Reader question:

What happens if I get into an accident, which is my fault, but there is no other driver but me. Will an auto insurance liability claim cover that incident?

Jerry

Thank you for your question, Jerry.

It really depends on what the situation is and what your auto insurance policy is, but for the most part I would say that yes it would be covered by you filing an auto insurance liability claim, or that is, the person whose property you messed up in this situation filing an auto insurance liability claim. Because, regardless of whether or not there was another driver involved, you still caused damage to something, be it your own property or someone else’s, or both, so you would still have to pay for it. If you cause damage to someone else’s property then you will still have to give them your auto insurance information just as if it was a car accident, and then report the incident to your auto insurance company.

If you cause damage to your own property, then the case would be very different. Instead of filing an auto insurance liability claim, you would instead file a claim for collision insurance so long as you had that sort of coverage. The coverage might be split up, depending. For example, your collision might cover the damage done to your car, but in order to cover any damage done to your fence you might have to work with your home owner’s insurance policy. It all depends on the company you are with, as some have different policies for these not so rare cases. In order to find out your car insurance company’s position, I urge you to call them and talk to your auto insurance agent.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.