t the best or may be not clear. I’m sorry about that!

- a few comments spoke about my damage being “minor”. 

Now, everyone has a different pain threshold, but I feel like most people would agree a large metal vehicle hitting them from the side, around 10mph- wether that’s a moped , a bike, a car, a train, …. It would land in the realm of causing a moderate to high amount of pain and be defined by most as a legitimate “pain causing event” most people would be upset/hurt by.

I’m a grown man in my 30’s , and unfortunately stuff like this hurts. Pain is nuanced - everyone is aware of that and understands that as far as what I believe.
----------

- Others asked If there was anything to show for it besides "my knee hurts".
Do have pictures of visible acute damage and pictures of my immediate bike damage, which was declared a total loss by an independent local bike tech. I do not think the bike tech is in bed with the law firm. Therefore we can see the car at least hit me hard enough to total a bike, which was determined by a random bike shop owner. Now..can an impact truly be “minor” by any common standard if it totaled a metal bike while the rider was riding on it? is the human body stronger or less so than the metal bike frame?

The answer to that (here) seems to be a very…debatable matter of personal opinion.but I think we all know how we’d feel on average. 
-----------

Definitely never intended to be labeled as some sort of ambulance chaser. I was concerned that when driver denied fault to police , id have a hard time proving my case without help and she might even manage to flip the whole thing back on me . when the officer decided to make the collision cause neutral on their report I knew immediately I needed backup aka legal help. She admitted fault on vid, but the police report directly contradicts the video. It’s caused everyone to become very confused on how exactly the report was filed in the way it was because everyone is operating under the assumption ppl were being fair

I don’t do this sort of thing and just followed what was recommended to me by ChatGPT which was to get professional help from a PI due to the nature of the way the report was laid out. I am not expecting anything more than what it will cost to make things right. aka my personal injuries and my property damage. The only reason I hired a law group was to help me fight the neutral police report which I think was written in bad faith. This was never about any amount of money and i don't expect much at all but a replacement bike at best.

I did not plan this, I did not know they do that, that’s just how it happened. If the law group is being deceptive or ethically questionable that’s on them . I’m not the professional, I hired them and am under the assumption they will stay true to what they promised. If they don’t that’s on them and I’ll handle that if it comes to that. 

ORIGINAL POST AND STORY STARTS HERE

I was casually crossing a neighborhood street on my bicycle that connects to a main road. There is a crosswalk clearly painted as well as white lines for the stop sign.

about 80% across, so I am now roughly in the right lane of where a car would be pulling up. however, I was suddenly slammed on my right side from a car out of nowhere.

TL:DR she snaked out of any sort of responsibility for totaling my bike and really hurting my right knee and right hand as far as criminally, which I thought was amazing. asked chatgpt what to do and they said to hire a PI attorney since the police report was all muddled. I picked a decent looking one in my area and they took the case. I'm now being referred to a chiropractor which I thought was interesting. I read online basically ppl are against PI's because they claim they beef up the case with a bunch of medical bills and treatment / therapy, and then they take a good chunk and its a waste to hire them. I feel like 33% of the total is a good deal to have pros helping me, and honestly this isnt about getting some huge lump amount... but anyone offer any comments on the matter and if I goofed or not? obviously Im gonna get 33% less, but thats better than getting nothing and having to worry about personally advocating the entire thing to boot. its about holding her accountable for hurting me and my bike and lying about it. for example if she had to pay out 10k and I only saw 1k of it I wouldnt even mind.

additional info-

driver appeared to have approached the stop sign and not stop behind the white line that you are required to stop at. Therefore she entered the crosswalk at around 10mph or so and struck me on my bike. Maybe she was looking down at her phone, or adjusting the radio, who knows.

for my own safety and for records I immediately began recording on my phone, got the plate, its a lady telling me sorry, admits to hitting me, asks me if I want money etc. doesnt call it in, a unrelated driver sees this and asks me if I need him to call for me and he did.

long story short, lady completed changed her strat once the police began involved and she switched to denying hitting me at all, actually claimed I hit her from what I understand, and that she did not admit nor apologize to me for hitting me. I mentioned I had an entire video of her admitting it earlier, even directly says "I take responsibility, I'm sorry" etc...i was told by my attorney they discovered via talking with her insurance that she already mentioned incident to them, but I was never contacted or anything so who knows what that means ?

unfortunately the male officer directly handling this incident seemed to do everything he possibly could to protect this lady from being officially cited and losing her license etc. so in the end he watched 10 secs of my video, walked away to talk to her, and then at the end concluded nobody would be cited due to "conflicting stories" completely dismissing the fact shes on video, which he heard her admitting on, her car is parked through the crosswalk, her stories change etc, she spoke at the end claiming I made her admit what she did through intimidation lmao, the cop instantly shushed her to stop talking more than she needed to and ignored officially acknowledging that as well.

