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Car insurance or out of pocket?
wallabeeX
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, I live on a narrow street in a very hilly part of Los Angeles. I have a private driveway, which is great, but it's on a very blind corner, which isn't great. Backing out of the driveway is a daily crapshoot while you wait for some asshole to come around the corner faster than he should. Someone in the past installed one of those rounded mirrors to help with the problem but it's only so great.
To make matters worse, my neighbor parks opposite our driveway, so when I back out to go up the hill, facing the corner, his car's position is such that I can't immediately get onto the correct side of the road. Leaving my facing the wrong direction at a complete stop, waiting for prior mentioned asshole to hit me.
The other night in the midst of a flu I left to grab some takeout and had this exact situation, at night. Where my neighbor was parked fell deeply behind the fear of getting hit and I backed up too far and cracked his bumper, trashed his turn signal, and dented his fender on his 2001 Volvo. He was very nice about it and went and got an estimate to the tune of $1400 and is fine with me paying out of pocket. I have the money - it sucks but it wouldn't kill me.
With one at-fault and one not-at-fault on my record already with Progressive, does anyone have any advice? Can I flat out ask an insurance agent on the phone what my increase will be without them noting it on my account and increasing my rates? For shits I ran a quote on esurance with my current record and they gave me the same rate Progressive currently gives me, and adding the new accident nearly doubles my rate. Again, with esurance. At $170 / month increase, over the next 5 years, this is a no brainer, but I'd love some real math. Any tips?
To make matters worse, my neighbor parks opposite our driveway, so when I back out to go up the hill, facing the corner, his car's position is such that I can't immediately get onto the correct side of the road. Leaving my facing the wrong direction at a complete stop, waiting for prior mentioned asshole to hit me.
The other night in the midst of a flu I left to grab some takeout and had this exact situation, at night. Where my neighbor was parked fell deeply behind the fear of getting hit and I backed up too far and cracked his bumper, trashed his turn signal, and dented his fender on his 2001 Volvo. He was very nice about it and went and got an estimate to the tune of $1400 and is fine with me paying out of pocket. I have the money - it sucks but it wouldn't kill me.
With one at-fault and one not-at-fault on my record already with Progressive, does anyone have any advice? Can I flat out ask an insurance agent on the phone what my increase will be without them noting it on my account and increasing my rates? For shits I ran a quote on esurance with my current record and they gave me the same rate Progressive currently gives me, and adding the new accident nearly doubles my rate. Again, with esurance. At $170 / month increase, over the next 5 years, this is a no brainer, but I'd love some real math. Any tips?
wallabeeX on
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You're almost certainly going to be better off just paying this out of pocket.
There are and will be no unforeseen damages to his car. I know cars very well, to the degree that I knew the estimate before he got it done. This is a very very minor amount of damage, and were it not for the minor crack in the bumper, it'd be a $500 problem.
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If you choose to pay out of pocket, ask your neighbor to sign documentation that all repairs have been made resulting from this incident.
At least be safe if you do it that way.
Absolutely.
Bowen, appreciate your input. I've met and talked with this neighbor and while I know people have and can take advantage of these situations, neither of us have any reason for this to escalate. He's a 60yr old architect who isn't looking for anything more than his car to be back to what it was.
Pictures were taken, enough e-mails were sent and received to show my guilt and confirm the total damage to the car, and in short I don't believe I'll be filing an insurance claim because I'm afraid he'll sue me. I will say that getting a written note stating all damages were taken care of is a great idea that I will do. If I do file insurance, at all, it's because the total cost through insurance would be $2000 over 5 years instead of the $1400 immediately
Sounding more and more like what I already suspected. Pay it out and chalk it up to a dumb mistake. Going to go down to the body shop (that I recommended and he used) this weekend to see if they can get the number down lower since it's out of pocket instead of through insurance.