So the couple whose car I scraped left me a voice mail. They say the repair estimate is $300, which is higher than I was hoping. Let’s assume, for now, that this is an honest estimate that accurately reflects the cost to repaint/repair the scraped body panel. I will call them back soon.
I decided, first, to call GEICO to try asking some “hypothetical” questions without sounding too suspicious. I spun it as me being unhappy with a recent rate increase (triggered this summer when I moved one zip code over). I said that I’ve decided to shop around but that I realized there might be some value in my policy that goes beyond simple premium and deductible amounts. “I want to be sure I understand exactly how my policy works!” I said.
It went better than I expected. Amongst obfuscatory questions about rental cars, traffic tickets, medical coverage, etc., I slipped in questions about “chargeable accidents” and how my premium might be affected by various types of incidents. With a host of disclaimers, the nice woman informed that generally, with my record and my coverage, I should not expect my premium to go up if the amount paid out is under $500. Bingo! So I’m thinking, pending another call with the victims, I’ll report this to GEICO and let them handle.
But wait! Before I could politely get off the phone, the nice woman with GEICO went into “retention mode.” Fearful of losing me as a customer, she said that they just got approved for new rate schedules in Illinois and that maybe they could reduce my premiums while retaining identical coverage. This sounded like marketing/retention BS to me, but OK, sure; I’ll give a listen. The new premium would be around 2/3 my old premium! I’d save around $110 every 6-month billing cycle. And they’d throw in one accident/ticket forgiveness bonus.
So… now I’m back to thinking that I just pay out of pocket and bank my new forgiveness chit for a real incident. Left unanswered – because I didn’t dare press further – was how severely my new premium reduction would be rolled back if I retroactively reported my incident from two weeks ago.