car insurance Archives — Beating Broke

Does Your Car Insurance Pay for These Items?

April 6, 2020 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

Do you know what benefits your car insurance has? Sure, we all know if we get in a car accident, we pay our deductible and get our car fixed thanks to insurance. But did you know there are several other items your car insurance might cover without requiring you to pay a deductible? Does your car insurance pay for these items? I recently learned that these free services are included as part of my car insurance.

Changing a Flat Tire

I wish I was making this up, but I’m not. I was driving my child home from school when I saw in my path a metal rake lying completely across my lane. On my right was a curb, and on my left was a full lane of traffic, so there was nowhere to go.

I tried to avoid the rake, but it punctured my tire. When I woke up the next day to take my son to school, the tire was completely flat. Did I mention my husband was out of town? My son and I tried to get the old tire off, but, thanks to snowy Chicago winters, it was rusted on. Our neighbor tried to help, but he couldn’t get it off, either. He then mentioned that I should call my insurance.

Does Your Car Insurance Pay for These Items? — Photo by Sebastian Huxley on Unsplash

I did call my car insurance, and within two hours, a tow truck driver was at our house. He took off the flat tire, put on the replacement, and didn’t charge me anything. This was a free of charge service included with our car insurance. I had no idea.

Windshield Replacement

I was driving on the highway when I heard a loud crack! I looked at the bottom corner of the passenger side of the windshield and saw that there was a crack forming. During our 20-minute drive, the crack spread two feet. During our drive back home, the crack slowly snaked itself halfway across our windshield.

I discovered that our insurance would replace the windshield free of charge. The insurance company scheduled the appointment for me, and a day later, two men showed up at my house and replaced the windshield in less than 45 minutes. Again, I didn’t have to pay anything or even do anything. The insurance handled it all. I just needed to be home.

Final Thoughts

I used to be hesitant to call my car insurance unless I was facing a major repair. I didn’t want to pay a deductible AND face having my car insurance go up because of my claim. But as I learned from recent experience, there are several things your car insurance might cover that doesn’t require you to pay a deductible. My insurer told me as long as I’m not using these services frequently, the insurance company is happy to offer these services free of charge. Does your car insurance pay for these items? If you don’t know, try calling your insurance agency to see if they cover these types of repairs and if there are others they may cover free of charge.

Why Purchasing Rental Car Insurance Isn’t Necessarily a Waste of Money

July 1, 2014 By MelissaB 3 Comments

I recounted in my last post the many adventures we had driving 1,750 miles from Illinois to Arizona where we damaged not one, but two rental cars. We saved $100 by not purchasing the rental car company’s auto insurance, but that decision cost us $500 in our deductible. Not my brightest move ever.

If you think, like I did, that a rental car company’s insurance is a scam that should be avoided like the plague, here are some reasons why you might want to reconsider:

The Rental Car Company Has a Different Standard Than You

The rental car company we used said any damage smaller than the size of a quarter, they would let slide. Anything bigger than that, and it needed to be repaired.

Any time you drive a car, you risk bumps and scratches to the car’s exterior. I have a large scratch on the back of my vehicle that I find annoying, but not worth the price of paying my $500 deductible. I’m guessing your own vehicle has similar scratches and dents. They’re minor, and you don’t want to spend the money to repair them.

The choice is yours because it’s your vehicle. However, if it’s bigger than a quarter, the rental car company is going to make the repair, and you will pay if you don’t take out the rental car company’s insurance.

Your Insurance Premium May Go Up

Another reason people let minor dents and scratches on their own vehicles slide is because they don’t want to face a claim and risk having their insurance go up.

Some people even do this for more major repairs. Several years ago, a man rear-ended me, and he chose to pay the $1,400 for the repair to me directly so he could avoid submitting the claim to his insurance and risk having his premium go up.

If you don’t purchase the rental car company’s auto insurance, you’ll have to choose to pay out of pocket or to risk having your premium go up.

How to Decide If You Should Purchase Insurance from the Rental Car Company

To decide whether or not purchasing insurance from the rental car company is worthwhile, ask yourself these questions:

1. Have you made any claims on your insurance in the last three to five years? If so, you will probably want to purchase the rental insurance; in the long run, that will be cheaper than facing a spike in your insurance.

2. How far do you have to drive? Of course, accidents can happen anywhere, but if you’re renting a car for the weekend and driving it around your hometown, you may be able to avoid rental insurance. Our problem was that we were driving 3,500 miles round trip in an area we were unfamiliar with. Things like dead deer and street sweepers on the highway pose risks that you can’t foresee before the trip

3. How high is your deductible? If your deductible is anywhere from $500 to $1,000, purchasing rental insurance may be smarter, especially if it is going to be less than $100.

What is your opinion? Purchase car rental auto insurance or just rely on your own car insurance?

Original img credit: Insurance Disclaimer on Flickr

In a Car Accident? Should You Pay Out of Pocket for Repairs?

March 13, 2013 By MelissaB 11 Comments

Our Chicago winter this year has been a lot less like a Midwest winter–the snow storms have been few and far between. A few weeks ago we finally got hammered by a storm that dumped 10 inches over the city. At the height of the snow storm I had to pick up my son from school. As I waited at a stop sign, the driver behind me bumped into my bumper.

Luckily, the damage wasn’t bad. When I took it to a repair shop for an estimate, they thought it would cost between $580 and $1,200 to fix depending on if there was any damage inside the bumper when they take it off to repair it.

Surprisingly, the woman who hit me decided she wanted to pay out of pocket rather than go through insurance. When I told her that the repair would take 2 to 3 days and we’d need a rental car during that time, she agreed to cover that cost, too.

This is the second time I’ve been rear-ended in 5 years, and both times the repairs were less than $2,000. Both times the drivers opted to pay out of pocket.

If you’re in a minor fender bender, should you pay out of pocket rather than going through insurance?

Reasons You May Want to Pay Out Of Pocket

1. If you have a high deductible. If you have a deductible of $1,000, for example, paying out of pocket if the repair is just a few hundred dollars over that amount may make sense. You’ll save yourself from an increasing premium.

2. If your insurance premium will increase substantially. Each insurance company is different, but rest assured that if you cause an accident and file a claim, your insurance will increase. Some insurers increase your premium by 10% and others by 20%. You may be able to call your insurer and ask how much the premium will go up before you decide to pay a claim or not.

3. If this is your second accident. While you’ll pay an increased premium for one accident, if you file two claims within a few years of one another, the increase is substantial. For instance, State Farm generally charges a 10% increase in premium for the first claim, but that amount increases to 45% for the second claim. While it may hurt your budget to come up with a thousand or two to pay out of pocket for the repairs, that may be the better option if you’re facing a substantial increase that could last several years.

4. If your insurance doesn’t have an accident forgiveness clause. Some insurers offer an accident forgiveness clause, meaning, if you’ve been with the company for a certain number of years (usually 5 to 9) with no accidents, the insurance company won’t increase your premium on the first accident you file. Again, though, you may want to save this benefit for a more substantial accident that you can’t afford to pay out of pocket rather than when the repair is relatively minor.

If you cause an accident, don’t automatically file a claim. There are benefits to paying out of pocket. You just need to understand your insurance policy as well as know exactly how much the repairs will cost before making a decision.

If you’ve caused an accident, did you pay out of pocket rather than filing a claim?

Original img credit: Oops, by fortes on Flickr