When to contact car insurance

In My Humble Opinion
1

In the past when something minor has happened to my car or house, I’ve chosen to just deal with it myself rather than deal with my insurance, because I could afford to fix it and I’d rather just pay for the fix than have a claim on my record. The current situation seems similar, but it involves another person, so I would like some input to be sure.

Someone backed into my car in a parking lot at a very slow speed while my car was parked in a parking spot. The damage appears quite minor, but I know from experience that any body or paint work can be expensive. I got the person’s insurance and contact information. I’ve never been through an insurance claim process, so I don’t know exactly how it works.

My understanding is that I talk to his insurance company, and theoretically they will pay for a fix. It seems like the only reason I’d need to contact my insurance is if I want to be covered in the case that his insurance won’t do it. Is that right? My deductible is very high to avoid paying unnecessary premiums, and again I can afford to pay for the fix myself if I have to. So I’m leaning toward not getting my insurance involved, gambling on his insurance paying for it, and just eating the cost if they don’t. A secondary concern is that I’m very particular about my cars, and I will not be willing to take it to a cut-rate body shop of the insurance company’s choosing for a fix. The repair needs to be high quality.

What are the downsides of my approach beyond having to pay out of pocket for a potentially expensive repair? I’ve heard tales of people having their insurance premium increased for claims that were completely not their fault, so I try to avoid claims as much as I can. I figure insurance is only for catastrophic situations like major accidents, theft, and so on. I’d rather just pay for a fix on my terms than pay for years of increased premiums for the “convenience” of going through an insurance company who will probably try to force me to fix it in a different way than I want it fixed anyway. But if there’s something else I should know, please fill me in.

2

If you don’t want it fixed, don’t fix it, live with the blemish, go out into the world and do good things.

If you want it fixed the best answer is to get his insurance involved. Lots can/will go wrong if you try to trust one another and do this without an EXPERIENCED 3rd party who know what a reasonable repair will cost, and what common complications exist with your particular repair. See, if I smack your car and we agree to be guys about it–Let’s say I agree to pay the average of 3 estimates you provide–I have to trust that the estimates are complete. If the repairing shop comes back to you and says, “Dude, we have to replace the hobnostical defosticator. We couldn’t tell it was broken during the initial estimate. It’s another $500.” I’m gonna wonder what’s up. If I know nothing about car repair I’m likely to think you’re trying to screw me. After all, I didn’t see any broken hobnostical defosticator at the scene… So stuff can go bad. Insurance Guy, however, has the experience to reason: “Hm, yes, the hobnostical defosticator is sometimes damaged in these kinds of accidents and its replacement is necessary.” and your repair proceeds without a hitch.

As for where to repair it. It’s your car, you get to pick which shop will do the work. The insurance company (and the other driver) will only have to pay the average market rate for the repair, however. So take it to Diamond-Studded Bubba’s if you want to, but you may not get reimbursed 100% of the cost. But you’ll feel better about the repair, right? Because it cost more and so it must be better. Bollocks. Talk to the insurance company about repair warranties. If they, or the shop, won’t warranty the repairs for as long as you own the car, pick a different shop. Most major insurers have relationships with various car repairers–shop does a good job, the insurance company will stand behind their work.