Friday, January 11, 2008

The Impact On Your Insurance Rates Teen Car Crash

A teen car crash can make your insurance rates soar! Many agents will tell you to not file claim and to fix your car yourself. I struggled with this question for a long time. Not filling a claim can leave you in a very bad position. You have an affirmative duty to report any and all losses to your insurance company (note: the insurance company and not the insurance agent), and if you don't, they will not cover your loss (or provide you with a lawyer if you need one).

However, in the situation a teen car crash or collision, your rates can shoot up and make you wish you just pay out of pocket (hell, you might even come ahead). The questions then are: should you file if your teen wrecks your or his car? How much will your rates go up?

The answer is depends. If you teen car crash is a simple hit against your garage door or scratches to the door when unloading groceries then you should probably fix your car yourself. Once a claim is reported, the claims department will report to the underwriting department. Underwriting will ding you regardless if the insurance company pays or not (unless they pay a lot, in which case they will really ding you).

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