Yesterday, I slid around an icy corner and popped one of my neighbors parked cars with the drivers rear quarter panel / wheel area. His car was a janky old buick and he didn't even know which dent I left, so he said he would just replace the headlight I busted and I could pay him for the parts and a little cash for labor (~$100). I thought I just had a ding in the quarter panel and would be fine handling it outside of insurance. This morning, my wife started driving the car and the tire was rubbing and blew out pretty quick, so I had it towed to Raymond auto body to get fixed. Initially I was hoping it would be under the $500 deductible but that doesn't seem like the case. The tow truck driver mentioned that I should tell my insurance that I hit a guard rail or pole or something to avoid having to get a police report and it might not raise the rates as much. Any advice on whether this is true or not? Thanks!
Well it appears that the towtruck driver doesn't know the law. IF you hit a fixed object that is owned by the city or state, you are required to call the police for a police report. I found this out the hard way and had to pay a fine to boot. If i was you, i would call the police and file an incident report, then get your insurance involved as the repair costs will more than likely exceed your deductible.
Get a few estimates and decide what to do from there, either report it and have your insurance company pay or pay it all yourself and never report it If you report it, just tell them exactly what happened, not that you hit a guard rail.
Depending on your "record" with your insurance company it may be best to fix outside of insurance. Your agent may be able to give you a ball park of what your hike would be after a claim. Sometimes its cheaper to just bite the bullet and pay out of pocket.
Careful about asking this question. My aunt asked her insurance agent how a hail damage claim would effect her insurance.....and it was immediately tacked on to her premium. She ended up getting the entire roof replaced in her van, because she was going to pay for it either way. If you're considering settling outside of insurance, keep your insurance out of it. If you're considering getting your insurance involved, tell them the truth.
Thats a F$%^ed up Agent then. I am an Insurance Agent and I can tell you that is crazy. I tell all my customers to call me before putting in a claim so they don't have the rates go up. Anyways, I would advise against lying to the insurance company, if they care to investigate and find you to be lying that will be insurance fraud and they don't take that lightly. Your rates will go up unless the company you are with has an accident forgiveness package. I would not want to just throw numbers out to you as to roughly how much, but for kicks and grin I would say a 30% increase on your 6 month premium for the next 3 years. Talk to your Agent, get a few estimates if you can, and sometimes that agent will know of a place that can work with you or give a better deal if you do not want to put it through your insurance. PM me with any questions if you would like. Sorry about the car. Oh and to answer your questions about guard rail versus car, their is no difference in what it will do to your rates actually, both will be an at-fault accident. If you hit a deer, that is a comprehensive, which will not raise your rates.
Bad idea, and would require a police report, and if you want to lie to the Police and your insurance company, well thats some bad karna.
Don't listed to people like this. Anybody encouraging you to lie is best avoided. That's a good general life rule, really.
It's the assholes that lie that **** it up for the good people out there. I had a friend that wanted to claim the cracked windshield that was on his car when he bought it on his insurance and say it just happened. I told him I'd personally call and tell them he was lying. Stuff like that just pisses me off.
It's also people like that you can thank for higher insurance rates. Now I get to rant: I have to everytime I ask someone what their comprehensive deductible is and they say $500 with free windshield coverage. 2. I tend to have to go into the economics of insurance with people when they say " I have been with you for 10 years and now after I had my 1st claim you are going to raise my rates". Well let's do math you pay $1000 year for home insurance for 10 years =$10,000 , we just paid you $23000 for the new roof and siding after a wind and hail storm, right now we -$13000. Also for home insurance due to the economy so many people will try and make their 30 year shingles last 35 years and then wait till spring to file a wind or hail claim and get a new roof from insurance versus maintaing their home like they should, and this happens so frequent now that claims have sky rocketed and that is why any of you withe homes have probably seen some good size premium increases over the last few years. Insurance was intended for catastrophic losses and has now turn into a maintenance package, people feel they need to come out ahead since they pay for it. Sorry had that one building up
I see your point but I find this hard to believe.... MN3.6R.... if your house was pounded by a storm and you had to fix your roof and siding you would do it out of your own pocket... vs all of your neighbors who get it covered by insurance? Maybe I am not understanding your rant... but it sounds like you are saying you would only use insurance for a catastrophic incident.
No, the point in specific was intended more for the fact that their insurance premium is going to go up and I have a lot of people not understand that. But what I am saying is your roof has a lifespan, usually 15-20 years. We are seeing people never replace it on their own and then claim it on insurance once its starting to fall apart. It's like brining my Subaru to the dealership at 20,000 miles and saying my engine blew up and you owe me a new one because I never changed my oil.
But yes, when Insurance was first put into place it was for catastrophic losses. I see people with a $1000 deductible put in claims for as little as $1300 just to collect the $300 because they can't afford anything. The point being the economy has made it hard for alot of people to pay for things out of pocket. Same reason I think accidents in the snow have gone up so much, because people are waiting till their tires are almost bald to replace because they can't always afford to do it sooner.
Don't forget numbers will always go up when the population increases. More idiots on the road = more accidents.
And I thought that all Insurance companies were making hand over fist investing all your preimiums and buying up so much land because they don't know what else to do with their money. lol
