How likely is it that my car insurance will go up due to this?
Haven’t had a claim in over ten years
Haven’t gotten a ticket in probably 5 years.
But, the neighbor kid did $2K worth of damage to my car with his bike in three separate incidents. Basically, half of it will have to be repainted!
I’d really, really rather not go to court. His insurance is NOT an option in this case. He doesn’t have $2,000 laying around.
IF I go the much easier route of getting him to pay at least my deductible, how likely is State Farm to raise my rates with a, after deductible, claim of about $1500 or so?
Any relevant advice/comment is appreciated.
Killing the kid DID cross my mind for just the briefest of moments, but then I realized that might be overreacting just a tad! lol
Forgot to mention that I did file a police report AND the stepdad admitted his kid ( 4 years old!) most likely did it.
Again, just wondering if my rates will go up if I go the easy way and file a claim?
Insurance doesn’t apply due to it being on rental property.
Tagged with: State Farm • Stepdad • Tad
Filed under: Car Insurance
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
have a police report filled. you do not have to press charges, but if there is a report and he is found to be at fault you should be ok with your insurance company.
Out of curiousity, why is his insurance not an option? I had a kid on a bike run into the side of my car and he was sited. His parent’s homeowner’s insurance covers it, or should. It will definitely raise your deductible a little bit. But if you have been that good for that long, it shouldn’t be too terrible. But honestly, I would go after the kid’s parent’s insurance.
Depending on the state that you live in your insurance may not go up at all. If you live in a no-fault state your insurance will not go up. However if you do not live in such a state your insurance may go up a bit. Not as much as it would if you had an at fault accident.
Some insurance companies that do charge for Not At Fault accidents will waive the first incident. Again it depends on what state you live in.
If you have been claim free with State Farm for that long, talk to your agent. Most likely, they have an accident forgiveness program and your rate will be unaffected.
In either case, your agent should be able to advise you with no risk. The agent can’t make you file a claim.
–Adam
It sounds as though maybe your neighbor does nto have insurance? If they do I would absolutley claim their homeowners insurance. It sounds like you are a very clean account and it should not make much, if any difference in your premium.
One $2,000 claim generally won’t make a gigantic difference on an account that has been with the same company for 10 years. It may jump up a bit in the first year after the claim, but if you stay loyal to the company your with, you shouldn’t have any problems.
I can’t say that there will or won’t be a difference in premium with any amount of certainty, but your company should understand and be willing to work with you.
Interesting question; the company I work for has been discussing what a chargeable accident is for the past 3 months. The jury is still out.
If you file a claim with no accompanying police report showing the accident is not your fault, they will consider it a chargeable accident (if it wasn’t, why did they pay a claim?)
I’m going to guess State Farm in you state has accident forgiveness; most preferred companies will not raise your rates if you have 1 chargeable incident in say a three year period. If you have 2 then they’ll raise your rates.
So, if you’d like to file a claim and NOT have it count against you, I’d contact the police to file a accident report against the kid. Turn this in with your claim and get the repair done. Your insurer MAY go after the parents for money, but I’m guessing for $1500 they won’t bother. Good luck
Well, most landlords require the tenants to have renters insurance – and the renters insurance WOULD cover the damage done by the 4 year old.
You’ve got a problem – see, ONE comp claim isn’t going to raise your rates. And an adjuster will probably be able to tell that this was more than one incident. Which means, you’ll be filing one of these every 6 months or so, which WILL be a problem.
So, the BIG issue isn’t filing one claim, it’s that State Farm will think you’re going to be filing repeated claims. And they’ll be much more likely to flat out cancel you, than raise your rates.
OTOH, you’re going to HAVE to do something about this – even if it means suing dad in small claims court. If you DON’T do anything, don’t lock your car in a garage or whatever, it’s going to keep happening – it’s no longer an unforseeable event. Which is why State Farm is going to want to get off the policy.
Unless I’m missing something in your question, all the above answers are needlessly complicated and wrong (sorry everyone).
This is a comprehensive loss. Comprehensive losses are never chargeable and CANNOT effect your rates. Technically, you would be responsible for paying your deductible. However, with acceptable documentation (such as the father’s admission, police report, etc…), State Farm may choose to subrogate – meaning they would pursue recovering the deductible from the liable party on your behalf.