One of the worst scenes a vehicle owner can come out to find is that someone hit their car in a parking lot while they were inside. Many people wonder how their auto insurance policy will pay.
But first — are you second guessing the auto insurance coverage you have? Take 10 minutes to speak to us and we’ll evaluate your coverage and let you know if we can do better. Call us at (973) 422-1324.
OK, so the good news is, if you have collision coverage, your policy will pay for the damage to your vehicle after the deductible has been satisfied.
Many people wonder if this is an uninsured motorist claim.
Uninsured motorist protection is primarily designed for bodily injury. If you were driving your vehicle, and a hit and run vehicle collides with your car, injuries sustained from this accident would be covered as an uninsured motorist claim.
If you have an uninsured collision deductible waiver endorsement, this will waive your deductible if you’ve been involved with an identified vehicle that does not have liability insurance coverage. Most commonly, the license plate number is required to identify the uninsured driver.
If you don’t have collision coverage, but you have the uninsured motorist property damage $3500 endorsement, the same things applies – you must be able to identify the license plate of the hit and run vehicle.
It’s unfortunate that so many cars get hit in parking lots and no one leaves a note. Unfortunately, your policy requires the other vehicle be identified.
If you come out to your car, and notice that it’s been hit, one thing you may want to do is see if there are any witnesses who saw the accident. Many times, people who witness hit & run accidents will stick around to see if they can help.
Without any witnesses, there may not be anything else you can do.
Keep in mind, your deductible is not a penalty for being at fault for an accident – it is the collision damage repair amount that you have agreed to be responsible for before your policy will pay anything.
If you have any questions regarding this, or your other insurance policies, please contact us.