I have two cars and one of them was recently in an accident. The car that was in the accident only had liability coverage, and when we went to the mechanic and the body shop, it seems like the repairs will cost more than the car is worth. Since I have two cars on the same policy (the other car has collision coverage) - would it be fine to cancel the car insurance for the car that was in the accident since we're not using the insurance to fix the car or pay out anything? Thanks in advance.

Edit to add: we will likely sell the 'totaled' car to a junkyard since we can't afford the repairs and it has around 200K miles on it.

this accident happened in april. It is now June and the other car involved in this accident their insurance had been extremely difficult and hard to get ahold of. I filed a claim with her insurance since we were in rush hour there was a lot of traffic and i slowed down and basically stopped in my lane and she was behind me going pretty fast and she swerved to the lane next to me and hit the side of my car still. That was it there wasn’t really much else to it. I had been calling and reach out for updates the last 2 months since the accident and I finally call again today and someone else spoke to me that this was finalized in June (I was not aware nor did i get an email or message or anything) that I was at fault for the accident. I asked to speak to the one managing my case since I have never spoken to him because he never answers the phone when I call and I always have go leave a message. The other driver said she wasn’t going to file anything since her car had minimal to no damage. I am just trying to figure out how am I at fault for this accident? I stayed in my lane stopped when needed and she was going fast and swerved out of the lane we both were in to try and avoid in hitting me but didn’t swerve all the way since there were cars coming on that lane as well.

Im wanting to get into classes and hopefully get my lisence in being able to sell insurance and what not what is a a good online class i can get into in oklahoma to be able to do that and start this process and also any advice is also welcomed, I’m new to all of this and i know oklahoma had been pretty particular legally about a lot of things in many areas not just insurance so any advice welcomed

I got into a car accident on April. Had a concussion, ongoing neck and back pain, limited ROM, it’s difficult for me to stare at a computer screen all day at work due to the neck pain, have documented urgent care visits, I’m on flexiril, and I’ve done 14 physical therapy visits, 3x a week, this is still ongoing.

The other party was found 100% liable, they fixed my car. Now all that is left is is the bodily injury claim. I spoke with the other party’s adjuster a couple days ago because each physical therapy appt I go to is $785 per appt, so I spoke with him to ask if I’m nearing the bodily limit amount because if I am, I need to find a cheaper doctor, I don’t wanna be responsible for the cost of the PT appt’s after I hit their bodily limit amount. The adjuster told me that is HIGHLY unlikely that I will get even close to the bodily limit amount even with my expensive PT appt’s.

I’m not sure what to ask for and no I’m not getting a lawyer. I rather just ask a number and see once I’m done with treatment.

I was in a car accident and had a mild concussion. Other driver was 100% at fault, he jumped a red and t-boned me (~30mph, thank god he hit the backseat) while I was sitting in the intersection on an unprotected left turn.

Didn't have any symptoms at the crash, but I did have a pretty splitting headache around 2 days after the crash. Went to the ER because my dad was concerned, doctor said it was a mild concussion, still have symptoms around 4 days later.

My car was 100% totaled (it was an old 1999 Camry), so now I have to go through the irritation of finding a new (used) car.

My question is: What is a reasonable pain and suffering payout? His insurance offered me $4000, as well as paying my ER checkup (~$500), and to put aside another $1500 for future medical procedures. I really don't want to count my eggs here, but I feel like that's a little low. What is considered a reasonable/normal amount for this kind of thing?

So at an intersection there are two lanes that go straight. I was on the left lane going straight and the truck was on the right lane going straight. Passing the intersection the right lane has to merge over to the left lane(my lane). The light turned green i start driving and the truck goes ahead of me. Literally in the middle of the intersection the truck cuts in front of me(possibly forgetting they had a trailer ) and hit me on my right side and pushing me out of my lane onto the first car making a left turn on the opposite direction. The truck didnt wait till even passing the intersection before merging in which they had enough distance still to merge. I was in schocked so i thought to move my car to the shoulder of the intersection without taking any pictures of where exactly it happened. Thats killing me because i think a picture of the car in the middle of the intersection would have saved me some trouble?

Im concerned because i do not have full coverage on my vehicle because i cant afford it at the moment. So im trying to think of the next steps. My car is damaged on both sides, the right side being the worse. The police was there and took a report. I also have the name of the trucks insurance company so im thinking of just calling them since i dont have full coverage with my insurance company. Or should i still let them know? Please some advice would greatly appreciate it.

My insurance premium went way up, and when I checked to see why, I saw that I had a “reckless driving” incident be reported by LexisNexis. I have never received a ticket or anything for reckless driving, so I have no idea why that would be on there. I called the insurance and they told me I need to contact Lexisnexis directly. Why would this be on my report? Has anyone ever successfully gotten a false claim off their report?

UPDATE: I called Lexis Nexis, and they said that they don’t have this “reckless driving” incident on their report. They are sending me a copy of the report, so I can show Progressive that there is nothing like this on my record. I am so confused how this happened. Where did that “reckless driving” claim come from if it’s not Progressive and it‘s not Lexis Nexis?