[bga23]

I was out in the desert this weekend with my Raptor and banged it up a little, I'm guessing it'll be at least a few grand to fix her. My insurance deductible is only $500 is it'll be a lot cheaper to run it through my insurance, unless they jack my premium. I've only been with my current insurance co, Liberty Mutual, for 2 years though.

Can I call them to get an idea of what they'll do to my premium and if they raise it too much I'll just pay for it myself? Or once I call and mention accident/claim do I have to go through them? I've been driving almost 30 years and I think this may be my first insurance claim.

[MediaArtist]

If the claim is over $1000 to $1500 (depends on who your insurance company is), regardless of your deductible, your premium will go up. Not a huge amount depending on how much the damage ends up being, but they have a ceiling for this (I found out through talking with a friend who works for All-State).

[bga23]

I assume my premium will go up, which is why I want to call my insurance co and try to get an idea of how much. But I'm not sure if I am able to do that and then not make a claim.

[Joekerr]

You're doing the right thing by asking here...my understanding is that if you call and let them know you have an accident that even if you decide to pay it yourself that it will go on your record from their standpoint.

Now, if you pay for it, they may not raise the rates, but if its on their records, my presumption is that it counts against you from an accident free claims record and thus prevents / puts you back further from getting a free accident without a premium increase. Especially in your case if you've only been with this particular company for 2 years.

I can say this - I was calling an insurance company for a quote and did a really boneheaded thing - I voluntarily told them there had been an accident involving a cement post (minor - like $1,000 damage to the car), BUT I had forgotten that we paid for it - we never put it through. About 2 minutes later I realized this and I then said we had paid for it though since it was so minor; his words were that it didn't matter who paid, it was still counted as an accident and would have an impact on the rate he would quote.

So I was pretty dumb there...lesson learned. If you are going to call, I'd call anonymously I guess...maybe even from your work or something just in case your number is linked (I know - a little paranoid / tin foil hat like, but you never know).

Good luck!

[MediaArtist]

You can't call anonymously, unless you have some shady company with an HQ in the middle of Nigeria. They're going to ask who you are, and ask for an account number.

[Templar]

If I had the money, I'd pay for it myself. Once did something similar with my truck. Cost me about $1,500 to fix it. I paid for it myself and didn't tell the insurance anything.

My advice would be, before you say anything to your insurance, get a quote from a reputable shop locally and go from there. The shop will ask if you're doing it through insurance (since it sounds like you might be paying a bit more). Just tell them you're paying out of pocket to avoid rate increases. But if it's way too much for you to manage on your own, then you may have no choice but to go through your insurance company. I wouldn't mention anything to the insurance company until you decide what to do though. Otherwise, they'll know you were in an accident.

First claim or not, you're rates WILL go up if you tell them. It doesn't matter to them, they are paying out so you're going to pay for it too. You can get an estimate yourself if you take a look at whatever discounts you have. For USAA, I know they break down exactly what discounts you get, i.e. safe driving discounts, passive restraints, daytime running lights... Take away the discounts you get for whatever safe driving, accident free, blah blah, and that's about how much you should expect your premium to go up. Not sure if Liberty Mutual gives you a breakdown like that in any statements or online, though.

[Joekerr]

Originally Posted by MediaArtist

You can't call anonymously, unless you have some shady company with an HQ in the middle of Nigeria. They're going to ask who you are, and ask for an account number.

No kidding, of course they will ask. And you decline to provide the information; rather you ask to give them a hypothetical scenario and whether such a scenario might increase your premiums if you've had no accidents in the past.

Admittedly, I doubt they'd provide an answer, without verifying you, but to me, it seems that the very fact they want to identify you seems to indicate they're about to make something bad happen to you.

What I'm really saying is: probably best not to call, but if you're dead set on calling, do it anonymously. If they want to identify you, maybe think twice - what information do they need from your account that you can't answer in your hypothetical scenario? (ie. why do they really need your account - just ask the questions to you (ie. have you had any claims in the past, how long have you been with us, blah, blah, blah) instead of getting the info from the account).

[bkM3]

do you have an agent or do you call liberty mutual directly? i would assume that if you have a friendly agent that you can just ask him a "hypothetical" situation and get some feedback

[bga23]

Originally Posted by bkM3

do you have an agent or do you call liberty mutual directly? i would assume that if you have a friendly agent that you can just ask him a "hypothetical" situation and get some feedback

I do have an agent but I'll prob go ahead and get an estimate myself so get an idea of the cost so I'll see what I'm looking at if I want to pay out of pocket.

And I guess I'll only then call my agent if I'm 99% sure I'm gonna run it through them. Seems just mentioning it to them gets it "on my record" (which is what I suspected), even if I pay out of pocket.

[RR-NYC]

I've had a much different experience than what been stated. You can call and inquire but in order for them to do an estimate, there needs to be a claim. Go get an independent estimate and decide if it's worth claiming.

A few years back, I was side swiped and called my insurance company to inquire about my rates going up. I was told specifically that if there was no claim filed, your rates couldn't go up. The repair was $750 so I paid out of pocket and no claim was submitted.

On another occasion, I ran over debris that fell off a truck on I-80 that caused $13k in damages to my MB. It was a filed as comprehensive loss rather than a collision but my rates didn't go up a cent.

[anelson524]

I don't see any insurance company giving you an estimate on your rate increase. There are many factors that can change at your renewal period.

