Can I have butter on the popcorn? ;)
Keep us posted how Geico works on long run?
I switched to Geico when moving from California to Las Vegas - AAA tripled my premium with zip code change.
So far Geico has unbeatable low premiums and I compare them from time to time.
Never made a claim with them, (hope never will) but it is good to know how they do the actual work..

I had Allstate for 25 years and they kept jacking my rates, especially the house and my teenage drivers. Went to Geico for a couple years and then they started jacking me (damn house again).
Allstate asked me to give them a chance again and they crushed Geico. Crazy insurance game. I have 4 cars and my house with Allstate again for probably another 20 years. ha

Continuing side topic about insurance >>> with house fire insurance you better have "code upgrades coverage" and "actual rebuild cost".
My previous neighbour in California had her old house burn and not having such coverage ended up $300,000 short on rebuilding the house to current codes.

Very similar with us, but was with Liberty Mutual for 15 years. Jacked rates ~15% on both car/home each, consistently every year and we just left for Geico...saving about $3000 with home/cars at least this first year. Unfortunately, all these insurance companies seem to do this and you have to continually watch them. Hell, I even called Liberty Mutual 3 times and tried to negotiate and they offered a whopping $30 bucks or so savings...a year. Ha. Loyalty these days really has little to no rewards.

Looping this back to this discussion, the change of insurance actually was a lot easier than I thought, so raja, if you have to do it next year, it won't be that bad. It's mostly computerized nowadays and they just plug and play your info once you fill out some basic stuff. That said, this incident MAY show up to any new insurer and they MAY hold it against you. When I switched to Geico, I had a rental vehicle claim in 2013 for hitting a truck tire on the highway racing to see my father before he passed and that came up on their "system", so they said my rate was a tad higher than the online quote I had gotten from them initially. I was pretty shocked about that as I made the claim through my Credit Card company, but somehow Liberty Mutual was involved, too...don't remember all the particulars. That incident happened in 2013 and the rep said it usually stays on record 5 years. Either way, I'm saving a lot of money and it wasn't a major hassle to switch.

Finally, also consider your coverage and make sure you don't have too little, but also don't have TOO much. I typically go for a higher deductible ($1k) on everything and do the online defensive driving course every 3 years to get anywhere from 10-15% off my insurance...the better half does the same.

Just got my camera if anyone is interested, it is very nice.
First check the camera functionality and don't install the front yet. (there is no app to my knowledge, you need to depend on the small screen provided on the camera to adjust the read camera.)
On the rear camera, make sure you don't stick it until you're satisfied with the viewing angle and coverage of the area. I had 10-15% of the screen covered by the trunk itself.
The rear camera wire came through A-pillar from driver side, then through the top and I went all the way through the back seat and came up through the passenger side to the top.

The main power wire is good enough, ran through the A-Pillar on the passenger side.
Used some aftermarket power source and the camera took it. No problem with it.

There is a red wire which I don't know what it does, but I did not cut off. Just tucked in with the excess wire.

Chevy Tahoe or similar SUV owners-I'm not sure, but a regular SUV I don't see there would be any problem.

Video after setting up both the cameras.
https://youtu.be/sjE0ufAoOf4

Videos are saved separately with 'R' and 'F' folders.
they are stamped with Date and time if needed (setting that needs to be turned ON/OFF).

here is a nice video of the quality:

Just FYI.

The factory camera videos are worthless.
When I was researching the cheaper camera -their video would show licence plate readable from 50 ft.
In real video - 5 ft and you barely can recognize the letters.
I don't think reading the numbers is crucial, as traffic hit and runs are very rare, but driving expensive vehicle, spending $300 for good camera is nothing.
My Ford Truck has 360 cameras and front one is really good, but Ford doesn't allow any recording and all camera shuts down at about 8 mph.
I can't monitor my trailer while in motion.
The glass mounted rear cameras do have lot of abstractions not only with shades, but also with reflection from window shelf.
So I am waiting for smart hacker to make program to use factory car cameras for traffic recording.

I would love to invest on using our 360 camera for that purpose.
and the above videos are for this cheap dashcam I recently purchased that I don't need to turn on manually like the camera I used at the beginning of this thread.
I will record a video tonight and post it here without any editing, you guys can decide for your self about the quality. I just wanted to share with you guys as I got this camera for pretty cheap and someone hesitant to spend too much money should buy this.


