Legal Question in Insurance Law in Mississippi

Insurance company pressuring to submit claim on my insurance.

My son backed into a friend on his friends property. No officer was called. My husband met with the parents and they decided to have the damage repaired and we would pay for it. We told them to get 3 estimates and go from there. They got two estimates, one from a reputable body shop, one from a friend of theirs that is not a body person but a mechanic that does work on the side. The reputable shops bid is $1305.00 the other guy gave a bid of $2,200.00. The highest bid was for a complete paint job on this older S-10 pickup. We called the reputable shop and he said that these people were trying to get an entire paint job out of us and there was no reason. That what little was done could be repainted and feathered and look like new. Mailed to them a Certified return receipt a check for the amount of the reputable dealer. These people filed it on their insurance and theirinsurance carrier called us and we told them what happened and that we did not want this filed on our insurance because of rates increasing. Can their insurance carrier force us to file on our insurance? We have not received the return receipt yet by mail. This was done about 3 days ago. Thank you.


Asked on 7/30/03, 3:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Austin Nimocks Austin R. Nimocks & Associates, P.L.L.C.

Re: Insurance company pressuring to submit claim on my insurance.

No, they can't force you to file it on your insurance, but you should. The friend's insurance company will try to subrogate and get you to reimburse what they paid. If you are able to resolve that privately, no problem. However, if you are unable to resolve it, their insurance company may sue you to get back their money. Being sued would, in effect, force you to run to your insurance company for coverage and protection. I recommend that you call your insurance company and just let them deal with it. I'm no insurance expert, but doubt that your premiums would increase that much over a fender bender with no injuries. Even a slight increase in premiums would take a few years to total the $1,300.00 you are offering to pay or the $2,200.00 you may be forced to pay. I would take the easy way out and get your money's worth from your own insurance company. In the grand scheme of things, what you're trying to do just doesn't seem to be worth the hassle.

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Answered on 7/30/03, 6:14 pm


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