Daughter fender bender

[Mark Rainey]

Daughter went thru 4 way stop and hit another vehicle - no physical injury to anyone, but damage to other vehicle and my 2008 Toyota Highlander with 222,000 miles. Front bumper and hood damage and Anti-lock brake light and VSC light on. Estimate of repairs $3,300 with 500 deductible. I am thinking of getting Anti-lock brake/VSC issue fixed and living with the bumper and hood damage - it is not that bad and the vehicle may not last much longer. If I opt opt for this route, will insurer give me a check for body work estimate minus deductible? Thanks for any input, Mark

[Doug Garson]

Why? If you have collision coverage I would assume insurance will pay for full repairs less deductible. The only question might be whether your rate will increase and if it does, does the amount of the claim affect the rate increase.

I think I misunderstood your question, are you asking if the insurance company will pay for part of the damage repair and give you a check for the remainder less the deductible? My guess is some companies might, some might not so you need to ask your insurance company.

[Alex Zeller]

In the past I have had insurers do that but the last time I had to deal with an insurer they wanted to pay the repair shop directly. My wife's Rav4 was parked in our driveway and slid down the lawn into a tree. There was about $7k worth of damage while it was worth $12k. They decided to total it. It was a lot of light cosmetic damage and a little to the suspension so I asked about buying it back and changing the coverage to not cover the vehicle so I could just fix the stuff that had to be fixed. They offered to "sell it" to me for $9k. I can only assume that they intentionally didn't want me to get a check from them and have money left over from not fully repairing it. In the end they had to pay out more. I'm sure that when it was sent to auction to sell it they didn't get anywhere near $9k. I think the only way to get an answer is to call your insurer directly as I suspect each one will have it's own policies.

[Robert Engel]

13yr old & that mileage & it's not totaled?

Not 100% sure but I think insurance companies pay the repair shop directly, IOW you don't get a check.

[Bruce Volden]

I had hail damage to my new pick-up a few years back. Insurance company estimated $7K.
Told them I wasn't interested in having it fixed. They cut me a check for $3500. I think we were both happy.
2 yrs. later you had to look hard for the hail damage.

Bruce

[Ron Citerone]

I had a car totaled and they took the car and gave me a check after I had to battle with them over the value.

Had another older car totaled for minor, yet expensive cosmetic damage. The car was great mechanically and I cancelled the claim, replaced the mirror and lived with the scraped up side.

[Charlie Velasquez]

My son worked for Progressive insurance. This question came up a couple of years ago on this forum and I asked him. His response was this (paraphrased)
The vehicle has a value. When you have damage from an accident it loses value. Your insurance will insure the owner of the vehicle will get that value in the event of an accident.

If the bank owns the the vehicle (it is not paid off) then your options are limited, you must make sure the bank gets its value out of the vehicle. You generally need to use the insurance money to return the vehicle to its original condition.
You could also finish paying off the balance to the bank, in which case ...

If you own the vehicle.
Then you could decide what to do with the money the insurance company will give you to replace that value.
You could repair the damage or live with it.
Living with entails some risk. If further damage is discovered during an insurance paid repair, it will usually also be covered. If it is not repaired and further damage is discovered it would generally not be covered.
It would be noted the damage was not repaired. If a future accident happened the previous accident may affect the coverage of the new claim. He gave the example of a customer that had chosen not to repair a dent in a rear panel. The customer subsequently had an accident that damaged the bumper. (edit: and additional damage to the panel) The body shop could/would not repair the bumper without repairing the rear panel. The insurance company would not cover the repair of the panel.

If the vehicle is totaled, then they buy the car from you. It is their car now. They will often sell it back to you at a reduced price.

In summary, the company is insuring the value of the vehicle, not the actual vehicle.

[Curt Harms]

13yr old & that mileage & it's not totaled?

Not 100% sure but I think insurance companies pay the repair shop directly, IOW you don't get a check.

We recently had a minor claim with Liberty Mutual. We had a choice whether to receive a check or for them to pay the shop directly.

[Mark Rainey]

Why? If you have collision coverage I would assume insurance will pay for full repairs less deductible. The only question might be whether your rate will increase and if it does, does the amount of the claim affect the rate increase.

I think I misunderstood your question, are you asking if the insurance company will pay for part of the damage repair and give you a check for the remainder less the deductible? My guess is some companies might, some might not so you need to ask your insurance company.

Yes Doug, that was my question. It looks it I may have to ask my insurance company.

[Mike Henderson]

You have the right to receive the money that would have paid for the repairs. You can decide what you want to do - have the vehicle repaired, leave it alone, or fix it yourself.

The insurance payment is for the decrease in the value of the vehicle. If you went to sell it, a reasonable buyer would deduct the repair cost from the otherwise value of the vehicle because they will have to get it repaired to get to the "blue book" value of the vehicle.

Mike

[Jerome Stanek]

But the insurance may not pay if you have another accident if you take the money and not have it repaired

[Mike Henderson]

But the insurance may not pay if you have another accident if you take the money and not have it repaired

It's all about what your loss is. Let's say you have an accident and the repair cost is $3,000. You decide to take the money and not repair the vehicle. The value of your vehicle is now the blue book minus $3,000.

Then let's say you have another accident - let's say it's on the other end of the vehicle so it's not mashing the same place again, and it would cost $4,000 to repair. If the value of your vehicle is less than $4,000 (book minus the $3,000 of your previous accident) the insurance company will declare it a total loss and pay you whatever the value is (less than $4,000) and take your vehicle.

Alternately, you could keep your vehicle and they give you nothing.

If the net value of your vehicle is more than $4,000 they have to fix the damage from the second accident or give you $4,000 and you do what you want with the vehicle.

Mike

[Tom Bender]

A big caution here!

Ask your insurance agent what will happen to your premiums if you file a claim, or the other driver files to get his deductible back from your insurer. When my car was tagged from behind my insurance paid to repair mine but my premium did not change. Had I filed with the other driver's insurer to get my $500 deductible back his insurance would have gone up about 1750 per year for 4 years. I contacted him and he came right over with cash. In this case you are on his end of it.

This is Michigan, your rules may be different.