Well, it happened. I had a claim. I was driving home from work and two dogs chasing each other ran out in front of me. It was raining out and I did slam on my brakes, but it was just too late. I hit both dogs. There was nothing that I could do. They were just running so fast and came over a hill and I didn't even see them until they were right in front of me. I was hoping and praying that they would of both been OK, but that was not the case. One dog survived and the other did not.
So Now What?
Well I pulled over and got out of the road. There were as couple people who had came out of their houses when they heard the accident. They called the Police for me, and the other person helped get the dog out of the road for me. The surviving dog was sitting in the lawn it was limping but it was OK. I was so upset, I was crying and felt horrible. I have dogs of my own and I know how much my family and I love them. It was just a very hard day.
The nice man who was helping me called the tag on the dog collar so we could let the owner know. There was no way I could do it, I was just too emotional and was crying. The owner showed up a few minutes later and was upset as well. We were both crying, both just saying how sorry we were. There wasn't anything I could do, but I still just felt so horrible.
Police Report
Well, the Police did show up. Once they arrived they took all of my information and also took all of the dog owners information. It was raining out so he told me to go back to my car while he wrote everything up. I went back and was just sitting there crying. I saw the owner walking up to my car. She apologized again, and so did I. She had told me that earlier that day she had a Pool company at her house closing her swimming pool. They must of left her gate open. When she got home from work, she let the dogs out like she had done every day. When she went to let them in, she discovered that the gate was open and the dogs were gone. She had been looking for them for over 45 minutes. I got out of my car and gave her a hug and we both just stood there in the rain crying.
The police officer ended up coming back to my car and helping me get this plastic piece that had been damaged off my tire so that I would be able to drive my vehicle home. He gave me the police report information so that I would have the information to give to my Insurance company.
Filing The Claim
Well, once I got home, I called the Insurance company to enter the claim. I knew that hitting an animal was a Comprehensive Claim and I had a Zero Deductible that I had chosen on my policy. So it wasn't going to cost me anything out of pocket to get my vehicle fixed. There was not a ton of damage, the front bumper was cracked, the fog light area damaged, and the plastic wheel cover thing was completely broken off. Either way it would need to be fixed. I gave the Claim Adjuster all my info and what had happened, and we entered the claim. We went over all the details, I selected a place to have my vehicle repaired and he gave me my claim number.
He did say that they would be responsible to pay for the cost of the dog (if there were any), and also any vet bills of the injured dog. So at least the lady wouldn't have to pay for that.
Some Upsetting News
While I was on the phone with the claim adjuster he told me that he wanted to let me know what would happen on the back end of the claim. He said that they would pay for my damage to my vehicle now, but what they would do as a company is they would go after the dog owner, to recoup the money for the damage done to my vehicle. Since they were her animals it was her responsibility to have them tied up and not running loose. This act that insurance company's do is called Subrogation. Here is the actual definition of it. Subrogation in its most common usage refers to circumstances in which an insurance company tries to recoup expenses for a claim it paid out when another party should have been responsible for paying at least a portion of that claim.
I told him what the lady had told me, about the pool company people leaving the gate open. He said that they would still go after her for the damage to my vehicle, But, most likely her Home Owners Insurance company would then be able to (Subrogate) go after the pool company to recoup the damage that they would end up having to pay my insurance company.
I was upset at the fact that this poor lady who just lost a pet, would get some kind of paper in the mail a few months down the road, saying she was going to have to pay XXX Amount of money for the damage done. It just did not seem right. But unfortunately that's how insurance works behind the scenes.
Will My Insurance Premium Go Up?
Most likely, Yes it will probably go up some. It shouldn't go up as much as if it were a Collision claim, but I do expect to see it go up a little bit. There is a chance it won't go up at all, but you just never know. Typically Comprehensive claims will effect a policy less than a Collision claim will. So I guess I won't know until my policy renews in 6 months!
Kristi Lusk invites you to check out her blog for more tips and interesting information on insurance products and services. There are may products out there to help you that most people don't realize. You can checkout her blog by going to http://homelifeandcarinsurance.com/
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