Accident on 1st Day :(

[OrbiterTI4]

Just remember to get the diminished value from the other insurance company. That $$ payout is exactly for your drop in value due to accident history.

My car was rear ended 4 months in. Got $5.5K DV payout. Honestly I would prefer DV payout. At the end of the day. You are driving the same car. Repaired without trace. Free cash at hand. If you drive it 5-7 years before trade in. At that time, your accident history does not affect the trade in value much.

And for whether using own insurance or go directly. My opinion is, going with your own insurance will leave a "claim" record. Even if not at fault. It will affect your new quotes at some insurance company. Your policy has rental limits. You cannot get DV against your own, they usually have a clause in contract that prevents you. You can file DV separately with the third party. If the third party insurance is big, I would go directly with them. Big firms usually do not care about those small repairs without bodily injury. If it is a small one that will likely go cheap, then it may be worth to go with your own.

TX case law precedent recognizes both Diminished Value and Loss of Use, and unlike other states that only allow recovery of Loss of Use actuals, no expenditures are required (e.g. you aren't punished for not having a rental car while repairs are being performed if you couldn't afford one).

Regarding claims, the collision event will appear in the C.L.U.E. regardless of fault. Also, TX has no laws preventing premium increases from not-at-fault claims, so regardless of which company OP deals with, those fallouts will happen anyway.

 

[RISC601]

I ended up going through subrogation with State Farm when my car was totaled after being hit in April 2023.

The only downside to subrogation was rental car coverage. By going through your insurance, the rental car limits are based on your policy coverage. If going through their insurance, you should be provided a rental for the duration of the repair.

Also, you will have to pay your deductible, but subrogation will attempt to collect it for you. It took a few months, but I did get my $500 deductible reimbursed.

 

[Ami-Sven]

Communicate with the insurance in writing only, so you will have record of what was stated.
Communicate clearly what you expect from them, I.e. type of rental car, which shop your car will be repaired, etc.
if they give you any pushback, hire legal counsel.

 

[buckets0fun]

Without taking sides, I have heard it both ways: sometimes very complete, and sometimes one slips through...

Add one more to this, a dealership can input your mileage incorrectly and next service it’s the actual mileage on the odo, boom… now you have a mileage discrepancy.

GOOD LUCK pushing back on that one with carfax/the dealer.

 

[Ostrichsak]

I've heard that CarFax pays some body shops to report repairs... (But it may not be true.)

When did "I've heard" take the place of actual facts?

It's actually the other way around - until OP has a judgment against the other party, the other driver's insurance has zero obligation to deal with OP and any liability discussions with OP is merely at their convenience.

Matching the essence of your comment, your own insurance DOES have a contractual obligation to work with you after you pay your collision deductible. Later, insurance will do subrogation against the other insurance company, at which point maybe you'll get your deductible back, maybe not.

However, claiming it will be more beneficial is entirely dependent on the insurance policy language and coverages selected by OP. Might be better, might not. Dealing with your contracted company does mean the TX Dept of Ins Consumer Bill of Rights will be in play, so that helps.

Also, Texas case law precedent does recognize Diminished Value (which a one-day old vehicle is a prime candidate for), but this can NOT* be obtained via your own insurance company and must be obtained either via judgment against the at-fault party or via working with the at-fault party's insurance. (* the exception being if OP got a judgment against the at-fault driver, the at-fault driver's property damage liability coverage limit has been reached, and OP has uninsured/underinsured motorist property damage (UMPD) coverage, in which case OP can make a claim for the remaining DV owed on their own UMPD coverage).

So basically the same thing I said with some of the boring details and behind-the-scenes machinations left out for brevity's sake. In the end, it's the same thing. Got it.

 

[fholbert]

A fool and his money shall soon part ways.

You must be having a bad underware day. You're jumping everyones s8it.

 

[Kairide]

You must be having a bad underware day. You're jumping everyones s8it.

@Ostrichsak has a reputation of being a know it all here. If you say anything disagreeing with him he’ll write a novel back stating he has owned 1000 cars in his life so he knows more than anyone else. Best to just ignore him.

 

[fholbert]

@Ostrichsak has a reputation of being a know it all here. If you say anything disagreeing with him he’ll write a novel back stating he has owned 1000 cars in his life so he knows more than anyone else. Best to just ignore him.

I’ve seen a lot of his posts, just never realized @Ostrichsak was like that.

 

[DanDi58]

@TexasMYLR Sorry this happened to you! It does look like mostly cosmetic damage that can be repaired. I'm not in Texas so don't know insurance laws in your state, so won't comment on that. But your repaired car show give you many years of service with no impact (sorry) from this accident repair.

