Victim of hit and run for the 2nd time in a year. Should I file a claim?

Submitted by katefromnyc t3_11e9de2 in personalfinance

Hi guys,

About 9 months ago, my car was rear ended and the driver took off - leaving my insurance to pick up $4500 cost of repair.

Fast forward to this week, someone backed into my car at airport parking lot and jus left without a note - but this time, approx $2.5k cost of repair. Largely cosmetic, but the car looks awful for a 2 year old car (need quarter panel fixed & door shell replaced).

Any chance I could get kicked out of my insurance for using it too much? I very much like my current coverage (Geico, fairly heavily discounted, got one time accident forgiveness etc) and I would be sad if I had to look for another provider because they don’t want me.

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Optimal-Effective t1_jactqbf wrote

what's the point of having the insurance you like if you won't use it?

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katefromnyc OP t1_jacu7eg wrote

that's true, but some may say that under a certain amount, it's not worth having another claim records under your name.

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MilkCartonDandruff t1_jad18m5 wrote

Time to buy a dashcam with parking mode. Front and rear cams. This won't be the last time either.

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Engineer-Daddy t1_jad195h wrote

I personally feel like if I pay for insurance then I'm entitled to what I pay for, but that's just me. If my insurance company doesn't like me after that then there are 10 other companies that have been calling me nonstop.

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sunny-day1234 t1_jacujdg wrote

What's your deductible? Look online, I had to replace a bumper a few years ago and it was $1500 to replace, my deductible was $1K and it was my fault so I opted to pay it myself. Based on info I got online which estimated my insurance may increase for 3 yrs, even as first and only claim in years. The prior one was not my fault, an AT&T truck rolled into me from behind at a red light.

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katefromnyc OP t1_jacwm8c wrote

$500

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sunny-day1234 t1_jaczyjh wrote

I don't think they will cancel you, they 'can' do anything they want though. You would likely lose the discount and if you wanted to switch may not be accepted for a few years or pay higher premiums. Hartford did cancel my Dad's insurance after he put in can't remember 2 or 3 claims over a few years close together when he got into his 60s.

Not sure if they treat it like they do Home Owner's but we had a claim due to a natural sort of disaster (like 3+ feet of snow over a month and ice dams, had to have roof shoveled +++), then lightning struck a tree in the neighbors yard and caused damage I called but ultimately it wasn't enough to file. Just that call was recorded and counted. When I tried to change insurance companies I had to wait two more years because I 'had 2 claims on the record within a 3 yr time frame'.

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WaffleRaffles t1_jadtgy1 wrote

I’ve had my car hit twice when it was parked, one time totaled the second time 4.5k in damage, this was 4 years apart, I have geico and they haven’t raised my insurance or dropped anything

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nkyguy1988 t1_jaculkt wrote

Yes your insurance can drop you.

For 2.5k, by time you pay the deductible and increased premiums, you will almost surely be better served by self paying.

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