Anyone here sell/know about car insurance

G

GT2003

0
Here's the deal. Our oldest child decided to wrap his car around a tree yesterday. He's fine but the car is totalled for sure(98 dodge avenger). Anyway, we still have full coverage on it. His dad is going to get his next vehicle for him and pay the insurance. 2 questions:

1. Should i just eat it (not turn in a claim) so that our rates won't jump

OR

2. File a claim, let them total it, drop him and the car from our insurance and hope for the best? He's 23 and still in school so we can't carry him much longer anyway.

Does anyone know how this really works? I've paid for the insurance so i'm tempted to file a claim but not if my rates will jump a bunch. Let me know.
 
Why not claim it, if it is worth more than the deductible, then have your son pay the surcharge amount beyond what the insurance premium would be if he had not crashed (assuming that you previously agreed to pay the base level insurance premium)?
 
I'd also check the laws in your state. You may have no choice but to file the claim. I assume there was some kind of accident report filed by the police from the sounds of the crash (glad yer son is ok).

Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I'd file the claim, see how it pans out, your son should pay the deductable (or pay you back IN FULL). From your post it sounds like your son is responsible for the crash and totally the car, and he's 23...he needs to step up and own his actions.

I say this as an only child, who's parents probably took a little too good a care of me past the point I should have been forging my own way through life. I still owe them $$$ for a car I haven't owned for 7 years, and they'll never see that unless I win the lotto.

Helping out when the situation is bad is one thing. But fixing the problems that your kid creates for themselves just teaches them to rely on you to keep fixing their mistakes. They'll never function solo in the real world if they're co-dependent on you.
 
I work in insurance, so I'll give you my 2 cents.

First of all I'm glad your son is ok.

1. File the claim. You paid the insurance for this reason. Your rates shouldn't go up very much.

2. Put the adult on his own policy. By the age of 23 he should be paying all his own bills and be a fully responisble adult. I agree with Malkore on cutting him off.

3. Find out what date your policy renews. Insurance laws vary state to state, but here we do not increase/decrease premiums until renewal. The month before you renew go talk to your agent and find out how much it will go up(we can not see rate changes untill then). If it is going to go up more than you can manage, you have 2 options:
A. Make son pay difference
B. Switch insurance carriers. If your son is on his own policy, his accident will not follow you to a different carrier.

VERY IMPORTANT: Make sure your son is on his own policy as soon as possible! When you go to your current carrier to find out about rate increase, if you don't have the son removed by then, the premium for removing him will not go down as much as it could have.

Good Luck!
 
Its best to get kids on their own insurance right out the gate IMO. That way the establish history with the insurance company and as they stay longer with the company, rates go down.

Ive already established my son a member # with my insurance company and hes only 2 1/2.
 
Sorridere,

My wife and I have had 3 accidents and 1 towing claim in the last 3 years, the oldest child has nothing. 2 of the 4 claims will be longer than 3 years by October or so. Will this affect our "renewability" if we've already got all this on there and then file on this car?

Also, our son will be OFF our insurance once the claim is filed/completed. His biological dad is supposedly going to get him a vehicle and the insurance to go with it. Will this affect anything?

P.S. - the only reason he is on our insurance is because he is in his last few semesters of school. Once he graduates, he's on his own.
 
Check w/ your agent on the # of yrs they charge for accidents. We have 2 different companies we work with, one charges 3yrs and the other charges 4yrs. Since you do have quite a few accidents they could deny your renewal. Again talk to your agent, I wish I could help more, but every company and every state has different rules. Find out if they are going to deny your renewal if you file the claim, because if they are going to, file the claim then as soon as it is completed switch carriers. If they non-renew you, other companies will charge extra for it, so get away before they do, like I said before if you go to another company your son's accident shouldn't follow you, so the rates should be lower. I hope this helps!

EDIT: I forgot to mention: For future reference and for anyone else reading this, towing claims are usually worthless, your premiums usually go up more than the amount you receive. There isn't much point in making a claim unless it is $400 or more than your deductible IMO. (I've seen people make $30 claims then loose their claim free discount and be charged for a claim increasing their policy by $200 or more just to get the $30!)
 
Last edited:
Thanks sorridere. We've decided not to file. The car is only worth about 1000 bucks. But, having USAA has been priceless. We have talked to some other carriers and when we tell them we have USAA they say, Thanks, we can't touch them. So, we'll eat the 1000 bucks, drop his car off our policy and let him and his dad duke it out from here. Thanks for all the good advice. I appreciate it, Greg
 
USAA is truly da bomb!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top