On the Carfax issue, it is true that not everything necessarily shows up, IME. I t-boned a guy who ran a stop sign in my VW Jetta and the car incurred $12k worth of damage, including airbag replacement. It never showed up on the Carfax when I sold the car 7 or 8 years later. I did disclose it to the buyer as the car was repaired perfectly and I put another 50k miles on it with no issues.

Good luck!

 

[Ostrichsak]

You must be having a bad underware day. You're jumping everyones s8it.

@Ostrichsak has a reputation of being a know it all here. If you say anything disagreeing with him he’ll write a novel back stating he has owned 1000 cars in his life so he knows more than anyone else. Best to just ignore him.

Some people feel challenged by those who took the time to actually acquire the knowledge because it highlights their own flaws. Must be a rough lot in life to constantly measure yourself by those who you'll never be based on your own laziness. The easy way out is to belittle them because looking in the mirror is too challenging. Not me, I chose to listen to those who actually knew in an effort to better myself and gain knowledge.

Try it... you might be surprised with the results from putting as much effort in self growth as you do following me around like a lost puppy on this forum trying to discredit me. Like that will somehow fill the emptiness you feel inside due to lack of self esteem & accomplishment. Only makes you look like a failure when you contribute nothing to the community other than toxicity towards others who are actually contributing. Your obsession with me is unhealthy.

 

[buckets0fun]

Some people feel challenged by those who took the time to actually acquire the knowledge because it highlights their own flaws. Must be a rough lot in life to constantly measure yourself by those who you'll never be based on your own laziness. The easy way out is to belittle them because looking in the mirror is too challenging. Not me, I chose to listen to those who actually knew in an effort to better myself and gain knowledge.

Try it... you might be surprised with the results from putting as much effort in self growth as you do following me around like a lost puppy on this forum trying to discredit me. Like that will somehow fill the emptiness you feel inside due to lack of self esteem & accomplishment. Only makes you look like a failure when you contribute nothing to the community other than toxicity towards others who are actually contributing. Your obsession with me is unhealthy.

TLDR. seems someone made a comment and you reenforced their opinion.

The ignore feature works better than walls of text attempting to belittle someone that hurt your feelings.
-and for the record, this quoted post helped my ignore list grow.

 

[fholbert]

Some people feel challenged by those who took the time to actually acquire the knowledge because it highlights their own flaws. Must be a rough lot in life to constantly measure yourself by those who you'll never be based on your own laziness. The easy way out is to belittle them because looking in the mirror is too challenging. Not me, I chose to listen to those who actually knew in an effort to better myself and gain knowledge.

Try it... you might be surprised with the results from putting as much effort in self growth as you do following me around like a lost puppy on this forum trying to discredit me. Like that will somehow fill the emptiness you feel inside due to lack of self esteem & accomplishment. Only makes you look like a failure when you contribute nothing to the community other than toxicity towards others who are actually contributing. Your obsession with me is unhealthy.

Wow @Kairide , you hit the nail on the head.

 

[Kairide]

Some people feel challenged by those who took the time to actually acquire the knowledge because it highlights their own flaws. Must be a rough lot in life to constantly measure yourself by those who you'll never be based on your own laziness. The easy way out is to belittle them because looking in the mirror is too challenging. Not me, I chose to listen to those who actually knew in an effort to better myself and gain knowledge.

Try it... you might be surprised with the results from putting as much effort in self growth as you do following me around like a lost puppy on this forum trying to discredit me. Like that will somehow fill the emptiness you feel inside due to lack of self esteem & accomplishment. Only makes you look like a failure when you contribute nothing to the community other than toxicity towards others who are actually contributing. Your obsession with me is unhealthy.

Thanks for validating my points.

 

[TSLY]

So sorry! You may want to consult/commission a local ambulance chaser to go after the at fault driver and their insurance company. Unfortunately, you can only sue for out of pocket losses after the fact. Better call Saul!

 

[schen72]

So sorry! You may want to consult/commission a local ambulance chaser to go after the at fault driver and their insurance company. Unfortunately, you can only sue for out of pocket losses after the fact. Better call Saul!

There's nothing to sue for. It was accidental property damage and insurance will handle it. I do agree with past comments about going through your own insurance. That's why you pay them! To go to bat for you when this stuff arises.

I suppose if the at-fault party hit OP's car on purpose then it might be a criminal act worthy of a lawsuit. But I doubt it.