Comments on: Dealing With a Fender Bender

By: abra

abra — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:02:46 +0000

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

By: Be Good

Be Good — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 04:43:32 +0000

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.)

By: The Digerati Life

The Digerati Life — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:07:44 +0000

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…

By: Ben

Ben — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 05:19:32 +0000

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.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:45:12 +0000

It doesn’t sound like you’re in a no-fault state as I am. Here you only deal with your insurance company.

By: Clever Dude

Clever Dude — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:34:15 +0000

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.

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:10:17 +0000

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.