Hello-- I am 24 years old, have been driving since I was 17, and rear-ended someone on Saturday in what was my first-ever accident... The person called me and told me that the damage to her car is about $790 and I am deciding whether it is wisest to settle it through our insurance companies or to just mail her a check for it, i.e. I am trying to figure out is it worth it to just pay her out of pocket because of how much my premiums will go up from having an accident on record that was my fault. There is a small dent on my car as a result that I am not bothering to have repaired so the only issue is the damage to her car. My insurance is currently GEICO and my premium to cover the last six months was $570. I went onto the GEICO website's "automated quote system" and entered all of my information including that I had an accident (except that I put in a fictitious name and social security number) in an attempt to figure out how much my premium would go up if we were to report the accident, and it said that it would go up to about $750. When I got the quote, though, and entered the info about the accident it only asked how much damage there was to MY car to which there will be 0 because I'm not fixing the dent, but I still put in $750 because of the damage to her car...

My questions are therefore, if there is only damage to her car and not my car but the accident is my fault, whose insurance company does it go through, and if it goes through mine, why are they only asking how much damage there was to MY car in calculating my next hypothetical quote? Also, if this were to go through my insurance, I am looking at my policy now and am not totally sure how this even works... There was no "bodily injury" involved, I have a $50k limit on "property damage liability", and $500 deductibles on "collision" and "comprehensive"... If this goes through my insurance company would I have to pay $500 out of the $790 out-of-pocket IN ADDITION to the premiums going up, and how long would my premiums stay higher over this?

I appreciate any help on this-- I'm actually pretty confused.

Thanks
-Jeff

Do you have a deductible? Is it $500? If so, that's for your damage. ***ADDED*** I see you do.

There may be no bodily injury claims now, but having worked for State Farm as a BI secretary, I can assure you that whiplash doesn't always show up immediately. The other party may begin to have trouble sleeping and have neck pains or headaches weeks from now and will attribute it to the accident. She could end up with months and possibly years of physical therapy, lots of doctor visits, even surgery.

I strongly suggest you don't pay her off, but do report it to your GEICO agent. Yes, your premium might go up (especially since you're under 25), but letting your insurance company deal with any future possible problems is the best way to go.

Thank you for your response.

So then if I don't send her a check for the $790 and we do report it to GEICO, GEICO will pay the entire $790, not just $290, because the deductible only applies to my car which I'm not reporting as damaged?

Yes, $500 collision deductible is on your car.

Yes, please report it to your agent. An adjuster will be assigned to collect interviews from you and the other party, a police report if there is one, photos of both vehicles (even if yours isn't eventually repaired), witness reports if any, and anything else to help figure out the "facts of the accident."

Do not pay her any money. If you do, you are then setting yourself up for future problems. Don't take that risk.

But if my insurance company is paying for the damages to her car since the accident was my fault then why when calculating my new premium would GEICO only ask how much damage there was to my car ($0) as opposed to hers ($790)? That's what I really don't understand with this...

I don't get that either. Ask your agent when you report the accident. And let me know...

When applying for a policy they ask a lot of questions that may or may not be used to figure your premium.

You don't say how long you have been with GEICO, but I would be very surprised if your rates go up. I switched to GEICO about 10 years ago. I had an accident that was deemed my fault less than a month later. My rate didn't go up. When my daughter started driving, she was involved in several accidents over the first few years of driving. Our rates never went up. The only time our rates changes was when we changed cars.

Often insurance has silly rules for their own policy rates, and a lot has to do it with what you are getting, but the rate is often by accident, tickets and the costs of the accident often has little to do with it, 10,000 accident is still a accident, like a 300 dollar one.

But the largest risk is you sending that check and all of a sudden they have neck injury and now want another 3000 dollars, Since you sent a check you already admitted fault.

Allow your insurance to settle