OT - Will making a claim on Geico auto make my premium go up?

[NHAero]

My wife had an unfortunate low speed encounter with a low set metal street number sign that ripped a portion of the plastic bumper cover, the running light, and the fender liner off our 2018 Hyundai Ioniq. No obvious damage to drivetrain or frame, etc., thankfully. It looks as though I can chop a bit of the fender liner off and re-attach it temporarily to make the car drivable without filling the body and engine compartment with road schmutz.

We're in MA and have Geico insurance, $500 deductible on collision and on comprehensive. We'll get an estimate this week, but it looks like it could be over $1K. Let's say it's $1,300. Is it worth it making a claim, or should we suck it up? How can we determine if our premium will go up, and how much?

Clean driving records, late middle aged drivers (OK, I'm old at almost 66!)

Thanks

[Irishgirl]

That’s a bummer and hopefully there were no injuries...

great question...

A couple of things to consider before going down the path of not making a claim...

Does your GEICO policy offer an accident free discount? If so you may likely lose this AND may incur a surcharge and/or a change in classification (which is code for your stated driving habits)?

When you took out the policy you made the decision to take on some of your risk by choosing a $500 deductible vs a $1000 deductible. Having a $1000 deductible would have offered a reduced premium which now you have lost that savings when considering paying for the repairs out of pocket.

To make a decision purely on the numbers you may need to call your agent and ask the following questions:

What would my premium be with $1000 deductible?

Am I getting an accident free discount...are there different levels based on being accident free for “X” amount of years? (get this for both deductibles).

What is the classification - or driver rating? If you have a low mileage rating say 7500 miles or less per year and you have been driving more than 7500 this classification could change when making the claim. GEICO will take an odometer reading and calculate you have been driving more miles which will increase the premium.

Does GEICO tack on surcharges when there is an accident on record? Does that happen after a certain amount has been paid out on your behalf? And how long would the rate be affected? Typically these last for three years.

Do you have any young drivers you may be adding to the policy in the next three years? If so consider surcharges are generally a % of the premium and adding young drivers will impact the amount of the surcharge.

Beyond the impact to the premium the next is the impact on your cash flow and if it will have an impact on other uses for the $$.

Hope this helps in your analysis.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[NHAero]

Thanks for this detailed response. No accident-free discount in MA. We'll call them tomorrow and see where we stand.

That’s a bummer and hopefully there were no injuries...

great question...

A couple of things to consider before going down the path of not making a claim...

Does your GEICO policy offer an accident free discount? If so you may likely lose this AND may incur a surcharge and/or a change in classification (which is code for your stated driving habits)?

When you took out the policy you made the decision to take on some of your risk by choosing a $500 deductible vs a $1000 deductible. Having a $1000 deductible would have offered a reduced premium which now you have lost that savings when considering paying for the repairs out of pocket.

To make a decision purely on the numbers you may need to call your agent and ask the following questions:

What would my premium be with $1000 deductible?

Am I getting an accident free discount...are there different levels based on being accident free for “X” amount of years? (get this for both deductibles).

What is the classification - or driver rating? If you have a low mileage rating say 7500 miles or less per year and you have been driving more than 7500 this classification could change when making the claim. GEICO will take an odometer reading and calculate you have been driving more miles which will increase the premium.

Does GEICO tack on surcharges when there is an accident on record? Does that happen after a certain amount has been paid out on your behalf? And how long would the rate be affected? Typically these last for three years.

Do you have any young drivers you may be adding to the policy in the next three years? If so consider surcharges are generally a % of the premium and adding young drivers will impact the amount of the surcharge.

Beyond the impact to the premium the next is the impact on your cash flow and if it will have an impact on other uses for the $$.

Hope this helps in your analysis.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[pdmtong]

Great things to consider but don't be surprised if the question "how much will my premium change" cannot be answered. The people on the front end giving you the quote don't have access to the calculation algorithms.

If you've been a long time clean customer it's very possible nothing changes. But make no mistake this will be recorded as at fault.

[Ken Robb]

Sometimes even discussing whether or not to file a claim with your insurer will tip them off that you had an incident and affect your rate even if you decide not to file so be careful how you broach the subject.

