I Backed Into a Curb and Ended Up With a $1,000 Bill. Here's Why I Didn't Make an Auto Insurance Claim

When I was leaving for a trip with my husband a few weeks ago, I was talking to him and not paying attention and ended up backing my car into a very tall curb. Unfortunately, I did it pretty hard and my tailpipe bent. 

When I took the car to the dealer, apparently the tailpipe was attached to some other car part (maybe the muffler, but I'm really not a car person and I paid limited attention so I don't know for sure). The bottom line was, the whole doohickey had to be replaced and the bill would be just over $1,000 for parts and labor.

Despite the fact that this was a big expense and I had collision coverage, I opted to just pay the money out of my savings account. I did this rather than making an auto insurance claim for two key reasons. 

1. My deductible meant I wouldn't have ended up with any money anyway

The biggest reason why I decided not to make an insurance claim for the $1,000 in damage -- despite having collision coverage -- is that I have a $1,000 deductible on my auto insurance policy. This meant I would have had to pay $1,000 out of pocket before the insurer covered the rest of the tab.

With the total price for my repairs coming in at only a little bit over $1,000, I would have been making a claim with my insurer to receive reimbursement of less than $100. It wasn't worth the paperwork, time, and effort to get such a small amount of money back from the insurance company. 

2. I didn't want a claim on my record that could cause my premiums to increase

There was also another important reason why I opted against making a claim with my insurance. If I made a claim, it would go on my record as an accident. And this could result in a substantial increase in auto insurance premiums.

In fact, in Florida where I live, the typical rate increase after a collision is about 40%. I was simply not willing to get stuck paying a huge amount of extra money on my auto insurance premiums for the foreseeable future -- and losing access to good driver discounts -- in order to get a small amount of money from my insurance company.

For both of these reasons, it simply did not make any financial sense for me to report the minor incident to my insurance company. Had the crash been more serious, or had there been other drivers involved, my choice would have been a different one. But, since that wasn't the case, paying out of pocket for repairs was the right move. 

Ultimately, the reality is, auto insurance provides coverage for crashes -- even if the policyholder causes them -- but it's important to carefully consider whether making a claim is the best choice in every situation.