If your car was damaged in a parking lot but you did not notice the damage until you got home should you inform your insurance carrier and will your premium increase if you do?

Answer 1

Whether or not you report it is up to you . Things to consider- 1Your age - if youre young or old the carrier may hold it against you

2Your company -some companies will hold it against you some wont, ask an insurance agent who sells that brand of insurance other than your agent, don't give then your correct name when you ask , the agents often supply even general information to the companies when theres a claim or not and you may end up with a rate increase even though you don't file a claim.For example I knkow of a case where an insurance company raised the auto policy rate over $1000 when they got an innocent inquiry as to how much it would cost to add a teenage driver who did not even have their permit yet. Needless to say the policy holder dropped the insurance company like a rock , and did not pay the thieves their $1000 plus increase.

3 How long you have had the insurance and how many claims you have had dictate whether or not to file , A short period with that company or a lot of claims (your fault or not may boost your rate or cause them to cancel you)

4 The damage involved and your deductable ( if its a small claim you may be money ahead not claiming it because of the small amount they would cover if the claim only exceeds the deductable by a small amount ) and you may be able to get it fixed for less money by not going thru the insurance company- reason being that the body shops boost the repair cost because no matter whatthe claim is the insurance companies never want to pay the real and reasonable repair cost- they always "discount it " - they never discount your rate thoug

Answer- PS One other thing I forgot to mention in my answer_Do you know who did the damage, if so file the claim against their insurance company _ If you don't know explain to the owners of the mall/ and police that this happened and you want to view the surveillance tapes of the parking lot for thattime period to see if you can determine who did the damage -That way your insurance wont go up.

- As far as points go "Points " are usually assigned for moving violations- however , again check with another agent for the same insurance company as I described earlier , not for claims which are not your fault.The only way this could be your fault is if you were for exaple illegally parked, not parked within the lines , parked too close to the vehicle whichdamaged yours etc. For example and I know this sounds unbelievable but its true - I know of a case where some one hit and sideswiped a parked carthe person who was driving stopped, and checked the vehicle they hit noticingthat it was parked 22 inches from the curb, by law in that state it must be within 18 inches. The driver notified the police, had them investigate theaccident , issue a ticket to the parked car for being illegally parked(too far from curb) and the owner of the parked car had to not only pay for the damage to their own car but also for the damage to the vehicle which hit them.To note the vehichle which was struck was not sticking out in the traffic lane any more than the vehicles ahead of or behind it , but legally it was too far from the curb when the driver hit it and therefore was liable for thedamage done to the other vehicle involved.