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Well. My 16 year old got in a minor accident. Broke our headlight and dented the fender a little. The other car got a dent in the door. I did not see it. This is what I was told. The problem here is she exchanged info (all of our info, and insurance) but only got his name and his driver license number, and a phone nbr. This guy is a Spanish speaker. My kid did not get the plate number or his address. Anyways, I don't want to use insurance. I want to pay to fix his car. I tried calling him, but no answer yet. I'm wondering I should inform insurance or not? Our rates are way too high already. I want to take care of this myself. What if he calls my insurance before I do? I don't want to call them. Help me figure this out. No injury, just a dent. On our car it's just a light assembly and a dent. What do you think?
If I was the other driver, i'd be calling your insurance regardless. It's nothing personal, but if he goes through your insurance and hates the repair, he has some recourse...if you buy the repair, and he's not satisfied he'd be up a creek. I'd also highly doubt that suing you would do him much good, consider he had the choice to either use insurance or not...and he chose not, so he gets what he gets.
Also note, things can get more expensive quickly for you. You don't essentially have any say in what body shop he goes to. If the guy decides to take his vehicle to the dealership to get fixed, and you'd rather pay for Maaco, there might be a gap in what you and him want...
It does suck majorly to insure a 16 year old, but as you've illustrated, there's a reason it costs so much...they're just significantly more likely to get into accidents. Good luck on the fix, and getting a hold of this guy. If you're lucky, maybe he won't care enough to get the car fixed, and that'll be the end of it.
It has always bothered me why people who pay for car insurance don't want to file a claim when involved in an accident.
You pay a yearly premium for that insurance, and if you don't use it when you have an accident, that is money you just gave to an insurance for no reason.
If you want to give your money too me, I will take it just as quickly as your insurance company will.
Stupid, stupid, stiupid to not file and claim what you are shelling out big bucks for.
The rate increase they would charge would be chump change compared to what it would cost out of pocket to fix even minimal damage to a vehicle.
Bob.
It has always bothered me why people who pay for car insurance don't want to file a claim when involved in an accident.
You pay a yearly premium for that insurance, and if you don't use it when you have an accident, that is money you just gave to an insurance for no reason.
If you want to give your money too me, I will take it just as quickly as your insurance company will.
Stupid, stupid, stiupid to not file and claim what you are shelling out big bucks for.
The rate increase they would charge would be chump change compared to what it would cost out of pocket to fix even minimal damage to a vehicle.
Bob.
thats a good point but you went overboard with the stupids
It has always bothered me why people who pay for car insurance don't want to file a claim when involved in an accident.
You pay a yearly premium for that insurance, and if you don't use it when you have an accident, that is money you just gave to an insurance for no reason.
If you want to give your money too me, I will take it just as quickly as your insurance company will.
Stupid, stupid, stiupid to not file and claim what you are shelling out big bucks for.
The rate increase they would charge would be chump change compared to what it would cost out of pocket to fix even minimal damage to a vehicle.
Bob.
would it, considering that it was a 16 year old that had the accident? chances are that their insurance rates will go up high enough that the minor cost of the repair would be paid for in the first year or two.
to the OP, i would call my agent and let them know that someone might be calling about a minor accident that your kid had, and that you want to pay for the repairs yourself. by the way, your kids DID get a police report, right? if not you could be paying for more than a minor accident, it happened to my grandmother many years ago.
Well. I called my agent. They know now. I did not file the claim completely yet. Stupid? Maybe. Here in Maryland we've already had most insurance companies refuse to cover us. It's a long story. We don't need another accident, but we got one anyways! Argh! The damage just isn't that bad and we have a $1000 deductible. Top it off with the number he gave us being no good and we think he doesn't want to be contacted. It seems this accident is his fault when I originally assumed it was my kid's fault. There's no police report so there's no proof! Argh! All we can do is wait to see if he contacts us.
Well. I called my agent. They know now. I did not file the claim completely yet. Stupid? Maybe. Here in Maryland we've already had most insurance companies refuse to cover us. It's a long story. We don't need another accident, but we got one anyways! Argh! The damage just isn't that bad and we have a $1000 deductible. Top it off with the number he gave us being no good and we think he doesn't want to be contacted. It seems this accident is his fault when I originally assumed it was my kid's fault. There's no police report so there's no proof! Argh! All we can do is wait to see if he contacts us.
I hate to be shady here, but if you have any reason to assume that the accident was his fault, and he contacts you, you could simply either say "what accident?", or say that you were waiting for him to call because you need to find out how he plans to pay for the damage to your car, which was estimated at $5137.28.
And tell your teen not to give out personal information at an accident scene, without at least retrieving equal or more information from the other party, or (preferably) with police present. I only say this because police in one of my 2 cities of residence, will not show up to an accident scene unless someone is bleeding or dead. That's not an exaggeration. Unless an ambulance is required, they won't show up, so there is no choice but to handle it on the side of the road.
And tell your teen not to give out personal information at an accident scene, without at least retrieving equal or more information from the other party, or (preferably) with police present. I only say this because police in one of my 2 cities of residence, will not show up to an accident scene unless someone is bleeding or dead. That's not an exaggeration. Unless an ambulance is required, they won't show up, so there is no choice but to handle it on the side of the road.
Believe me. I have already "yelled" at her for giving out her info and only getting a little of his, and for not calling the cops. Nothing can be done about that now though.
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