Paying for a rental car insurance claim

[CobNole]

So back in early March, my son was backing out of our driveway while my wife was pulling in with a rental car. Neither saw each other and a small crash occurred. I contacted Enterprise when it happened as well as my insurance company who was Geico at the time. Geico interviewed both my wife and son and came away with him being at fault. Not quite suite why that happened given the circumstances. They opened a claim and were waiting to hear from either us or Enterprise.

So I knew the regional manager of Enterprise at the time and he was willing to work with me knowing I had a $1000 deductible. If the repairs cost less, I'd pay him directly over a few months. If more than $1000, we'd see how much more and figure out if we paid him directly or file a claim.

Fast forward to last week (6 months after accident) when I got a letter from Enterprise corporate for $1650 in damages. I reached out to the manager I knew who told me he was no longer with Enterprise after years of being there. Since moving to Alabama I no longer have Geico and now have Progressive.

Enterprise is saying either my insurance company or myself needs to pay the amount day in 60 days. Since I was paid up with Geico at the time, do I go back to them since they had a claim open and pay the $1000 and make them pay the remaining amount? Do I just pay the entire amount myself? The bigger concern is if I do pay the $1000 deductible, will my son's insurance go up because of this with our current company?

 

[F4Gary]

I think your son's insurance it going up regardless. Not an ins expert though.
I think you should let Geico handle it. Pay the $1000 and tell Enterprise that Geico will handle the rest. Enterprise will probably try to get some administrative and loss of use fees from you. When I hit that deer with a Budget rental, USAA told me to ask them for an itemized list of the admim fees and proof that they didn't have anymore cars available to rent while fixing the one you damaged. They usually don't have that info and will then waive the fees.

 

[bryanscho]

His insurance has the potential to go up, but not necessarily. It depends if Progressive runs his mvr again at your renewal. You need to go back to Geico and reopen the claim or pay it yourself. It's a personal decision. If you plan on switching insurance companies in the next year, i would just pay it yourself.

 

[CobNole]

His insurance has the potential to go up, but not necessarily. It depends if Progressive runs his mvr again at your renewal. You need to go back to Geico and reopen the claim or pay it yourself. It's a personal decision. If you plan on switching insurance companies in the next year, i would just pay it yourself.

The only reason I switched is Geico wanted $1000 more per 6 months when I moved from Florida to Alabama.

 

[osceola63]

Consider your car or house insurance to be for catastrophic claims.

You should get the highest deductibles that your carrier offers. Then self insure on almost any affordable claim especially involving a teenager.

This should have been suggested to you by your insurance agent but going with Geico and Progressive probably means you've decided to save a few buck and go direct.

Turning in minor claims is the recipe for outrageously expensive insurance premiums.

 

[NoleFan2U]

How did you pay for the rental car? If you used an AMEX or other credit card that offers car rental insurance, call them first.

 

[DMoriarty]

You need to call a family meeting with your wife and son. Then ask those knuckleheads how they plan to pay for their screw up. Be sure they add in some extra to cover your stress and time.

 

[CobNole]

How did you pay for the rental car? If you used an AMEX or other credit card that offers car rental insurance, call them first.

We didn't pay for the rental car. While taking my two youngest boys to school one morning 3 weeks prior, my wife was t-boned on the side. The parents of the girl (who hit my wife) who was texting when she ran the stop sign had State Farm and their insurance paid for the rental car that my wife was driving when she and my son hit. They literally hit doing 5 mph in the driveway.

 

[CobNole]

Consider your car or house insurance to be for catastrophic claims.

You should get the highest deductibles that your carrier offers. Then self insure on almost any affordable claim especially involving a teenager.

This should have been suggested to you by your insurance agent but going with Geico and Progressive probably means you've decided to save a few buck and go direct.

Turning in minor claims is the recipe for outrageously expensive insurance premiums.

I'm 48 and have never had an accident that was my fault or one that had an insurance claim with my own company. I have had insurance agents over the years and have never had one tell me to do what you are suggesting. My deductibles now are 500 for my car (2014) and 1000 for my wife and son's.

If I adjust my policy to $2000 deductible (highest allowed), it drops my monthly policy by $14. Not sure it is worth changing for only $14 a month.

 

[bryanscho]

That's pretty bad advice from the previous poster. You should choose a deductible that you can afford to pay, not the highest one always. Good job on checking the savings to see if it makes financial sense to do it. Going direct doesnt mean lower rates. I've always found better rates than Geico or Progressive. Always a good idea to have an agent shop it every few years to make sure you're getting a fair price for the coverage.

 

[JohnnieHolmesNole]

This question is actually quite complex. Picture of wife is needed so we can better understand what really went on here.

