OrbiterTI4
Member
TX case law precedent recognizes both Diminished Value and Loss of Use, and unlike other states that only allow recovery of Loss of Use actuals, no expenditures are required (e.g. you aren't punished for not having a rental car while repairs are being performed if you couldn't afford one).Just remember to get the diminished value from the other insurance company. That $$ payout is exactly for your drop in value due to accident history.
My car was rear ended 4 months in. Got $5.5K DV payout. Honestly I would prefer DV payout. At the end of the day. You are driving the same car. Repaired without trace. Free cash at hand. If you drive it 5-7 years before trade in. At that time, your accident history does not affect the trade in value much.
And for whether using own insurance or go directly. My opinion is, going with your own insurance will leave a "claim" record. Even if not at fault. It will affect your new quotes at some insurance company. Your policy has rental limits. You cannot get DV against your own, they usually have a clause in contract that prevents you. You can file DV separately with the third party. If the third party insurance is big, I would go directly with them. Big firms usually do not care about those small repairs without bodily injury. If it is a small one that will likely go cheap, then it may be worth to go with your own.
Regarding claims, the collision event will appear in the C.L.U.E. regardless of fault. Also, TX has no laws preventing premium increases from not-at-fault claims, so regardless of which company OP deals with, those fallouts will happen anyway.