Question to those who've had a car accident before

Sorry to hear this, Mike. I really think your wife should leave you for this bullsht though. It's clear she can't trust you.

:LOL: - Just kiddin', pal.

I've been in about 4 accidents I think. I know the process well. THE most important thing, if you make a claim is to NOT take the cash payout they will probably offer you. It's grossly lowballed against the ACTUAL cost of repair but they try to entice you with the cash. Don't bite because it will NOT pay for the actual repair. Have it FIXED and PAID FOR by the insurance company. They will always lowball the shop as well but the shop deals with that, not you.

Not a chance they will drop you - on the overall you are what they want, believe me, and they know that. They WILL increase your rates ...it's all part of the game.
 
Lol in all the chaos and misery of being berated berated by my wife for hitting the bollard,
I will say.... when something like this happens, we're both pretty good at not berating the other. Crap happens and the perp already feels bad enough. Don't need to bury them. Not that in other circumstance there isn't the "what in the world were you thinking?" For sure that happens. :pound-hand:
 
You’re way too hard on yourself, Mike. Poop happens, right? I bet your wife supports you no matter what happens.

Speaking from a Californian’s point of view, that damage looks like $2500 worth. Lately, State Farm has been scrambling to remain ultra profitable in Crazyfornia, and in doing so, they have dropped 72,000 home property insurance policies. Not sure where they are at with auto policies though, but I’m also betting that they pull out completely from this state. Maybe West Virginia is a good state for them and they’re going to need members to stay in business, ha ha.
 
You’re way too hard on yourself, Mike. Poop happens, right? I bet your wife supports you no matter what happens.

Speaking from a Californian’s point of view, that damage looks like $2500 worth. Lately, State Farm has been scrambling to remain ultra profitable in Crazyfornia, and in doing so, they have dropped 72,000 home property insurance policies. Not sure where they are at with auto policies though, but I’m also betting that they pull out completely from this state. Maybe West Virginia is a good state for them and they’re going to need members to stay in business, ha ha.
We have friends that live in FL. Not sure about autos, but home insurance is doubling and tripling.... or the insurance company just plain pulled the plug and got out of Dodge. Seems State Farm was pulling the plug and then had a reversal and at the moment are committed to stay. Farmers is in the process of pulling out of FL. Not sure about Allstate. And then an extensive list of lesser know companies getting out.
 
We have friends that live in FL. Not sure about autos, but home insurance is doubling and tripling.... or the insurance company just plain pulled the plug and got out of Dodge. Seems State Farm was pulling the plug and then had a reversal and at the moment are committed to stay. Farmers is in the process of pulling out of FL. Not sure about Allstate. And then an extensive list of lesser know companies getting out.
Yup!

On a side note…
Even though I have stayed with AAA for my motorcycle insurance for 40 years, since me and the wifey have been together for the last 30+ years and at her suggestion, we have been insured with Farmers Insurance Exchange to cover our 2 to 3 vehicles, RV trailer, homeowners, earthquake, and umbrella policies. But the wife’s good friend who owned and managed the local Farmers “store” during this period sold the business to open up her own financial planning business. So comparing apples to apples, this situation allowed me the opportunity to get a quote from AAA to cover our insurance needs. As of last month, AAA is handling it all. We’re saving about $2,200 a year! And, we’re considered as long standing customers because of my 40+ years of motorcycle insurance with them.
 
Yup!

On a side note…
Even though I have stayed with AAA for my motorcycle insurance for 40 years, since me and the wifey have been together for the last 30+ years and at her suggestion, we have been insured with Farmers Insurance Exchange to cover our 2 to 3 vehicles, RV trailer, homeowners, earthquake, and umbrella policies. But the wife’s good friend who owned and managed the local Farmers “store” during this period sold the business to open up her own financial planning business. So comparing apples to apples, this situation allowed me the opportunity to get a quote from AAA to cover our insurance needs. As of last month, AAA is handling it all. We’re saving about $2,200 a year! And, we’re considered as long standing customers because of my 40+ years of motorcycle insurance with them.
We've been married almost 46 years and I think we've been State Farm for near 40 of those.
 
I was with Nationwide from the age of 17 on my own policy ( parents refused to cover me) until I was 34. They never gave me any breaks on premiums despite a clean record. The nail in the coffin came when I went to insure a truck I just bought and they were going to double my rate. I had them with my Homeowners as well and still no breaks. Called State Farm and switched both, saving about $130 a month on car insurance and then about $200 a year on homeowners and gained more coverage.

Nationwide lost every bit of respect I had for them
 
Ive had lots of accidents…. From taking side of the car right off to minor scratches….

Ive had it all lol

All this accidents happed when I rush or too tired to focus…

Worse thing can happen is you lose excess on your insurance and then depending if you have protected claims it wont effect your premium next year if dont then it will and will have to pay bit more…

2 days ago I tried to squeeze through too tight spot and I scratch my car and other womans car she was in it ( i know unlucky me lol )

So dont worry about it man…. I say F**** it and move on hahaha

I guess im sh*** driver as ive had lots of accident.

