Avoid making a minor claim to avoid insurance increase???

[GeoFan]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Califoirnia.

I have a basic question, and need your helpful advice.

A few weeks ago, I was in a parking lot, looking for a place to park. A car was backing towards me, and stopped in front of me to wait for a parking place. I maneuvered to go around the car that was blocking me. Their driver-side external rear-view mirror touched my car. No damage was done to my vehicle (a minor mark was easy to remove with wax polish.)

The plastic mirror housing on their vehicle was cracked. It seems no damage to the functioning of their mirror occurred, just some cosmetic damage. I asked them to send me an estimate for repairs. When we spoke on the phone, and I offered to split their cost of repairs, which the other party said was about $200.00.

Several years ago, I had a different parking-lot incident, and the damage was a few hundred dollars. The claim was handled by Farmers Insurance, and the result was my insurance fees went up by more than a few hundred dollars over a few years. I do not want that to occur again, if it is cheaper, I prefer to pay for repairs and use my insurance only when necessary...

Please advise me on the best course of action in this matter -- the other party has already filed a claim with their insurer. I want to know if I should pay for their minor damage myself, or go through Farmers Insurance... but maybe, it is already too late, since the other party filed a claim? My deductible is $500 to save on premiums...

What are my options, if any?

[stephenk]

if the other party made a claim with their own carrier, you have two options:

1. you can still settle with the other party directly for the cost of the damage. Be sure to get the other party to sign a release of all claims from the accident when you pay the money;

2. you can deal with their carrier about reimbursing them for the cost of the repair.

Either way, your own insurance rates will not go up.