Hello. My 17yo daughter is on my insurance. She’s had her license just over a year with no tickets or accidents. This weekend she was pulling into a parking spot and misjudged her clearance and hit the back drivers side of a minivan with the front passengers side bumper of her car.
She called the police and they came out and got ahold of the minivans owner. No police report was taken and she wasn’t cited. The minivans owner got a quote of $2700 from the auto body place they’ve used in the past. They’ve been great about the whole situation and very understanding.
I was going to pay out of pocket until I thought about “hidden damage” the shop may find after they get the minivan apart and plus a rental car for a couple weeks. I decided to turn it into the insurance company to fix. I was able to pop her bumper out and after wiping it with mineral spirits you really can’t tell she hit anyone.
My question is:
If we have the body shop fix BOTH cars will our rate go up more than if we just have them fix the other persons car?
I really don’t want to be without her car for a week or two and the damage is really minor. You have to look to see anything at all.
Thanks in advance!
Rate increase after teen’s accident. Does it matter if we fix her car or not?
byu/Flint0326 inInsurance
Posted by Flint0326
5 Comments
Yeah, rates likely go up.
Even if you pay cash to other driver, there’s possibly that they’ll reach out to your insurance to get remedy. Some people say that get in writing that it’s full and final and you won’t go through insurance. But how that’ll be enforced is also up in the air
Once you turn it into your insurance, even if you withdraw the claim with zero paid out, it’s on record. Whether your rates go up, depends on their internal underwriting rules.
A zero dollar claim can have the same effect on the premiums as a $100,000 claim.
If it’s all part of the SAME CLAIM then do it. If the claim is closed do not open a new one. 2 claims on a teen driver in one year will kill you financially.
The increase will be the same if you close the claim and pay out of pocket, fix one car, or fix both cars.
Fixing both will have you paying your collision deductible though. That is the only difference!