insurance question about accident

[Cospa]

Ok, so I've got a situation where I was rear-ended by another car (totally his fault. I was stopped at the red light and he was just following too close for the road conditions. He already admitted guilt) and my passenger has whiplash now supposedly that's what the doctor says. Who's insurance does this go through? I've heard that my passenger has to file a claim against my insurance first,which will probably raise my premiums, and then my insurance will contact the other party's insurance to get the compensation. Then I've also heard that it doesn't even need to go through my insurance. How does this work?

[Ben31]

Within the insurance coverage you should have accidental benefits meaning that your insurance company is liable for paying medical expenses, rehabilitation costs, wage loss or death benefits if you, your family or the occupants of your vehicle are injured or killed in a crash, no matter who is at fault.
Your insurace premiums would not increase unless you are partially at-fault or at-fault of the accident. The insurance companies have their own guidelines on what is considered partially at-fault or at-fault.
If you click on the following link you will be taken to a accident benefits application form OCF-1 (http://www.ontarioinsurance.com/english/forms/autoforms/claims/ocf1-12-04.pdf)
if you scroll down to page 2 "Where do I send the applications forms?" and under #3 you will see


3. Occupant of Somebody Else's Automobile
Were you an occupant of somebody else's automobile that was insured at the time of the accident?
Yes -If yes, send your forms to the insurance company that insures this automobile.
No -If no, continue to 4.


....therefore in this case the injured person was in your vehicle and therefore your insurance company is responsible.

hope this helps....

[DragonZealot]

I think Alberta auto insurance is still under traditional plans with limited No-fault coverage, unlike Ontario which has no-fault plans with limited threshold. So depending on the severity of the claim your passenger may have to go after the insurance company of the at fault driver.

To obtain the limited no-fault coverage your passenger will have to file a claim against his/her own insurance company.

Premium will not go up if you are not deemed at fault.

[TrevorK]

What happens in Alberta is that the passenger makes the claim against your insurance company, who then directs the claim to the insurance company of the faulty party.

Your rates don't go up and this should happen seemlessly.