I recently scraped the side of my car against the side of my garage, damaging the front fender. A week later, I got sideswiped in the same area, causing a little more damage. The estimate (from an expensive body shop) was $2000. Should I file an insurance claim for this? Find a cheaper place and pay myself?
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What is your deductable ?
Is the sideswipe covered under uninsured motorist ?
Is the insurance paying out under comp/coliision ?
Will the insurance payout raise your rates or cause a time restriction on filing another claim ?
Sometimes, simply filing a claim that doesn’t raise your rates, will cause an increase to your “risk factor” ( one of those dirty little secrets/loopholes that insurance has. ) when renewing this policy or attempting to buy other insurance. This alone, could cost you more in the long term than the small price of this repair.
Check these things with your insuance carrier to weigh the choices.
my deductible is $200 and the other motorist was insured. Does it matter if he files a claim with his insurance? Do I have to file a claim if he does? He had a lot less damage because he has a big SUV.
If he’s at fault, and this is proveable, He’s paying to fix your car whether out of pocket or through insurance. The fact that you had previous damage in the same area can remain secret because this damage covers all of that and then some, you say.
In this case tell your insurance so they can deal with his insurance.
If his fault is not proveable, If he’s not willing to pay for your damage, then weigh the cost factors after researching the answers relative to your policy.
Just to clarify so we get the situation right:
You scraped the garage with your car, but never got it fixed and then shortly thereafter got the same kind of damage in the exact same spot from someone else hitting you? Is there any way to differentiate the damage caused in each accident?
This sounds like a bit of a mess. On the one hand, you can get the other guy’s insurance to pay for the damage and not have to pay anything yourself. After all, if you HAD fixed it you still would have got sideswiped, right? But on the other hand if they find out that there was preexisting damage, they might think you’re trying to scam them. If I were you, I’d call your insurance agent and explain the situation and see what they think. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some sort of standard procedure for this (the insurance industry has standard procedures for everything).
I was by a hit and run motorist in a parking lot who had shop lifted some items and was escaping the store security. The rear quarter panel of my old car was damaged. I wasn’t going to worry about the situation since the car was over 20 years old at the time (it is now over 30 years old). The police officer insisted that I had to report this to my insurance company even though I did not have collision insurance. I made the report and the insurance company investigated. The shoplifter didn’t have insurance on her vehicle, but my agent said that my uninsured motorist policy would cover the damage and that I was to get estimates. Well, I procrastinated, partly because I thought it would be embarrassing to take the old car to a real body shop. Two weeks later, a claim adjuster called me and said she was in my driveway investigating the damage. I drove home and she estimated the damage to the rear quarter panel and deducted for the rust hole. She then issued me a check for $250. I said that I would get the title. She said, “Not on your life. We don’t want your car. The damage is less than half the value”. I thought the deal was more than fair–I didn’t expect anything.
You should let the other driver’s insurance pay for everything. You don’t need to penalize yourself for simple luck. And report the second incident to your insurer. There is no need to report the first one, since it will just confuse things.
It depends on how much your deductible is and how much coverage you have. If it is clear the other guy was at fault (and I hope you got a police report to back up that claim), I would try first going straight to the other guy’s insurance company and getting them to either fix it or cut you a check.