Why We Filed a Claim Against Our Car Insurance When It Was Someone Else’s Fault

I’ve written in the past about why it matters to have health insurance. But health insurance is not mandated by law. Car insurance is. And here’s why.

A little over two weeks ago, C was in a very low speed car accident. No one was injured, and it was the other driver’s fault. (That was not disputed.) The accident happened only a block for so from C’s campus. He got to school, emailed me the important information, and then went to class. I called our insurance company and started a claim.

Since it was the other driver’s fault, and she was not trying to claim otherwise, we could have waited for her insurance company to call us. But we chose not to, even though it meant that we would pay our deductible on the body work for our car. Why? Time and convenience.

It was a full three days after the accident before the other insurance company contacted C and said they would pay for things. That would have been 3 days where we would have been down to one vehicle. Could we have managed? Yes, but not without a lot of rearranging the schedule. That would have been 3 more days while our car sat in our garage, not being repaired. As it was it took over two weeks (due to weather conditions) for the car to be repaired.

Sure, we could have gotten a rental car without the insurance coverage, but then we would have paid retail rates and not gotten the rental company discount- which was about 40%.

But mostly, it would have meant that we would have had to deal with the other insurance company- make sure they were being billed, and paying the bill ourselves if there were problems. It would have been us arguing with them if they did not like the charges from the body shop.

Honestly, that’s why I have my own insurance company. I can afford my deductible. We have an emergency fund for a reason. And this way, I know everyone is getting paid. I may have to wait a little bit to get my deductible back, but this way, it is up to our insurance company to argue with their insurance company. And guess what, our insurance company will almost certainly getter better and faster results that we would.

Nope, as it is, 16 days after the accident, we finally have our car back. In between, we incurred over $775 in rental car fees (and that’s with the insurance company discount) and $4,445 in car repair. We have paid $500, and we’ll get that back.

And yes, I know I pay for coverage like this, but the total still adds up to more than 3 years worth of my premiums.

No, for what I pay my insurance company, I want a no hassle experience. They can argue with the other insurance company, and I’ll just collect my check when it’s all said and done.