If anything you would want to see if the damage could coincide with a hit and run for an uninsured motorist claim so it would be not at fault. If you wanted to be shady.

[MediaArtist]

Originally Posted by anelson524

If anything you would want to see if the damage could coincide with a hit and run for an uninsured motorist claim so it would be not at fault. If you wanted to be shady.

Whatever you do, don't do this.

It's a great way to get a misdemeanor insurance fraud mark on your record, and possible jail time, and thousands of dollars in fines.

[Maestro]

As it was pointed out, go to any body shop and get an estimated, tell them you need it for an insurance claim and they will not charge you for the estimate. Then you will know how much it will cost. Ask them to cost it two ways insurance paying and you paying out of pocket "cash" and see what they come back with.

Now, I only run into this with State Farm, as long as the damage is not more than $1000 it does not count against you. What this means is if the insurance company only covers $1000 and your detectable is $500 then the total repair is no more than $1500 then they do not raise your rates.

Now I work through an agent so I could call him and talk to him about what are the best option without it going on the official record. If you call the Insurance company hotline or 800 number the person who answers will enter the call into the system and indicate you had an accident.

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by anelson524

I don't see any insurance company giving you an estimate on your rate increase. There are many factors that can change at your renewal period.

If anything you would want to see if the damage could coincide with a hit and run for an uninsured motorist claim so it would be not at fault. If you wanted to be shady.

I'm not sure if you were responding to me but I wasn't talking about an estimate for a rate increase.

[anelson524]

Originally Posted by RR-NYC

I'm not sure if you were responding to me but I wasn't talking about an estimate for a rate increase.

Was referring to OP's premium increase inquiry.

[kscarrol]

Never owned a truck/off-road vehicle before but I know for tracking we usually need special coverage for our cars but does actually taking a truck off-load require special coverage like tracking? If so, I assume the OP has the proper coverage before trying to file a claim.

If this question is totally off base and only serves to display my ignorance, please ignore!

[bga23]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

Never owned a truck/off-road vehicle before but I know for tracking we usually need special coverage for our cars but does actually taking a truck off-load require special coverage like tracking? If so, I assume the OP has the proper coverage before trying to file a claim.

If this question is totally off base and only serves to display my ignorance, please ignore!

We were actually on public roads the entire time so no special insurance coverage was needed for this.

[kscarrol]

Well that answers that! You said desert and I assumed you were off-road...

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by anelson524

Was referring to OP's premium increase inquiry.

Sorry about that

[passing]

love all the internet pros on here.

OP- if you have an agent call him/her and discuss. if you don't, buying esurance or some other online product might not be best for you if you don't know a whole lot about how coverage and rating works. its worth the extra money to hire a professional agent to work for you.

[Devious21]

Here's advice from a claims adjuster in California. May not be applicable to all states.

You should be safe calling your insurance company. It wouldn't hurt to get an estimate, if you can get a shop to provide you one for free.

I don't know what "banged up a little" means. But keep this in mind:
Comprehensive covers vandalism, theft, fire, extreme weather (hail/flood), animal and POSSIBLY road conditions (gravel kicked up).
Collision is basically you hitting an object.

Collision claims are what raises your rates. Comprehensive claims do not.

You can call up and tell them "what happened" and see if they consider it Comprehensive or Collision. If they consider it comprehensive, it won't affect your Premium.

If they consider it Collision AND you make a claim, there's a good chance your rates will go up (but it's possible they won't). Depends on how much damage. The "threshold or formula that determines if your rates go up" is up to the Company's discretion and they most likely won't share that information with you. Unfortunately, you won't know if the claim will raise your rates until after you file one.

If they tell you your incident is considered Collision and you don't want to take the chance of your rates going up, You can decline to make a claim at that point (unless there's a third party involved). If you call and tell them you backed into your own garage (for example), they don't care unless you make a claim and have them pay for it.

Keep in mind that whatever "story" you tell the insurance company - if you make a claim - they'll send an adjuster out to inspect your vehicle and these guys aren't stupid.

[RR-NYC]

Originally Posted by Devious21

Here's advice from a claims adjuster in California. May not be applicable to all states.

You should be safe calling your insurance company. It wouldn't hurt to get an estimate, if you can get a shop to provide you one for free.

I don't know what "banged up a little" means. But keep this in mind:
Comprehensive covers vandalism, theft, fire, extreme weather (hail/flood), animal and POSSIBLY road conditions (gravel kicked up).
Collision is basically you hitting an object.

Collision claims are what raises your rates. Comprehensive claims do not.

You can call up and tell them "what happened" and see if they consider it Comprehensive or Collision. If they consider it comprehensive, it won't affect your Premium.

If they consider it Collision AND you make a claim, there's a good chance your rates will go up (but it's possible they won't). Depends on how much damage. The "threshold or formula that determines if your rates go up" is up to the Company's discretion and they most likely won't share that information with you. Unfortunately, you won't know if the claim will raise your rates until after you file one.

If they tell you your incident is considered Collision and you don't want to take the chance of your rates going up, You can decline to make a claim at that point (unless there's a third party involved). If you call and tell them you backed into your own garage (for example), they don't care unless you make a claim and have them pay for it.

Keep in mind that whatever "story" you tell the insurance company - if you make a claim - they'll send an adjuster out to inspect your vehicle and these guys aren't stupid.

Thanks for the insight which matches my experience