:hide::io:
 
So, tonight was the first date night with my wife in a while. We went to dinner and saw a terrible movie that literally put us to sleep. Went outside to leave and I was parked beside an empty handicap space to my left while there was a large SUV to the right. Parking lot was largely empty but when I went to leave, instead of backing out I pulled forward and was trying to keep clear of the SUV. I turned the wheel left a bit and didn't see the concrete bollard to my immediate left ( I could blame the blindspot in the window, i could blame it on being tired but whatever the case, i messed up and its my fault.) Long story short, I smashed my wife's left fender and door badly ( door won't close correctly either now).Called State Farm immediately and of course I admitted what happened and I know I'm at fault. Now I gotta take it to get an estimate Monday and dish out a $500 deductible.

But my question is, what can I expect now? I've never been in a real collision, least not where I was at fault. I hit two deer on different occasions but those were listed as comprehensive claims and so I wasn't penalized. But I know for sure they'll probably raise my rates right? Only claims I've ever had with them in 6 years were two windshield damage claims on each vehicle ( one a truck did by tossing a rock, the other just cracked on its own while sitting parked for a month) and I had a hail and wind damage claim to the house roof after a bad storm.

What I'm afraid of is not only will they raise my car premiums but possibly even drop me altogether. I hope I'm wrong but like I said, never had an accident where I was at fault, so I don't know what to expect now. I'm sick to my stomach, I know that and I can't tell my wife how sorry I am enough. I feel like complete and utter $hit over this and take every bit of responsibility for it.
Well, at least you have State Farm which is the best insurance. At least there's that.
 
I was with Nationwide from the age of 17 on my own policy ( parents refused to cover me) until I was 34. They never gave me any breaks on premiums despite a clean record. The nail in the coffin came when I went to insure a truck I just bought and they were going to double my rate. I had them with my Homeowners as well and still no breaks. Called State Farm and switched both, saving about $130 a month on car insurance and then about $200 a year on homeowners and gained more coverage.

Nationwide lost every bit of respect I had for them

Nationwides not on your side..:(
 
Update on all of this: so we finally got an appointment scheduled for repairs. It'll cost me $500 on my collision deductible, against about $2720 in damages. May 5th, it's set to be repaired, should take 4 days. WV law dictates that a repair shop must use used parts if applicable to keep insurance costs down. That means that they have to use the same year or newer parts, with equal or lesser mileage. Considering the car is a 2014 with 70k miles, this proved to be a little harder than expected as most had far more miles, though they eventually did locate a door and front driver side fender of the same year with about 50k miles. Had they NOT located it, they would've had to use brand new parts and the cost would've doubled, thus pissing off the insurance company even more. So, you get what you get I guess.

Regardless, they have to strip the replacement parts down, respray them to the matching paint and then actually strip the rear driverside door and rear driverside fender down to create a perfect match to the paint to the rest of the vehicle. So it's more of a labor costing job than a parts costing. No matter what, I'm glad they are gonna be able to do it and as effectively as well as they are.

As for the rising premium? Looks like it'll be going up about $30-40 per month, which considering how low my premium was for years of a clean record, means I'll be paying about $119-129 a month vs my previous $89 a month payments lol
 
Update on all of this: so we finally got an appointment scheduled for repairs. It'll cost me $500 on my collision deductible, against about $2720 in damages. May 5th, it's set to be repaired, should take 4 days. WV law dictates that a repair shop must use used parts if applicable to keep insurance costs down. That means that they have to use the same year or newer parts, with equal or lesser mileage. Considering the car is a 2014 with 70k miles, this proved to be a little harder than expected as most had far more miles, though they eventually did locate a door and front driver side fender of the same year with about 50k miles. Had they NOT located it, they would've had to use brand new parts and the cost would've doubled, thus pissing off the insurance company even more. So, you get what you get I guess.

Regardless, they have to strip the replacement parts down, respray them to the matching paint and then actually strip the rear driverside door and rear driverside fender down to create a perfect match to the paint to the rest of the vehicle. So it's more of a labor costing job than a parts costing. No matter what, I'm glad they are gonna be able to do it and as effectively as well as they are.

As for the rising premium? Looks like it'll be going up about $30-40 per month, which considering how low my premium was for years of a clean record, means I'll be paying about $119-129 a month vs my previous $89 a month payments lol
Don't owe the price increase to your having a claim. State Farm is one of the companies that have been hitting us all with some hefty premium increases over the past few years..... like double digit percentage increases. Claim or not, you may have seen that increase anyway.
 
Don't owe the price increase to your having a claim. State Farm is one of the companies that have been hitting us all with some hefty premium increases over the past few years..... like double digit percentage increases. Claim or not, you may have seen that increase anyway.
Yup.

Vehicle insurance rates are through the roof recently.

I had to switch insurance companies last year when the renewal came due on my bucket truck with a 42' working height. They wanted close to $6000 per year, liability only!
 
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