If you hit something with your car and if your car has some damage…what do you do?

by Jared Ullrich

Imagine this: You are backing out of a parking space and hit a pole. There is no damage to the pole but you have a dent on your vehicle….what do you do?

I wish I could say “just call the insurance company and file the claim, that is why you have insurance” every time that there is any damage……but we know how insurance works. You need to be strategic with the way that you handle it. This is just the way that it is.

There are certain “insurance principles” that apply to your situation.

Principle #1: Collision claim
If you hit something with your vehicle and if your vehicle is damaged, then it would be covered under your “Collision” coverage. Before your auto insurance policy will pay for the damage, you must pay your Collision deductible. Keep in mind if the vehicle has collision coverage or not and what is your deductible.

Principle #2: At fault accident
If you file a Collision claim, if the damage to your vehicle was your fault, then it will be considered an “at fault accident.” Even if you are driving on slick ice and you slide and hit something that damages your vehicle, the insurance companies consider this an “at fault accident.”

An at fault accident will make your auto insurance premiums go up not just next year….but for five years. There are some insurance companies that are wanting to go back seven years and charge extra for at fault accidents.

These are industry rules….we are just the insurance agency and we don’t make the rules. I’m sorry! Please don’t kill the messenger.

Principle #3: If the auto insurance company pays out less than $1,000 does it still make my rates to up?
In the old days, insurance companies would say “If you have an at fault accident, if the damage paid is less than $1,000 then it will not make your rates go up.” Well….. from what I see, these small claims DO make rates go up. It might go up less if the damage paid is less than $1,000 but it seems like they do make the rates go up with most companies. Keep in mind that insurance company rules and laws change….but a claim will stay on your record.

Principle #4: Paying for damages outside of insurance
If you hit something with your car and if your car is damaged, if there is not a lot of damage, it would be worth your time to get a free estimate from a body shop to figure out the dollar amount of the damage. When you know the dollar amount of the damage, you can make an educated decision about if you want to file the claim or not.

When you get the estimate from the body shop, ask them for a price if you would pay cash. It seems like they tend to charge more if they know that an insurance company is paying for it.

Principle #5: You must file a claim within a reasonable amount of time
Insurance companies all have rules that say that “if there is damage, then you must file the insurnace claim within a REASONABLE amount of time.” They don’t always specify the exact amount of time that you have. That said, if there is damage, you need to figure out relatively quickly what you want to do. If you wait too long, then the insurance company could say “sorry, we are not going to cover this claim because it happened too long ago.”

Sorry to be so vague about this. Different insurance companies have different rules. I would say a month or two is still reasonable. Keep in mind that if there is damage, you must do everything that you can to prevent further damage. We recommend that if there is a chance that you will get insurance involved in auto or home damage, get the ball rolling immediately to figure out what you are going to do.

As always, call us anytime if you have any questions or if you need anything. We want our clients to be well taken care of when there are claims.

Let us know if we can do anything for you! Jared Ullrich, Ullrich Insurance