Minor fender bender - No Fault - Initial Estimate $6500 - Go through insurance?

[rcmx]

This was a minor scrape, no driver was issued the ticket..but the bumper and (charger-side) quarter panel are damaged. Initial estimate was $6500 (i have a $500 ded). Would you advise that one go through insurance? I was informed that submitting the claim might raise rates by 25%-30%. Of note, I have 3 teen drivers, on my policy and we pay about $8000/yr for 5 cars. This car is mine (father)...but I assume that the 25% increase would be across the $8K...thus an expected increase of $2k per year.

There is a big part of me that things insurance is purchased for a reason..and that fearing these increases kind of defeats the purpose of having the insurance. It hurts that it will impact rates, but two of my kids will be 21 in a year or so...so i suspect that rates may go down eventually.

Would it make any sense to spend $6500 out of pocket? (Not to mention that there may be additional costs..once they start repairing this). My sense is that this is largely cosmetic...but its a Tesla...so who knows?

 

[jjrandorin]

Would it make any sense to spend $6500 out of pocket?

Not to me it doesnt. Even from the math you show, you would be looking at a potential increase of 2k a year, over 3 years until this drops off, (6k) vs a potential 6k (or more) now.

 

[Red Ryder 3]

Get another estimate!

 

[ATPMSD]

I was informed that submitting the claim might raise rates by 25%-30%.

Did you agent say this or someone else? If not your agent, ask your agent.

 

[rcmx]

Did you agent say this or someone else? If not your agent, ask your agent.

It was my agent.. They said to expect a 20%-30% increase for the next 3 years. I get it...but I can't just pop off a min $6500 in light of that. Perhaps I'll shop for new insurance in a couple years (of course bringing this claim along with me).

 

[ATPMSD]

It was my agent.. They said to expect a 20%-30% increase for the next 3 years. I get it...but I can't just pop off a min $6500 in light of that. Perhaps I'll shop for new insurance in a couple years (of course bringing this claim along with me).

Yikes!

BTW a $500 deductible for collision is somewhat low. Might check on premiums if you raise it, especially as have you have youthful drivers.

 

[dbldwn02]

I had a very similar accident. Van backed into my parked car. Replaced quarter panel and bumper cover. $10,500 at Stuttgart Auto Collision in Denver.

This was early 2018 and I wasn't paying for the damage so I didn't question how much it was. Mine is aluminum so it couldn't be "banged-out" If they're replacing the quarter panel and bumper cover, your estimate is probably accurate.

Since I wasn't at fault, I got $4500 in diminished value from the insurance company too. Mostly because it was still considered an exotic and brand new car.

Like ATPMSD said, look at raising your deductible. Pretty much all damage to these cars is in excess of $5k, so a $1000 deductible for at fault/no fault accidents isn't too bad and may save you a bunch of money.

 

[Aikidoka]

I had a minor dent for my MY meeting an OLD Chrysler in a parking lot. The dent was in the rear hatch and two different body shops said that it had to be replaced. I went with a Tesla certified shop. Total cost was just over $6,000. No fault, no police and clearly both parties' fault. The insurance company held me "at fault". Because of the cost I ran it through my Safeco auto insurance. The car was in the shop for 3 weeks waiting for the new rear hatch and for them to paint it. The insurance company made everything easy until I got my next rate increase. As best I can tell they are going to make a profit off my accident. I wish I would have just paid the body shop myself. Even though the car looks like new with the new hatch its value will be lower when I sell it.

My advice, if you can pay cash negotiate with the body shop and do so.

 

[Willy’sEV]

As you said prelim estimate, when they take the skins off you can bet it will be more.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Definitely use the insurance. Even if your 'collision'(and maybe property damage) rate for that particular car goes up by 25% for several years you'll still be ahead. Remember that your insurance is divided both by car and by coverage type. Your car's comprehensive(theft/fire) will not be affected by an accident.

I assume you have several cars, and the driver that had this accident can only be driving one at a time. I'm not sure about Georgia, but here as long as we have a driver per car we can name a 'primary' for each which implies that the kids won't often be driving the expensive cars. We can also specifically exclude the kids from driving the expensive cars(if we didn't have a car-per-driver this would be important. As it stands(four cars, four drivers for us) I believe it does nothing)

 

[jkdman123]

I would get several estimates. I am always surprised at how bad some places will jack up prices. Someone tapped my old car once and put 2 small dings in the paint on the bumper. One shop was gonna strip and repaint the entire bumper for $600. Another one wanted $1200 just to spot correct the two small dings.

 

[rcmx]

Definitely use the insurance. Even if your 'collision'(and maybe property damage) rate for that particular car goes up by 25% for several years you'll still be ahead. Remember that your insurance is divided both by car and by coverage type. Your car's comprehensive(theft/fire) will not be affected by an accident.

I assume you have several cars, and the driver that had this accident can only be driving one at a time. I'm not sure about Georgia, but here as long as we have a driver per car we can name a 'primary' for each which implies that the kids won't often be driving the expensive cars. We can also specifically exclude the kids from driving the expensive cars(if we didn't have a car-per-driver this would be important. As it stands(four cars, four drivers for us) I believe it does nothing)

@Sophias_dad ....are you saying that the 25% uplift in premium will only be applied to 1 of my 5 cars? I am of the understanding that it will be a 25% increase across the entire policy.

 

[jkdman123]

@Sophias_dad ....are you saying that the 25% uplift in premium will only be applied to 1 of my 5 cars? I am of the understanding that it will be a 25% increase across the entire policy.

If you're listed as a driver on all the cars I would expect an overall increase. But 25-30% sounds incredibly high unless you already have past issues that they're counting. I would shop for new insurance and let your carrier know you're doing so.

 

[Sophias_dad]

@Sophias_dad ....are you saying that the 25% uplift in premium will only be applied to 1 of my 5 cars? I am of the understanding that it will be a 25% increase across the entire policy.

I'm not an insurance agent, but I'd expect that since only one driver was involved in the accident they couldn't justify increasing the premium on all cars at once, or if they did they'd have to make it much smaller(per car) since the driver obviously won't be driving all the cars at the same time.

 

[zoomer0056]

As best I can tell they are going to make a profit off my accident.

Insurance seems to be a rip off unless your car is totalled.

 

[jay1122]

Based on my experience with my 3 car/4 driver policy. 1 car with at fault accident. The rate for that car jumped 100% from $400/6 month to $800/ 6month. distributed out its 33% overall increase. I think the 25%-30% your agent tells you is overall. I tried to see what happens if I remove/replace that car, it just gets shifted to the other cars. So just a numbers game.

If your agent tells you it will increase the rate that much, I would believe the agent. Maybe try to find some shops and see if it can be repaired using cash at a lower price. You need to tell them you are paying cash upfront. From the photo, I think some body shops can fix it with just bondo fill and repaint.

 

[rwiegand]

I'd be shopping for new insurance. I had a very minor bump that ended up at about $6500. My rate did not change.

You don't want to be in the middle of this process-- get a good body shop and let them fight with the insurance company for you. It will almost certainly cost more than this initial estimate.

 

[zoomer0056]

My rate did not change.

Who do you insure with?