Does calling to discuss a claim result in premium increase?

by ShinerDraft » Thu Apr 24, 2008 09:12 pm

I had a minor, single car, fender bender (more like fender scraper) incident in a rental car in February. No other cars, no police, just scraped the front bumper on the wall in a parking garage.

I received claim documentation from the rental car company last week, and the bill came out to about $1500.

I'm working on deciding whether to put this on my auto insurance ($500 deductable). I'm interested in what (if any) effect this would have on my premiums. Obviously, I can call my agent to talk about it, but I want to say I saw somewhere that having a conversation like this with your agent is enough to trigger an increase in premiums - regardless of whether you actually file the claim or not. Is this true?

Also - what is the likelihood of my rates going up for this? I'm with Allstate, have been for about 3 or 4 years with a homeowner policy, auto policy, and an RV policy. No claims or moving violations since I've been with them. Only one auto claim and only a few moving violations (all dismissed thru defensive driving) in the 12 years before Allstate. No history of delinquent payments. Great credit score.

Any thoughts are appreciated..

Total Comments: 6

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 10:12 pm Post Subject:

The loss would only result in an increase if your insurance company learned of the accident. If only the agent knows about it, no claim will be on record. But there is also the question as to if the agent will report the accident.

I won't try to speak for what Allstate would do with the rates. Others, who perhaps work for Allstate, could better answer that question.

What I _can_ tell you is that several of the charges on the rental companies bill are probably not owed. You do _NOT_ owe the admin fee that they always put on the bill. It's their legal responsiblity to tell you what their loss was. You do not owe someone to have them tell you this. They will also put Loss of Use down. Now, some adjusters don't pay this but I feel it's owed. It does not matter if they had other vehicles to rent out while it was in the shop, they still loss of the use of that vehicle so they should be paid loss of use. With that being said, I'd pay them much less then I'd pay someone that was not a rental business (that is, the rental companies loss is really much less then an individual's loss of use). I'd pay $10/day while it was in the shop or something close to that. On the other hand, you could probably get away with just paying the repair cost and seeing if they will accept that and go away. There is a good chance of this.

With this being said, the rental companies actual damages might only be about $1000. With a $500 collision deductible, this makes your out of pocket expense $500 more then if you filed a claim (I'm guessing at the repair bill amount). Something to consider.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 06:51 am Post Subject:

But there is also the question as to if the agent will report the accident.

I'd like to ask tcope (in this regard), whether or not he feels that a captive agent is more likely to report such an accident to the carrier than an independent agent!

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 07:05 am Post Subject:

Hi ShinerDraft,

I feel your query was very promptly answered by tcope (who never leaves out on an opportunity :) )
Only one thing I'd like to add over here..is that there are various ways of asking things (you could just discuss this with your agent in the pretext of gaining knowledge about such circumstances.
A mere discussion (with a bit of cleverness) don't seem to cost you a hike in terms of costs, I say this with a view to your good claims history with your carrier.

Thanks,
Thames_Burger

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 03:54 pm Post Subject: T and I actually agree on something!

They will also put Loss of Use down. Now, some adjusters don't pay this but I feel it's owed. It does not matter if they had other vehicles to rent out while it was in the shop, they still loss of the use of that vehicle so they should be paid loss of use.



If you paid the rental car bill with a credit card, you may want to see if your card had a policy of paying your deductible for an accident. Many use to offer this perk as a sales tool.

Look at the language of the rental car policy or contract, if the damage is significant, you will find you may have agreed to pay for any costs associated with administrating the claim including any loss in value due to the accident history as well. Your insurance policy will not pay for this but you may be required to if litigated.

I have a friend who owns a Hertz agency. They buy their vehicles mostly and directly from Ford. They are allowed to trade their vehicles back to Ford providing there is not a significant accident history on the vehicle. It would be up to the individual agents of the rental companies that might make that decision on the loss of value and whether to include DV on the claim.

Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:35 pm Post Subject:

Well I've learned lots here about rental car services. I always thought once they were done with rental vehicles (rental companies) they sold them to auctions or through their customers. I myself would never want to own a used rental car. I feel they ask too much for them (checked out enterprise when I was looking for a vehicle) and they were probaly not used with care by people who rented them. If your gonna "beat" a car it won't be your own...it'll be a rental. I myself wouldn't but I have known many people who rent them and take them out to "see what they got
'

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2011 01:50 pm Post Subject: UYQeUzeYMqSLoM

Hey, subtle must be your mlidde name. Great post!

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