Do I Have to Report Fender Benders to My Insurance Company?

Have you ever had a little fender bender and decided not to file a claim out of fear that your insurance premiums would rise? You are not the first driver to be in this position. As a personal injury attorney I see this quite a bit. A lot of people would prefer to just pay for the damages out of pocket and be done with it all. Usually though they're only considering the following things:

1)How much their premiums will go up. This is something you really should be familiar with BEFORE you purchase your insurance policy, let alone file a claim. Although you may have initially been given a cheap deal most companies will hike up your premiums if you're found at fault in an accident.

2)Who was at fault? Not just who caused the crash, more than one party can be at fault in an accident. Fault can be determined several different ways. If you are found to be at fault for an accident your premius are almost certain to rise.

You may think it's a good idea not to report accidents to your insurance company based on what is mentioned above. Often times this can be the case if the police aren't involved, and the damage seems that it's going to be less than your deductible. If a police report is filed though, your insurance carrier is probably going to find out anyway. There are a lot of insurance policies that state the policy holder must promptly report any accident. You may not even have a choice!

You should also consider that injuries won't manifest themselves for weeks after an accident, causing long term or even permanent damage. You may ruin your claim by not reporting the accident if you do end up having injuries. If you injured someone else, you could find yourself being sued, and you won't have the insurance company to support you. This scenario could end up costing you a lot more in time and money than it ever would have in increased insurance premiums. This is why filing a police report is important. If anyone files a claim in the future, there will be an accurate record. Considering all of this, it seems like a no brainer that you should report auto accidents. But as you're aware, dealing with insurance adjusters can be difficult. Every situation is different, speak with an experienced auto accident attorney and see what they have to say if you're deciding whether or not to report an accident. It never hurts to be informed.


------

James Brown is a Missouri injury lawyer based in St. Louis. Before you are hurt in a car accident you need to know the most common mistakes car accident victims make when talking to the insurance adjuster that ruin their accident claims. You can request a free copy of his Missouri accident guide, "I Survived! The Crash Victims Guide to Surviving the Aftermath" at his website http://www.themissouriinjurylawyer.com .