Car accident question

[daughtersrus]

Please let us know how it works out. If it's really minor, I don't think you'll have a problem pay OOP. However, at some point, you may be asked if you have ever had any accidents and you may have to report it then.

I spoke with the lady last night. Of course, she isn't happy. She said that she's going to contact her insurance (also State Farm) today. She said that she wants to see if they will come out and look at it at her house because she's afraid to drive it. I'm not sure why since it's just a dented bumper but she said that "something didn't feel right with the left rear wheel when she drove home last night. I'm not sure why since there's just a small dent in the bumper.

I guess we'll just leave it in the hands of State Farm. It will be a lesson for DD since she is the one that pays for her own insurance.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I spoke with the lady last night. Of course, she isn't happy. She said that she's going to contact her insurance (also State Farm) today. She said that she wants to see if they will come out and look at it at her house because she's afraid to drive it. I'm not sure why since it's just a dented bumper but she said that "something didn't feel right with the left rear wheel when she drove home last night. I'm not sure why since there's just a small dent in the bumper.

I guess we'll just leave it in the hands of State Farm. It will be a lesson for DD since she is the one that pays for her own insurance.

Well, it is her right to do that. I guess you'll just have to wait and see what she decides.

 

[daughtersrus]

Well, it is her right to do that. I guess you'll just have to wait and see what she decides.

Oh, I agree. It is her right to file a claim. I don't fault her for that at all. I had just hoped that she would be happy with getting the car repaired whether it was paid for by us or by State Farm. Like I said, it's a lesson learned for DD. I'm sure that she will be extra careful from now on. This is the girl that hates to spend money on anything so paying the extra insurance is going to be a reminder for her.

 

[Barb D]

With State Farm, all that they have to do is get a report and determine fault and the discounts are removed. It doesn't matter if they pay a cent out or not, they will remove the discounts because they know that the accident happened.

My DD just called to ask if we should call State Farm and I'm not sure what to do.

We have State Farm. DS17 was just in a minor fender bender that we believe was insurance fraud. We could have paid the woman out of pocket and it would have been less than losing DS's discounts, but chose to have the woman report it to State Farm so that they can investigate it. They told us that they will let us know BEFORE they pay out (if they pay out) so that we can decide if we want them to pay it or if we want to pay it ourselves.

Hopefully they will determine that she is committing fraud, we won't pay anything, and the woman will get her just desserts. Worst case State Farm will let us know that they determined that DS WAS at fault, and we'll pay the woman directly.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

We have State Farm. DS17 was just in a minor fender bender that we believe was insurance fraud. We could have paid the woman out of pocket and it would have been less than losing DS's discounts, but chose to have the woman report it to State Farm so that they can investigate it. They told us that they will let us know BEFORE they pay out (if they pay out) so that we can decide if we want them to pay it or if we want to pay it ourselves.

Hopefully they will determine that she is committing fraud, we won't pay anything, and the woman will get her just desserts. Worst case State Farm will let us know that they determined that DS WAS at fault, and we'll pay the woman directly.

I'm just being nosey but could you tell us more about this incident? Nothing's coming to mind on how this could be insurance fraud. I'm not doubting you, I'm just missing something.

 

[daughtersrus]

Here's an update for those interested.
We got a call from the lady's agent. He said that she's gotten two estimates with the lowest being about $1,200. I called the repair shop and they said that the estimate was for a "cash repair" and that those costs are higher then if they repair with insurance. DH compared it to getting paid to repair a car under warranty verses pay labor (he's a tech at a car dealer).

So, we decided to let State Farm pay the claim. For sure she will loose the Steer Clear discount ($92/year) and if State Farm pays out more than $750, she will most likely loose the accident free discount as well. Both of those combined came to about $180/year. If the accident free is taken off, it will only be for 3 years. DD will be 19 soon, so they did confirm that he rate will drop some but of course, we won't see it because of the discounts being taken away. They are going to send us a copy of the estimate that State Farm does so we'll know soon enough how much they're going to be paying out.

The girl that I spoke to at our agent's office said that we have a guaranteed renewal policy so we can't be dropped but if one of our DDs gets into 2 accidents that are their fault with tickets issued in a short period of time, they may ask for her to be excluded from the policy. Hopefully, that won't happen.

Only the policy involving this car will be effected by this claim.

Thanks again for all of the advice.

 

[agnes!]

Bumpers are expensive to get repaired. Some of the Insurance Institute reports are truly shocking, *especially* how much damage can occur even at very low speeds.

agnes!

 

[daughtersrus]

Bumpers are expensive to get repaired. Some of the Insurance Institute reports are truly shocking, *especially* how much damage can occur even at very low speeds.

agnes!

My other DD was hit in a parking lot over Labor Day weekend. We did not go through State Farm but went directly with the other girl's insurance. The cost to replace the bumper and repaint it is just over $500. Again, this is with the body shop doing the work through the insurance. If we wanted to pay cash, I would assume that it would be closer to the $1200 amount that we were given for this accident. We're keeping our fingers crossed that the insurance cost will be under $750 so that we don't loose the accident free discount.

 

[Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

I didn't want to say anything before but that figure does seem about right. Body work is a witch.