Edit: Nevermind, the camera sale had ended.

This is why I won't deal with other people in these situations. You made the right call going through your insurance. They deal with these deadbeats all the time.

So $5300 for the preliminary estimate, probably will shoot up to $6000-7000+ after disassembling the vehicle. Still a question mark on the diminished value, and probably 2 weeks of downtime for a rental at ~35 a day? Yeah dont expect someone with expired tags and expired insurance to cough that up.

I'd just go with your own insurance since you dont have to pay a deductible anyways. If insurance pursues and is successful, great. If they fail to pursue and write it off as a loss, that's fine too. At least you're not going through the headache and trouble by yourself. The insurance companies has a lot more tools at their disposal to pursue for damages than you do. Let them take care of it at this point.

fyi though, insurance companies dont use OEM if aftermarket or used parts are available. Chances are slim on an E class though. But pretty good chance theres a couple used headlamps on the market they might use

So you guys are saying, Geico will write it off just for this damage (chances)? I just wanted to learn more.

The collision center guy mentioned the same thing. He said he will try to match the Geico close to the cost of the new parts with matched paint/labor etc.


I have an appointment with the Geico guy on Nov 14th, will see how it will turn out.

I'm sure they'll make some attempts to try to recover for damages, but going after an uninsured party is a lot harder than going after another insurance company.

if it was like $1000 I'm sure they'd just write it off, I would hope at $5000+ they would try a lot harder before calling it a loss.

Here's the bottom line: You pay good money for your car insurance for instances such as this. If they handle it poorly and jack up your rates, better to know now until something really major occurs. Gives you time to dump them and get another insurance carrier.

Remember: Cheap rates on an insurance policy don't do you any good, if their coverage when you need them sucks!

I am going through diminished value right now with csaa (triple a) and they straight up said its your responsible to show proof and evidence of value loss. They said they can't give me a number because I have not sold my vehicle to prove the loss value. So in my case, the responsible party probably would not pay out in cash and the insurance is making you work for it. I am going through a company that does the appraisal and writes up a letter to show the insurance and they can choose to settle or not, then it goes to superior court because the value exceeds $10k.

Triple a is the responsible party's insurance. They backed up into my rear quarter panel and it will cost $27k to fix, $20k estimate in DV, and the appraising company may or may not add loss of use (paid insurance, regs, rental, time etc).

I'm pretty sure either your insurance or theirs will make you "whole" again per car repairs, but everything else is in your hands, which sucks. Now you gotta do some homework.

Sux to see this as I've not been on the forum in months. I have stopped using my dashcam and just kind of have it sitting around doing nothing. I guess I need to start using it again.

They speak with double tongue.
In the past I had car totaled, who had salvage title already.
The adjuster started that salvage title drops the value by 20% on the spot.

First time poster on this site. I feel for OP's pain.

I won a diminished value claim against SF Insurance (3rd party) in NY.

Not sure how your case will be handled.. but I recommend calling Franklin at The St. Lucie Appraisal Company. Good Luck!

Got the check from Geico, asked them to write on the collision center's name (I can get it to my DCU then to me, but it felt like a hassle).
The adjuster estimated 3 days to get the work done and 8 days for rental car. I'll drop off the vehicle on Monday.

Geico validated as "Not At Fault" and pursuing with DMV and old insurance co. of the other party to deem whether as a "Uninsured" or "Insured" motorist claim.
Update: they deemed it as Uninsured Motorist claim with 100$ deductible and eligible for diminished value.

That sounds like satisfactory resolution for you?
Being Geico customer, I am glad to hear they did a good job.

Sounds like the best result for you - all things considered.

Glad to hear this as a GEICO customer, as well. :y

^ ^ good news on the update... this is how insurance is supposed to work... damages aside, make sure they (geico) keep you updated on their recovery efforts regarding your deductible... bc if they recover anything they should reimburse your deductible (and some insurance company's do regardless) - since the accident was not your fault - and had the other party had insurance, the other party's insurance would have paid it. bc in the end, since this was not your fault, you should be out no money, not even your deductible.

aside from the unknown of the deductible at this point, glad all is turning out as it should...

on a side note, i'd inform your local pd (or specifically the responding officer that claimed the other party had valid ins in their "system") of your insurance company's findings, that in fact the other party did not have valid insurance... so they can update their "system".