Dealing With a Fender Bender

Written by nickel - 7 Comments

Last week my wife was out and about with the boys in our Honda Odyssey when she got rear-ended. Fortunately, it wasn’t a big deal, and the damage appears to have been largely cosmetic. Still, she went ahead and called our insurance agent, who advised that she call the police. She did, and when they showed up she and the other driver explained what happened (it was completely the other driver’s fault) and they wrote up the report.

We subsequently learned that we could proceed one of two ways: (1) We could go through our insurance (State Farm), pay the $500 deductible up front, and then get it back when we they get the money back from the other insurance company, or (2) we could contact the other driver’s insurance company (Grange), get the car fixed, and have them pay for it directly.

Long story short… My wife ended up contacting Grange directly late last week, and yesterday she took the car in for an estimate. As it turns, they’ll have to replace the bumper to the tune of a bit over $700. Stay tuned for further details.

Published on March 6th, 2007 - 7 Comments
Filed under: Automotive, Insurance
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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

I was in an identical situation a couple years back. Rear-ended. Other driver’s fault. My MINI took far less damage than their SUV! But their insurance still had to cover the $700 repair. I dealt directly with their insurance (Travelers) instead of going through mine. Everything worked out well… except my poor baby was in the shop for five days.

The insurance also covered a loaner car, but I just kept the $30 a day and worked from home the whole week. I was only 22 at the time, so I’m not even sure a rental company would’ve loaned me a car in the first place.
Comment by Nick — Mar 6th 2007 @ 9:10 am
When my Acura was rear-ended a few years back, I chose to pay the deductible with Allstate. This got the process moving much more quickly and they fixed in one of their Sterling Auto Body shops. The replacement was about $550, but I got the $500 back in a couple weeks.

If you had some no-name insurance company, I would suggest not giving them your money for fear of not getting it back. However, I think it would be safe to pay the State Farm deductible. This is a no fault accident, so they’re not allowed to raise your premiums.
Comment by Clever Dude — Mar 6th 2007 @ 9:34 am
It doesn’t sound like you’re in a no-fault state as I am. Here you only deal with your insurance company.
Comment by Jerry — Mar 6th 2007 @ 3:45 pm
I had the same situation and opted to not pay my deductible and work directly with the other guy’s insurance.

Unfortunately, since I called my insurance company to ask about it, they opened a ticket that will now show up on my record, even though I didn’t file a claim.

Next time, I’ll call and ask my questions anonymously.
Comment by Ben — Mar 10th 2007 @ 12:19 am
Have gotten rear ended so many times that I’ve gotten 3 new bumpers in the last so many years (diff. vehicles though)! Each to the tune of $1,000. But good thing the other party always paid…
Comment by The Digerati Life — Mar 11th 2007 @ 9:07 pm
I opted to have our insurance company recover the $1000 deductible from the other party, and am glad I did - the other party’s insurance was expired and I would have to go through small claims etc - AAA is doing all that for me as they recover their $18000 from the other party. (Although I haven’t seen any money yet.)
Comment by Be Good — Mar 17th 2008 @ 12:43 am
I got into a situation where i scratched the rear bumper of the car in front while pulling out of the sideway parking.
I am not covered for liability. So i gave him 500$ for repairs, we exchanged no’s and address and went off. As i tht its a minor scratch case, it wont be more than 500$. Now this guy comes back after 4 days and says that his mecahnic is saying 4000$, so pay me or i call the police. As it has been more than 5 days now the acc. took place and he did not file a police report at the time of accident, how is the probabilty that he can now land me in trouble after 5 days of acc. I am sure that this guy is making up stories as it cant be 4000$ for minor scratches…. plz help
Comment by abra — May 7th 2008 @ 10:02 am