Car Insurance Question - Hit Dog on Interstate

[41magsnub]

I hit a dog on I90 last night in the dark.  It was unavoidable, the dog was like a guided missile running straight at me and I didn't have much time.  There was heavy traffic (for Montana).  Did not make any crazy evasive maneuvers, always a bad idea and I had the baby in the car making it an even worse idea.  The dog was a Great Pyrenees or very similar and I hit it going 60 in my 2013 outback.  The owner if the dog is known, though I am not sure how the dog got onto the interstate because he lives about 20mi away.

Took the hit on the passenger front.  It ripped out the air dam, wheel well, and bent up the fender.  Also I think the alignment is off now.  Car is parked until it is repaired.  What I think happened is the dog went through the bumper into the wheel well above the tire, then settled and the spinning tire ripped it back out forwards and under the tire taking the wheel well with it.  Ran over the dog and debris with the rear tire too but I don't see any damage there.  The dog obviously did not make it.

I have an insurance claim in process.  My uneducated guess is $3K for repairs.  I have a $2K deductible on my comprehensive insurance which I can afford, so no worries there.  I have a police report where the dog owner is listed.  I wonder though, since the owner of the dog is known, will my insurance company go after him for the damages?  I don't know that I want them to, it is rough enough losing a dog like that.  On the other hand, if it is possible that $2K deductible while I can afford it..   I'd rather not have to spend.

[Fly320s]

Your insurance company will probably try to get money from the dog owner or his homeowner's insurance policy.  That's business.  I don't think you get a vote in that, but you can try.

[charby]

Open range country, working dog? That breed is a protection animal for herds.

Might be no different if you hit a head of cattle in open range country, some places you have to pay the rancher for their loss because it is open range country.

[41magsnub]

Open range country, working dog? That breed is a protection animal for herds.

Might be no different if you hit a head of cattle in open range country, some places you have to pay the rancher for their loss because it is open range country.

In this case, loose pet that ran out onto I90 in the dark.  Not a working dog.

[charby]

In this case, loose pet that ran out onto I90 in the dark.  Not a working dog.

Gotcha

[Ben]

Open range country, working dog? That breed is a protection animal for herds.

Might be no different if you hit a head of cattle in open range country, some places you have to pay the rancher for their loss because it is open range country.

This was surprising to me, but I was recently educated on it by my Idaho insurance agent. If your home address is within open range, your car insurance can actually be higher, since you are statistically more likely to hit a cow, and if you do, it's always 100% your fault.

[dogmush]

In this case, loose pet that ran out onto I90 in the dark.  Not a working dog.

At least it wasn't a working dog until yesterday afternoon.

[Brad Johnson]

In most places I've been, animal owners are under the onus to keep their animals off roadways and right of ways (open range areas excepted for obvious reasons). If the dog was on the road then, in the insurance company's eyes, the animal owner is at fault for not properly securing the animal. Some insurance companies will go after the owner for reimbursement of loss, some won't.

At the very least you should be talking to the owner about a claim against his homeowner's policy to reimburse you for your loss on the deductible.

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

Since the owner of the stray dog is known, your first call should have been to the owner, and your second call should have been to his insurance company. His insurance should pay for the repairs to your car. If his company won't make it right to your satisfaction, that's when you go through your insurance and then your company will subrogate the claim against the other insurance company.

We went through this several years ago when a large dog ran out into the side of my mother's car. In our case, the dog wasn't killed but he did substantial damage to the car. Homeowners wouldn't tell us who their insurance company was, so we let my mother's insurance company take care of it. Mom paid the deductable up front, and when her company got payment from the other company the deductable was returned.

[dogmush]

I would respectfully disagree with Hawkmoon.  My wife has been hit three times in the last 7 years.  The first time we did as Hawkmoon has suggested, and called the person at fault's insurance and played their stupid games.  The gave us the run around, gave us crap about the shop we picked, and all in all didn't give a damn how we felt about the process. Which I understand, as we aren't their customer, but it's still annoying.  Then one of my friends pointed out that we pay insurance premiums for a reason.

The next two accidents, we called our Allstate agent, and told them to fix it.  They towed the car, had it fixed, went after the at fault people, and got my deductible back.  (one of the deductibles was refunded before I actually paid it, the other one a few weeks later)  They have folks on staff whose job it is to run down owners, owner's insurance companies, file the correct forms in triplicate and whatever else is needed to get my (or your) money back.  Since you pay those folks, why would you not use them?  AN added benefit is that since you are your insurance companies customer, they actually care that you are happy at the end of it.


To answer your question, since the owner is a known entity, your insurance will almost certainly attempt to recoup the repairs from either them, or their insurance.  Your auto insurance company is not in the business of eating the cost of repairs when the responsible party is known, and likely insured.

[41magsnub]

I never for a second thought I had any liability, I hit a dog running against traffic on the interstate at night.

I did not know the name of the owner until the highway patrolman found the dog.  I did leave the scene of the accident after calling the non-emergency number giving the location, and my contact info.  It was dark in (for MT) heavy traffic and the dog was somewhere in the barrel pit.  I had a screaming hungry baby in the car and I wasn't going to risk getting hit crossing the highway and looking for it.  I judged (correctly) that as hard as I hit the dog and the damage to the car it was definitely dead.  I just pulled over to the shoulder and did a quick check I wasn't making anything worse by driving the 3 or so miles home.

The cop showed up at my house about 30 minutes later and got all the pertinent information.  The cop (without going into gory details) said the dog was DOA.

[230RN]

The owner if the dog is known, though I am not sure how the dog got onto the interstate because he lives about 20mi away.

Twenty Miles? At that distance, I wonder if the dog was being transported (either by the owner or by a possible dog thief) and got out of the vehicle somehow.

(I have seen a dog riding along in the back of a pickup for a couple of blocks and then suddenly jump out into traffic on some sudden dogworthy impulse.  Did not get hit, but driver stopping to recover the dog et cetera tied things  up on the four lane commercial area street for a while.  It's now illegal in Colorado.)