I've asked around different places and gotten some advice but would be curious to hear anyone else's take here on this, since this happened while old m3f was down.
A couple months ago I caused a very minor fender bender. Was backing up in a side of the road parking spot to get out of it, didn't see the car parked behind me, my rear bumper hit her front. Not hard. Bent her license plate and license plate holder. Underneath there was a crack in the paint on her bumper.
She went to a body shop and got a quote for $1000 to fix the bumper and replace the license plate and holder (both were custom).
My instinct is that for an amount this small, I should just swallow it and pay out of pocket. I called Geico and they said that while they can't determine how an at fault accident would change my insurance rates, any at-fault accident claim tends to significantly raise premiums, even if it was a small accident like this one.
My deductible's $250, and there's no more than a scratch on my rear bumper which I can live with (will probably get it resprayed at some point anyway).
Does anyone have enough direct first hand experience with minor fender benders like this to confirm what Geico told me? I feel like it's in their best interest to discourage me from making a claim, so they may be exaggerating to scare me into thinking my rates will explode if I make a claim. I'm in California and have zero accident history.
A couple months ago I caused a very minor fender bender. Was backing up in a side of the road parking spot to get out of it, didn't see the car parked behind me, my rear bumper hit her front. Not hard. Bent her license plate and license plate holder. Underneath there was a crack in the paint on her bumper.
She went to a body shop and got a quote for $1000 to fix the bumper and replace the license plate and holder (both were custom).
My instinct is that for an amount this small, I should just swallow it and pay out of pocket. I called Geico and they said that while they can't determine how an at fault accident would change my insurance rates, any at-fault accident claim tends to significantly raise premiums, even if it was a small accident like this one.
My deductible's $250, and there's no more than a scratch on my rear bumper which I can live with (will probably get it resprayed at some point anyway).
Does anyone have enough direct first hand experience with minor fender benders like this to confirm what Geico told me? I feel like it's in their best interest to discourage me from making a claim, so they may be exaggerating to scare me into thinking my rates will explode if I make a claim. I'm in California and have zero accident history.
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