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Ok, so I bought a used vehicle (2005 Mazda 3) in excellent condition for my wife. A couple of days later, she barely hit the back of a small SUV. There was no damage done to the other vehicle (even the other driver & police could see for themselves), but now the hood on our Mazda is messed up. There are several reasons why I didn't call the insurance company right away: the first being that even though I got insured the day I drove off the lot, we hadn't even had the car for a week before she got into the accident so I was too scared to call Progressive (I haven't even mailed the first insurance premium payment, not even the first car payment), and second I was told by an auto body shop the same day that the repairs would be less than $500 which is what my deductible is anyways, so I had no reason to call Progressive since I would be responsible for anything $500 or less right? So I put off taking the car in until my day off and now the guy tells me that he can't find an aftermarket or salvaged hood and gives me an estimate of over $1000 because he has to get a new hood from the Mazda dealer. Now I'm not sure if I should call Progressive after so many days of having had the fender bender ... and the first premium and car payment are still not due. Should I go ahead and call my insurance company to get help with the repairs (I've been with them for over two years with no previous accidents) or should I just get more estimates?
You should have called your insurance company the day you had a car bump. It is very important that you will be able to get proper advises on how and what to do about it. There some people who are just finding ways to get into your pocket. You don't even want to spend an extra $500 from your wallet and now the repair man is asking more than it. There are many ways to charge your expenses to your car insurance, all you need is to submit proper requirements, and the reason why you insured your car is because of that.
Last edited by InsuranceInfo; 03-17-2010 at 02:02 AM..
I would recommed not filing a claim. Call around and get more estimates. Even if it does cost $1,000 to fix, your insurance company will only give you $500 after you pay your deductible. Then your wifes insurance rates will be jacked up for the next 3 years. Just pay out of pocket on ths one.
If the hood functions and it's just a cosmetic issue, I'd just wait and pay the repair cost. True, you will have a car with a couple of dents in it for a while, but you already have to pay half of the damages per your policy deductible. Comparison shop, but don't always take the lowest estimate, either, especially if it's way below the others, since they may cut corners in repairing the vehicle.
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I went ahead and called Progressive and they really took care of me. They gave me no hassle whatsoever. They even had a check written out for me after they looked over the damages and gave me an estimate. I was really shocked I didn't know what to say. The check was for me taking the car to a body shop of my choosing. Instead I chose to just leave the car with them and let them use a shop that they usually work with. Actually I just made an appointment for monday and it will take maybe one or two days before my car looks like it did the day I drove off the car lot. That way I'm not without the car over the weekend. They would have arranged a rental for me, but I declined that when I renewed my policy. Oh well. Everything Flo The Progressive commercial Lady says about Progressive is true. Progressive even assured me that my rates would not be affected since the damages were less than $1500. It wasn't a real big deal at all. So now I feel like a big burden was just lifted off of my shoulders and I can now relax with 4 days left on my vacation. Thanks everybody for your input.
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