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Will your insurance go up if someone hits your parked car? What happens if an insurance company refuses to pay a claim?

Will your insurance go up if someone hits your parked car? What happens if an insurance company refuses to pay a claim?

This will depend on your policy. If you receive a discount for not having any claims, then yes your insurance would increase for filing a claim like this even though it was no fault of yours. This type of claim is filed under your uninsured motorist coverage. Make sure it is paid under this coverage as some adjusters will erroneously pay it under your collision coverage. If it is paid under collision it will cause you grief down the road if you want to change carriers because it will show up under collision, meaning it was your fault. This will cause you to have to supply an accident report and perhaps a statement from your agent stating the nature of the claim. This can be awkward if you change agents as well.

Your second question about an insurance company not paying a claim I’ll answer here. Insurance companies pay claims based on the policy. They are usually audited by the state insurance departments and can get in as much trouble for paying claims they shouldn’t as they do for not paying a claim they should have paid. I’m not saying you need to go to law school just to decipher your policy, as most are written in “plain language”, whatever that is. The big items that can get a claim denied are not being truthful with your company, like not listing drivers, putting other people’s vehicles on your policy, intentional acts by you or an insured, and expecting coverage for things you don’t have coverage for.

A quick explanation for these are: Not listing the teenage children who drive your cars, but expecting coverage when they have a wreck; You cannot put a vehicle on your policy that does not belong to you. The company cannot pay you for damage to someone else’s car and they cannot pay the other person as they are not insured under the contract. This also goes for liability to others you hit in this situation; Say your wife gets mad because she catches you looking at someone you shouldn’t and breaks the windows out of your truck. Your wife is insured and this is an intentional act, therefore no payment; Lastly, wanting coverage for damage to your vehicle in a crash, when you removed collision coverage to save money on the payments. No coverage, no money.

Author: Robbie Mixon, Insurance Agent and Tax Accountant (1984-present)
Source: Quora

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