SHOULD I PLACE A CLAIM ON MY INSURANCE?
Not yet…..It’s best to do some investigating first. By all means, give us a call (800-478-3858) and we will talk you through it (that’s what we’re here for!), but there’s a few things you should consider before actually placing a claim against your own insurance-
- What’s my deductible– weather it’s an Auto Loss or a Home Loss or a Commercial Property or Liability loss, chances are you have a deductible. You’ll want to make sure that placing that claim against your insurance is worth that out of pocket deductible. For example if you have a $500 deductible and the estimated cost of repair is only $600 it might be best to just take care of the entire amount out of pocket.
- It gets a little trickier when the damage is to someone else’s property. The someone else is often identified as the claimant. The claimant will need to get an estimate for repairs. In some cases it makes sense to go to multiple body shops (for auto) or contractors (for property) to get estimates. This way you know you’ve got consistent numbers to go back to the adjuster with. And again, if the claimant comes back to you and says that 3 body shops they received estimates from say that the cost to repair that scratch to the door is going to be $250, then it’s probably not worth the hit against your own policy.
- You only need to place a claim if the accident is your fault…..unless ……two reasons-
- You are physically injured- if you are injured your medical payments coverage from your policy will respond first. Your carrier will then subrogate (collect from the responsible party) back to the person who’s fault the accident was.
- The other situation in which you may need to place a claim (even though it wasn’t your fault) is in the event of an accident caused by an uninsured/underinsured motorist. OR this coverage also kicks in from a hit and run accident (there needs to be a police report filed).