Car Insurance/Accident question

[Deleted]

Can anyone give me a general idea of how much backing to a parked car is going to affect my premium? Currently pay about $1200/year for our insurance. No other accidents or tickets in the past 8 years.

Backstory:

I backed into a CWer's car and left a big dent in one rear panel. She's getting estimates and is nice enough to let me decide if I want just to cut her a check for the repair or go through our insurance. There was no damage to the vehicle I was driving.

I'm trying to guesstimate the $$$ limit where I'm better off paying OOP vs. dealing with insurance.

[Deleted]

Probably not a whole lot. I rolled into the car in front of me and scratched up a bumper ages ago on a highway exit ramp. I think the insurance went up by a nominal amount, I want to say like $100. The claim paid out was under $1k.

[Deleted]

Do you have an agent you could ask without actually reporting a claim?

It depends on the company you're with. Sometimes there are 'first accident forgiveness' features on the policy; sometimes there's a $1,000 payout threshold before they'll surcharge you; etc. And sometimes not only will they surcharge you for an at-fault accident but you'll lose any clean driver or accident free discounts you might have been receiving so it's a double whammy.

Hopefully you have an agent you can ask.

[jewel]

I asked my agent this same question when I hit some debris in the road. She said that any claim under $1000 will not change my premiums. After any higher claims, I would lose my "good driver" discount, which is 20%. I could become a good driver again after 3 years accident-free. For us, the magic claim $ would be about $2000. This is for Liberty Mutual.

[Norticprincess]

:'(Mine was a 20% accident surcharge for 35 months, but was put on at renewal, not right after the accident. I didn't end up paying it that long as I switched policies when I got married, it was reported when we switched, and showed on the record. they didn't access the surcharge, i think the rate was slightly higher, that change involved adding a car and switching states. Now we've had the policy long enough to have minor ($1140) waived and first major forgiven.

Your policy docs should have the surcharge/forgiveness info.

[agnes]

When I bumped (I'm serious. Just a tap) a car infront of me and then the person went to the Dr and submitted a claim to my insurance, my insurance didn't go up. I still had the good driver discount after that.