By Hector Quiroga
A teen car crash can make your insurance rates soar! Many agents will tell you to not file claim and to fix your car yourself. I struggled with this question for a long time. Not filling a claim can leave you in a very bad position. You have an affirmative duty to report any and all losses to your insurance company (note: the insurance company and not the insurance agent), and if you don't, they will not cover your loss (or provide you with a lawyer if you need one).
However, in the situation a teen car crash or collision, your rates can shoot up and make you wish you just pay out of pocket (hell, you might even come ahead). The questions then are: should you file if your teen wrecks your or his car? How much will your rates go up?
The answer is depends. If you teen car crash is a simple hit against your garage door or scratches to the door when unloading groceries then you should probably fix your car yourself. Once a claim is reported, the claims department will report to the underwriting department. Underwriting will ding you regardless if the insurance company pays or not (unless they pay a lot, in which case they will really ding you).
The circumstances of the accident are also important. Why was your teen driving the car? Was it because he does this all the time or s/he just took it without permission? If your claim will display "distrust" or "lack of respect" for you, your insurance company will be very concerned (your rates will be "adjusted"). If there is any indication that your teenager was under the influence of alcohol, then your insurance company might not even renew your policy (or even cancel you).
The reasons above are some of the strong reasons why you should not file a claim in a teen car crash situation. However, there are strong reasons why you should go ahead and file. If there is a passenger or other parties involved, you should always file the claim. If your teen is with a friend, it will probably be another teen, in which case the parents of the second teen will want the kid to go to the doctor. As soon as this happens, a bodily injury claim will be triggered against you. You can end up not having to pay for medical bills, but pain and suffering, general damages and a legal defense.
This applies if there is a third party involved. If your teen car crash was clearly not his/her fault, it does not matter; your teen will be blamed for it. Also remember, teens tend to "skew" the truth. I know that most people will say that their teen would never do that, after all, they are honor students. Even if that is the case, your teen will still be blamed, so you still would want to notify the insurance claims department. That way if you need an attorney to defend a frivolous lawsuit, the insurance company would have to pay for it.
It is a good idea to not report your teen car crash when there is only one person involved (your teen), the damages are minor (you can pay them out of pocket), and you know all the accident circumstances, however, if there is a passenger of a third party, you are better of calling and reporting the claim even if you rates go up.
http://www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com/.
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1 comment:
Agreed. Teen car insurance already costs very high and in case of a car crash prices will definitely soar. In such a situation the person involved has to face so many difficulty. The ideas that you have suggested are great options to handle such kind of situation. Thanks friend !
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