[kppolich]

Use the insurance, that's what its for. if your rates go up, time to go insurance shopping.

[eddief]

we were both backing toward each other out of our parking spaces. my radar went off but it was too late. no fault. my insurance is through costco provider Ameriprise. I called to ask the exact question you mention and it pissed me off no one could/would answer. I needed the rear bumper cover repainted and a new tail light. Estimates were all right around $1000. I bit the bullet cuz I think if there is any excuse to raise my rates they will.

oh by the way, since the bumper cover was coming off I thought what a great time to have the body shop install my trailer hitch. went online, got the hitch and i think they installed it for free. oh and by the way the body shop painted my bumper super perfectly.

[Dead Man]

A couple of times in my life I've called and asked how much my premium would go up if I filed a claim... they were able to tell me, asked if I wanted to, and both times I decided to just pay out of pocket to keep my premium low.

Despite people telling me "just asking will cause your premium to go up." No, not necessarily anyway. Didn't for me.

[Ralph]

Use your insurance. That's why you have it. And I bet your estimate of damage repair is way low.

[AngryScientist]

Use your insurance. That's why you have it. And I bet your estimate of damage repair is way low.

i agree on both counts.

if you decide not to use your insurance in this case, you should probably re-examine your deductible. If you decide that your threshold for filing a claim is nothing under $1500 for example, you might want to bump your deductible up to that and save yourself some premium if you're never going to use it for anything under that number...

it seems silly to pay out of pocket for a 2k dollar repair if your deductible is 500 and you've already decided your threshold for pain is 2k.

just a thought.

[jghall]

Sometimes even discussing whether or not to file a claim with your insurer will tip them off that you had an incident and affect your rate even if you decide not to file so be careful how you broach the subject.

Yep son had an accident, Nothing filed, paid for damages out of pocket, insurance company was made aware, rate increase.

[stephenmarklay]

To be honest the question irks me. Not you but we pay for insurance for this mind of thing. So I don’t bother thinking about what they think.

If they raise my premium I am on the phone getting a new policy elsewhere. They raise the rates regardless so J do it every couple of years anyway.

[Ken Robb]

To be honest the question irks me. Not you but we pay for insurance for this mind of thing. So I don’t bother thinking about what they think.

If they raise my premium I am on the phone getting a new policy elsewhere. They raise the rates regardless so J do it every couple of years anyway.

Don't assume that ALL insurers won't have access to the info about the incident that caused your inquiry and so set their rates accordingly. You may find a better deal and you may not. Some companies offer discounts for continuous years as a customer too so just because your rate goes up may not mean that it's not the best rate you can get.

[paredown]

We've gone for years without any incidents or claims filed, but we are two for two recently--each of us hit a deer within about 9 months.

First conversation with the adjuster, it was stated clearly that our insurance rates would not go up--I thought this was refreshing. (Mine was pretty bad, too--they almost wrote off my aging Tundra...) We've got Hartford, through the AARP program.

Geico IME will put up your rates--or at least they used to. It looks as though they have 'Accident Forgiveness' in place for your first accident now.

Full Disclosure: I will never carry Geico insurance again.

[stephenmarklay]

Don't assume that ALL insurers won't have access to the info about the incident that caused your inquiry and so set their rates accordingly. You may find a better deal and you may not. Some companies offer discounts for continuous years as a customer too so just because your rate goes up may not mean that it's not the best rate you can get.

Absolutely Ken and I am not recommending it. I am obstinate… Since it is also competitive I have been able to get lower rates but that is not assured.

[buddybikes]

We moved to RI, so needed to shop for Auto and homeowners. Rates varied widely. My wife hit a massive dog wandering highway at night (awful :-( as the dog was scared onto roadway due to firing off a canon in front of VFW). Our MA insurance was cool about it, no increase. However shopping locally, State Farm said that was on her record (almost 5 years ago) and there rate was horrid.

First step in your situation is to get a quote for repair, you could be looking at more like 2K, which case use insurance. 1K would just pay the bill.

In MA your rating will go from "99" to "00" and stays there for a number of years. Just don't get a speeding ticket and have numbers go further.

Insurance is the new BAD, place couple claims against your house, forget it you end up in high risk pool.