My wife backed into a pole and made some major side damage to our brand new Mazda CX-90. I took it to 3 different body shops and they all came back with similar estimate, about 5k worth. I have Liberty Mutual insurance, no previous accidents but my premium is already high due to a teenage driver. I pay 6.5k a year in premium with a 1k deductible (no accident forgiveness unfortunately). Most people I talk to are recommending go through the insurance, while ChatGPT is saying don't do it, as it is estimating that my insurance could go up an average of 40 percent. Not sure if it matters but I live in New York. Any thoughts?
Insurance or Pay out of Pocket?
byu/gauchomaster inInsurance
Posted by gauchomaster
7 Comments
A big problem is if they take apart the car and find more damage, and then you decide to go through insurance. LM can say, we didn’t get to see the car before repairs started. 5k is a lot. If you can afford it out of pocket, I would consider it. Make sure you photos before repairs start. Honestly, it’s up to you.
These are preliminary estimates and could likely increase after they do teardown. If you decide to go without insurance, make sure there is a lot of documentation and pictures of the damage throughout the process. That way if they come back with a large supplement and you want to involve insurance, they might actually honor the claim. Insurance usually states they need to be able to see the vehicle prior to repairs starting for coverage, but not always.
You could go either way. Personally, I’d lean toward paying out of pocket if possible. As others have said, you run the risk of more damage being discovered during the repair.
And yes, your premium will likely go up as this is considered an at-fault accident, although how much is hard to say. 30%-40% isn’t out of the ballpark.
Personally I would pay out of pocket and avoid having a claim go on my record. This bites, but if you can handle a $5k accident, you likely will be better off in the long term. Would also note, that if you’re willing to put some sweat equity in and depending on the damage, sometimes you can just order plastics/panels online, have them locally painted, and save a fortune.
The biggest challenge though, is as others have mentioned, initial collision shops estimates are only that, initial estimates. Once panels start coming off, additional damage can be found.
me personally I’d leave it damaged long as its just cosmetic and not affecting functional items and just in case a real accident happens I’d add that to the damages for repair
a friend of mine got into 4 accidents in a lexud which was always rebuilt so thats why i say just wait until something possibly happens
Hit a junk yard buy used and pay someone to put the parts on.
Keep in mind it will be an at fault accident.