had a little accident tonight,...
went around a corner a little "hot" and got a little squirly,...ended up fish tailing a bit and then the back end swung around and when i realized i was gonna finish a 180 or 360 i locked up the brakes and was just hoping to come to a stop before i went off the road. well ,..i didnt, i slid off the road and bumped into a barbwire fence.
damage,...dented rear fender from the post,....scratches down the door from barbwire and some scratches on the bumper. pics will be up tomorrow as its too dark right now.
but what would u do. i think the dent can be popped out, so it needs paint on the door, rear fender and bumper. they will probably have to repaint the entire bumper right??? just wondering if my deductible is 1000 should i make the claim and get it all taken care of? or......does doing that require a description of what happened? and could i get "wreckless" driving out of it even though there were no police involved.???

 

Depends on your region but in most you are required to report any accident that results in over $1000ish (or something close) worth of damage.

If you are confident that you won't have to replace the quarter panel and that it can be popped out, then you might be alright. If it needs to be replaced then the softtop is coming out and you're looking at a lot of labor. Trust me on that one, I had mine replaced recently.

You don't have to make a claim to get an estimate from a body shop. Go find out how much it'll be to repair and decide from there. Just don't wait too long to make a report with the police or they're going to ask questions and possibly assume you were trying to pull something over on them.

Were you speeding? I wouldn't be too concerned about the wreckless if there were no other vehicles involved and no witnesses because that likely wouldn't stand up in court.

 

yes i was speeding,.... after turning off a main road, the connecting road is kinda rural, around a golf course and some ranch style homes,...the turn is banked to the right so usually its pretty fun. not this time. i was at the top of second gear, and its a 25 zone.

 

Hmm well obviously I'm speculating, but without traction control and cooler temps you might be able to get away with explaining the back end just came out and you couldn't catch it. You know better than me if that's believable based on how far you slid.

First thing I'd probably do is get an estimate, though it sounds like you've got more than $1K worth of repairs ahead which means you'd probably claim it anyway. It very well might be a comprehensive claim since no other vehicles were involved. You'll have to find out from your ins company, though you might want to do so anonymously unless you have a good relationship with your broker.

 

Ahem... Racelogic Traction Control... Ahem... less than the cost of an insurance deductible... and a lot more fun.





I'd go through insurance. They can't make any determination of intent or wrecklessness in a single-car accident without a ticket from the police.

For all they know, you swerved to miss a deer. It wouldn't matter for your insurance as long as you don't get a police ticket to go along with it. It's not fraud because you don't have to explain the circumstances of the accident if you're the only property that was involved.

I wouldn't go through insurance if you have previous tickets or accidents in the past three years... moving to a very high insurance bracket will cost you a lot.

 

the temp was actually in the 20s and im on the stock tires with 31k miles on them. i was just looking to replace them today actually too.
i know my insurance drops upon the time for renewal since its been 3 yrs since my last ticket,...but i was wondering if anyone knew how much typically a claim would increase the insurance...is there a percent?? or a average seen?

 

update.....
two bodyshops quoted 2800 and 3200.
DAmn!! didnt think it was THAT bad, will get the pics up later,..forgot the camera in my car and dont wanna run out there
painting the door, replacing the quarter panel and replacing and painting the rear bumper. they said the bumper can be repaired instead of replaced if i want, but the bumper is only 300 bucks.

 

Sorry to hear about the high costs. Looks like insurance is your only option.

You can not get a wreckless driving ticket after the fact. There would be no proof on why it happened.

 

It's unfortunate to hear. It sure sounded like it was going to get up pretty high.

Insurance it is! Don't worry about the tickets, like I said, if there were no witnesses then it's your word against...nobody's.

 

yeah i looked at the estimate sheet and they have to take out the softtop like you said,...pretty lame.
so when i make this claim,...i just call my agent and say "i need to make a claim"...????? and then they will ask to see the car?
ive never done this before so any info is appreciated.