Minor car accident

The one time I went with the "I don't have insurance, please don't call the cops, I'll pay for everything", I wound up with my car in the shop that would give him a good deal and got a shitty paint job that took forever. I handled it wrong, admittedly, (it was his brother in law's shop or something) but never again. My insurance company has been very good to us over the years.

 

Here's the realistic view of insurance; you pay good money for insurance, use it. Will your rates go up? Slightly, but it will take multiple years to make up for the amount you are paying out of pocket to avoid insurance. Do the math.

Insurance companies would LOVE it if you paid them for insurance then never put in a claim. (Think about that sentence.)

Insurance companies will make a note of your claim but you are part of a larger pool which is how your rate is calculated. One claim is not going to kill your rate.

 

Agree with every word of that, qt. A good friend of mine is an agent with a big-name company, and he's told me the same thing (in so many words).

And to go along with that, if you have any kind of an accident, use your agent to do all of your dirty work. It's why you have an insurance agent, to deal with the car repair places, the rental car places, the other party/parties in the accident, and the other insurance company. You are paying to have an expert deal with any headaches that come up.

 

Another concern with "have my guy fix it" is the matter of how much damage was done.

My wife had a minor crash and the initial estimate was $1,600. When the insurance suggested body shop pulled the car part they found more damage underneath, bringing the cost to $4,000.

Would the other party's "guy" have found the additional damage, or just fix what could be seen?

 

Exactly. You should never, ever be at the mercy of another guy's guy.

 

Sort of in keeping with the theme ...

First I should note two developments. First, this free-range (but not really feral) cat, Buddy, has adopted us of late. Everyone in the neighborhood knows Buddy. Nobody knows whose cat Buddy is.

Second, I bought my older daughter a replacement car yesterday and have been doing a little fix-it-up today.

Buddy likes to make himself home wherever, and he is not shy about inserting himself where he really doesn’t belong. Today, while I was working on the new-ish car, I pushed it backward, and it ran over and stopped on the end of his tail.

Mass hysteria ensued. Buddy immediately launched into an opera and flitted, back and forth, trying desperately to free himself. While I scrambled to find the jack, MommaQuant appeared on the scene trying to help. The last thing I wanted was for him to bite her in fear or anger. It was all I could do to not play the “Get the fuck back in the house!” card.

All seems to be well now ... but I had an extra glass of wine tonight.

 

Uh, how's the pussy?

 

This deserves a thread of its own.

 

Change Buddy's name to Bob, as in bobcat.

 

I was supposed to take my car into the shop today. Over the weekend, a kid hit my rear bumper squarely while I was at a red light. It was his father's car. I kind of feel bad for him because he was so worried about it.

His father called. They, too, want to pay out of pocket. Everyone is scared to death of going through insurance. I wonder why.

 

Is it just me or are you the unluckiest dude when it comes to cars?

 

I've yet to own a car that came off the assembly line in the 21st century. Shudder to think what insurance rates are for new cars.