 

[osceola63]

I'm 48 and have never had an accident that was my fault or one that had an insurance claim with my own company. I have had insurance agents over the years and have never had one tell me to do what you are suggesting. My deductibles now are 500 for my car (2014) and 1000 for my wife and son's.

If I adjust my policy to $2000 deductible (highest allowed), it drops my monthly policy by $14. Not sure it is worth changing for only $14 a month.

I wasn't suggesting that you should raise deductibles to save money on your premium in the short term. I'm suggesting carrying high deductibles to save yourself from reporting small claims and getting rates raised for frequency or being non renewed altogether.

I've been an insurance agent for 30 years. I own an agency in Central Florida and one in Jacksonville. The Jville agency I just purchased. At the agency in Central Florida we have always suggested higher deductibles for our customers and our claims frequencies and loss ratios are excellent. In the Jville agency, the previous owner always suggested the lower deductibles because in the short term it brought the agency more money in premiums. Because of the lower deductible philosophy, the loss ratios in Jax are significantly higher than in CFla.

We are now having to make wholesale changes to the Jville agency including non renewing about 15 percent of the customer base for frequency of smaller claims, raising deductibles and instituting that the staff offer higher deductibles to new customers. In fact I'm in town for a staff meeting this morning to announce these corrective actions to my staff.

My sons had several small fender benders while they were young drivers. I paid those claims out of my pocket to keep their insurance record clean. When I put them on their own policies they got excellent rates instead of being saddled with high rates with a substandard carrier.

Because of the issues the industry is having with fraud and insured's using their insurance for maintenance polices, reporting low-dollarl claims instead of self insuring is costing insureds a lot of money in the long run.

 

[osceola63]

That's pretty bad advice from the previous poster. You should choose a deductible that you can afford to pay, not the highest one always. Good job on checking the savings to see if it makes financial sense to do it. Going direct doesnt mean lower rates. I've always found better rates than Geico or Progressive. Always a good idea to have an agent shop it every few years to make sure you're getting a fair price for the coverage.

Going direct does generally mean lower rates. Several of my carriers offer an approximate 10 percent savings if you use their direct route instead of using an agent.

If you saved money with Progressive instead of Geico it's because Geico didn't have you in their best tier thus allowing Progressive to beat the rate. If you have excellent credit. own a home, have been with your carrier for 5 years and are violation and claims free then Progressive should never beat Geico unless it's an anomaly.

It's not always a good idea to switch companies every few years. Built into the ratings matrix for most carriers is a discount for time spent with your previous carrier. Insurance companies don't like insureds who hop from one carrier to the next simply to save a few dollars. You should have significant savings before you switch because in the end it could cost you money

You shouldn't pick a deductible based on what you can afford to pay. That makes it too easy to turn in a claim. Pick a deductible at the higher range of what you can afford to pay out of pocket. It keeps claims frequency low and saves you from yourself.

Turning in a $1000 auto or home insurance claim will hurt you in the end.

 

[RPMNole]

I wasn't suggesting that you should raise deductibles to save money on your premium in the short term. I'm suggesting carrying high deductibles to save yourself from reporting small claims and getting rates raised for frequency or being non renewed altogether.

I've been an insurance agent for 30 years. I own an agency in Central Florida and one in Jacksonville. The Jville agency I just purchased. At the agency in Central Florida we have always suggested higher deductibles for our customers and our claims frequencies and loss ratios are excellent. In the Jville agency, the previous owner always suggested the lower deductibles because in the short term it brought the agency more money in premiums. Because of the lower deductible philosophy, the loss ratios in Jax are significantly higher than in CFla.

We are now having to make wholesale changes to the Jville agency including non renewing about 15 percent of the customer base for frequency of smaller claims, raising deductibles and instituting that the staff offer higher deductibles to new customers. In fact I'm in town for a staff meeting this morning to announce these corrective actions to my staff.

My sons had several small fender benders while they were young drivers. I paid those claims out of my pocket to keep their insurance record clean. When I put them on their own policies they got excellent rates instead of being saddled with high rates with a substandard carrier.

Because of the issues the industry is having with fraud and insured's using their insurance for maintenance polices, reporting low-dollarl claims instead of self insuring is costing insureds a lot of money in the long run.

This is very useful information. I thought you had to report an accident even if the cost doesn't exceed the deductible. Sounds like I have that wrong. If you get a ticket I assume the insurance company will find that out either way.

Thanks again for the info.

 

[osceola63]

This is very useful information. I thought you had to report an accident even if the cost doesn't exceed the deductible. Sounds like I have that wrong. If you get a ticket I assume the insurance company will find that out either way.

Thanks again for the info.

Not all carriers check MVR's regularly. Progressive does each renewal and a few others do it periodically but most don't go through the expense to regularly check.