I Got Hit. Claim Opened. Now He Wants to Pay Me Directly?

[mattupthehill]

Anyone knows how those accident records end up on the carfax report if it is not insurance companies doing that?

Self-insurance - I didn't know. Let me check it out. I myself do not believe in investing anything that the reward is not greater than the risk. I never believe in insurance. I would rather save the money for the rainy days. Why pay to feed the insurance people. A great portion of the premiums goes to administrative cost and wages of people in the industry.

Let me ask you a question. Define what you believe the risk is in not carrying insurance ( keep every scenario in mind, you can't choose the accident you're involved in). How much do you stand to lose if you were sued for say $100,000?

Now take that vs. how much premium you pay and then decide if the reward outweighs the risk.
You can save that $150 a month for rainy day but better hope you don't get in an accident on that rainy day

 

[INSUREGEEK]

I took the car to a few body shops. They got the VIN number and quoted me estimates. Now the estimate system has my vin and personal info, they will sell to carfax even I do not give the body shop the job? OMG! Then it will show up on my carfax report as an accident record? No kidding!

I believe it's strictly VIN driven. I don't think your personal info is included.

I recently sold a car for a customer that went into a nursing home after her accident. I ran the Carfax on the car, and her oil changes even showed up!

On a side note, I've also seen minor fender benders show up as major collision damage, and flood-totaled cars show up as minor comprehensive. In the body shop world we say there are 2 thing less dependable than a used car salesman: airbags and Carfax

I wouldn't sweat your personal info, but who really knows??

 

[fixingstill]

Every decision I make in life is based on reward and risk. Flip a coin, it is 50/50 head or tail. What if I pay you back 60 cents for a dollar if you win guessing it is head or tail. I would not bet if I were you. Lottery - chance of winning is, say, 1 in 200 million. Yet for that $1 you spend, they pay you only $10 million and if there are more than 1 winner, you split with them.
Buying insurance is good investment if you know you have greater of getting into an accident than the insurance company think you would.

But the State of California forced me to have insurance.

 

[fixingstill]

Let me ask you a question. Define what you believe the risk is in not carrying insurance ( keep every scenario in mind, you can't choose the accident you're involved in). How much do you stand to lose if you were sued for say $100,000?

Now take that vs. how much premium you pay and then decide if the reward outweighs the risk.
You can save that $150 a month for rainy day but better hope you don't get in an accident on that rainy day

Decisions in life are all based on risk and reward. Flipping a coin, it is 50/50 head or tail. If u pay me 60 cents on a dollar if I guess it right, I would not bet. Lottery - one in 200 million but they only pay you $10 million for the $1 you spend, and they split the $10M if there are more than 1 winner. Then it is not a good investment. Insurance is the same concept, mathematically and statistically.

But State of California forces me to have insurance.

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I believe it's strictly VIN driven. I don't think your personal info is included.

I recently sold a car for a customer that went into a nursing home after her accident. I ran the Carfax on the car, and her oil changes even showed up!

On a side note, I've also seen minor fender benders show up as major collision damage, and flood-totaled cars show up as minor comprehensive. In the body shop world we say there are 2 thing less dependable than a used car salesman: airbags and Carfax

I wouldn't sweat your personal info, but who really knows??

No wonder they are so happy to see people coming in to get just estimates. Gosh, this world is so tricky.
No way I can go back those shops and ask them not to disclose the info? Or ask carfax to erase the info I did not authorize them to disclose? I guess not.

 

[INSUREGEEK]

Driving and owning a car isn't a right, it is a privilege and a VERY big responsibility!!

Driving a car means you might tear up someone else's stuff. You owe them for that damage = financial responsibility.

My car recently got hit by a dude OD'd on heroin. I'm glad he took care of his financial responsibility to the owners of the 5 cars he hit.......heartbroken that his kids can't understand why daddy left in cuffs.

Also the reason you keep collision on any car you can't replace tomorrow.

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On the Carfax thing - I am still looking into it and our contract. The point is that everything on your car is tied to it's VIN one way or another. Make sure the shop gives you a full "Final" estimate on the repairs and copies of receipts for parts purchased.

 

[JohnWalker]

Google can be your friend:

How Carfax works, and why you should take it with a grain of salt

My advice get the car fixed through his insurance. Even if the guy pays out of pocket (rarely ever works), it's not worth the hassle if you're not at fault.

The only person you're going to bennefit bypassing insurance is the at fault driver and there's a high chance it will be at your expense.

 

[fixingstill]

Thank you for all the discussion and helpful info.

 

[Indiana_Adam]

Regardless of carfax, which they get the info from body shops on completed jobs, a good dealership appraiser is going to know work was done. No matter how good the body work is, it's not factory. The paint will be thicker and can be measured by a laser device. Though the lack of a carfax report works in your favor.

In regards to insurance, How would you like to be paralyzed from the neck down by a driver with no insurance? Who pays your medical bills? How do you pay the rent, mortgage, bills, food on the table, etc? Insurance is in place to protect you AND the people around you. If you can't afford to have insurance, use public transportation.