Got sideswiped today from a driver who didn't yield. They were cool and stopped and everything was 100% cordial and they immediately owned up to it. We exchange insurance information and everything seems good but as I was getting ready to leave, she stopped me one last time to make sure I had their phone number "in case their insurance didn't cover everything because it wasn't very good insurance." Alarm bells perked up at that but nothing I can do about it at the moment. Insurance is one I had never heard of. Kemper? And some of the correspondence I received after making a claim with them had a couple misspelled words. More alarms. Adjuster should be looking at it tomorrow.

My concern right now is ignorance on my part. I legitimately have zero clue what would be a decent range of repair costs. None. Last time I went through this was nearly 20 years ago and it was just totaled. So looking for the collective wisdom here to at least hopefully give me a ballpark. It would be very helpful to me.

Main damage is the front panel into the front door. May not look like it but it is crunched in enough that the door can only be opened about 2 inches. Crawling over a big center console sucks when you are getting older I have discovered.

2014 Tundra

Also, again displaying my ignorance here, but I did say my truck is operable. Does that include not being able to get into the damn thing without crawling around like a kid? Pretty sure saying what I did negates a rental, at least initially, right?

Thanks for any and all insight.

FIDO*98* said:

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Kemper was horrible to deal with when I got hit. I wished I had filed with my insurance and let them fight Kemper. Go ahead and get an attorney for diminished value. They denied my claim based on "satisfaction with repair". 1) I wasn't satisfied, but they wouldn't approve replacement over repair for several things. 2) That has nothing to do with diminished value regardless

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Damn. Just now thought to actually google them and saw some of the horror stories. Non-responsive, extremely reluctant to pay out, take forever even after winning a claim, etc.

Cool cool cool

Well, I had actually made a claim with my insurance pretty much on the spot as we were waiting for a cop. Basically just told them to seek out everything from their insurance. Since I was not at fault though I realized I should have just filed with their insurance which is what I did when I finally got home. I don't know if I just threw a bunch of mud in the gears claiming for both. I am just now realizing how that could mess things up. Again, my ignorance in this stuff is staggering.

Either way, I'll guess I will just see what Kemper has to say and wait to see what Geico wants me to do. Did see some reddit threads of people advising it is just easier to file against your own and eat the deductible and hope your insurance can recoup the cost than deal with Kemper directly.

Guess tomorrow will be a learning experience for me.

See if keeper will accept liability and pay for a rental.

FWIW I had Kemper insurance when I was at fault in an accident and they were a breeze to deal with.

I always go ahead and file on my insurance because that's what i pay them for. Don't think I've even paid a deductible in the instances I was not at fault.

I would say that if you cannot safely enter / exit through the driver door that the vehicle is inoperable. Not only is that a pain, as you have observed, it's a safety issue for you. They should be covering a rental for you now.

Pretty sure Kempner is the guy that cut the head off one of his victims then effed the head. I would probably let my insurance deal with that.

GentrysMillTX10 said:

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Just report it to your insurance and get your vehicle fixed. Then your insurance starts the subrogation process against their insurance. Easy peasy.

I would tell your insurance you already reported it to Kemper but would rather deal with them and let them subrogate.

- an auto insurance company employee

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I did this and when it came time to renew/shop insurance it was treated a s a claim/accident even though my insurance got every penny back from the at fault driver.

Is there an expination for this?

At my company, no, that would not have happened.

So the subrogation process takes on average 9 months. Depending on how your insurer views the claim, it may be held against while subrogation is ongoing or may not.

After all dollars are collected through subrogation, they should not hold it against you. My company does not count claims that closed without pay. In this context, it's not closed until subrogation is complete.

When we "count" claims, the instruction says "exclude closed no pay."

Now the claim notes are still there at renewal but the dollars should say $0. I don't think all insurers do well with managing subrogation processes.

Note I am in commercial auto and not personal lines.

Holy brake dust Batman!

$6700

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Holy brake dust Batman!

$6700

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Aye, I definitely leaned on them, that's for sure. It was a heavy construction single lane hemmed in by sporadic jersey barriers. My fear was getting diverted enough to taking one on lengthwise directly to my engine block and going from 55 to 0 quick, fast, and in a hurry. Thankfully, I managed to squirrel in between two of them.

My initial estimate from Kemper was $2700. Even my ignorant ass knows that is laughable. Shop guy says that is normal though and supplemental claims are filed and they work through those and reach a final agreement once they have the truck disassembled and can give an actual account to all the damage.

Ag for Life said:

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Wait until Enterprise charges you $500 for that missing hubcap

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They're not even supposed to rent it with it like that. They're supposed to write a DX/OX and have it corrected