So you your out on the road and think that driving conditions are absolutely fine for you to drive, just a little later you find yourself in a ditch, your car is banged up and you need some help.

Accidents Happen

The first rule of driving is to know that you are not the only person to worry about when driving your car. As a driver I have made my fair share of mistakes however so far have never caused an accident or have been found at fault in one, but that does not make me invincible or incapable of being in an accident. Needless to say accidents can have many factors as causes such as; road conditions, weather conditions, the shape of the vehicle, other drivers, and even worse us the worlds best driver. Having got over the fact that you are in an accident is an important step as there are now many questions, which have to be addressed immediately. For now we shall assume that this is a single vehicle accident and you are uninjured.

Insurance, Should you always file a claim

When it comes to single car accidents the question always arises are you at fault or have outside forces (weather and road conditions) had a hand in causing the accident? Once you are in an accident make a point of always filing a claim as you can always cancel/withdraw it before repairs or payouts go ahead.  The reason for this is that your vehicle will or should be towed immediately and the Insurance adjuster will give you an overall picture of how bad the damage and the overall situation is.

Received your Insurance Quote

Once you receive the quote from your insurance company its time to pull out your calculator, you will find that most insurance agencies tend to write vehicles off if the repair costs exceeds half or more of the vehicles purchase price.

You are not at fault

If in the accident you are not found to be at fault your premiums should usually not increase and your insurance will take care of your repairs or vehicle write-off without any additional cost to you. If the vehicle is written off however make sure that you take all your belongings out of the vehicle before the claim is finalized as you will not get a second chance to retrieve them.

You are found to be at fault

This I know is the worst-case scenario and usually something you should try to avoid. When at fault you will face an insurance premium increase unless you have an additional insurance, which gives you a “free accident” which some Canadian Insurers include in the Road Star Plus package.

If you are unfortunate enough not to posses such a clause within your insurance package then we will have to refer back to the calculator. May times you will find that damages are only a fraction of that what you will be paying your insurance provider over time when filing the claim with them.  For example my wife had an accident in which she was at fault 3 years ago, at this time she had a 43% discount which had her monthly rates for her 2005 Chrysler Sebring Touring were fairly low. Having been at fault and claiming her accident through her insurance agent the repairs to both vehicles were covered (total cost ca. $3500) and both vehicles were almost immediately back on the road. Having said that in the grand scheme the picture looks great right both parties are driving again and both cars are repaired. Wrong, my wife only shortly after filing her claim had found that she had lost all her discount plus was given an additional surcharge into a different insurance bracket, now her monthly payments were a whopping three and a half times of what she paid before. Doing the calculations we figured out that the additional money collected with the premiums from the surcharge and the time it took for her to return to her 43% discount would amount to almost 4 times that of the actual accident repair cost.

So now that you have an idea as to what your overall costs could be take your premiums find out how much they will rise and how long it will take you to get back to your current levels and figure out if it isn’t worth it after all to maybe just pay the damages out of your own pocket.

Be careful however some damages may look misleading and should not be underestimated, something simple could turn into something large quickly so make sure that you have the full picture before deciding if your going to have the insurance company handle the claim or do it privately. Also don't forget the moment any kind of medical coverage comes into play insurance may be the best way to go to protect yourself from individuals that may abuse the situation.

The best advice I can give you is to always ask questions, never assume that the adjuster or the mechanic will know it all. If they can’t give you answers request for them to find out. Taking someone’s word is great when it’s a friend but when it comes to mechanics and insurance companies where you will have to pay premiums or large bills its best to get second opinions and more information.

Always Educate Yourself (AEY)