\ @ Three Reasons Not To Fle A Clam For That Fender Bender (NAPSA)—Although you'll almost certanly want to have your nsurance company cover the cost of a car accdent nvolvng multple cars and serous damage, wth plenty of other crashes, you may want to smply cover the cost yourself. Here are some condtons and stuatons when that opton can make sense. ‘The more ofthese that apply, the more you should consder smply payng the damage yourself. The DamageCost Is Close To Your Deductble Any damageyoudo to anothervehcle s covered underthelablty component of your polcy, whle damage younflct on your owncar wll be handled through your collson or comprehensve nsurance, assumng you have such coverage (some people dropt for older vehcles). If you estmate the damagenflcted to your car to be below your deductble, or even slghtly abovet, you should just handle the repars out of pocket. If the damages are $300 but the deductble s $200, you would save just $100 byflng a clam and your premumscould easly rse by more thanthatn the long run. You Alone Are Involved In an accdent wth no more than two drvers, where nether s njured and the damage appears to be mnmal, you can both agree to not call the nsurance company. There are, however, several reasons to be cautous about dongthat. ‘The frst s that the other drver can at any tme renege on the agreement to not nvolve the nsurance companes. A second s that even seemngly mnor You don’t always need to nvolve your nsurance company after an auto accdent. fender benders nvolvng two cars can be far prcer to fx than most drvers would expect—n the thousands ofdollars, for evena slow-speed(say, 10 mph)collson. ‘The upshot here? Not nvolvng the nsurance companys best reserved for mshaps that nvolved your vehcle alone, or one n whch you know, or have other reason to trust, the other drver. You've Fled For Other Accdents Gong t alone on a mnorsolo crash can spare you long-term pan. That's becauseflng too many clams through your nsurer can cause your rates to soar, possbly costng you hundreds f not thousands over the years followng the clam. ‘The effect of makng a clam vares by the state, the nsurer and how longt s snce you submtted a clam, fatall. But the hkes can be hefty—20 percent or more, accordng to research by the fnance experts at ValuePengun. For more nformaton on autonsur- ance, as well as other personal fnance advce, vst www. ValuePengun.com.
