Self-involved Car Accident

[Jarreth]

I basically crashed the driver's side of my car that I am financing: hitting a guard rail. I drove myself home, I was ok from the impact:damage was to front bumper and headlight. No one else involved. My questions are, am I getting myself in trouble coming home and not reporting it? Can I pay for the repairs myself or do I have to report it? Am I able to claim on my insurance. I am so not sure what to do freaked out that this happened.THank you for your time.

ANSWER: If no one else was involved, there is no reason to report it to the police. If you have what is called "collision" coverage for the vehicle, your insurance company will pay for the damage less whatever your "deductible" is. The company may require you to report the accident to the police in order to qualify for the coverage. If you don't report the damage to the company pretty soon, they may deny the claim. Of course, it would go on your insurance record as an "at fault" accident which may in the future affect your insurance rates. You probably have a $500-$1000 deductible so if the damage can be repaired for about that much, I would not report it to anyone and it is up to you to pay for the repairs. So, first off, get a repair estimate. If it is well about $1,000 then I would tell the ins. company.

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Thank you that answers part of my big worry in this bad situation. Second part I would like your advice on would be. I lost my job and my car payment is a month behind and may go into repo if I don't come up with the $ in time. Now that my situation I ask about above puts me more financially strained. Which I do have Collision w-$500 ded to cover my damage. If I cant come up with $ to bring my car payment up to date or not able to afford the deductible to repair the damage. And just my luck my car either gets repo'd or I voluntarily repo the car with the damages I caused because I cannot afford it. What happens in this type of situation if I let it go to repo or let it go to repo with the damages...... and what will it cost me? Thank you for your time.

ANSWER: Stupid question. You obviously make the car payment if you can before you spend dough on the repair. What good is the repair if you lose the car dufus?  You write to me with discombobulated words and sentences, give no value to trying to sound half intelligent, I give you back the same prick.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

First of all, be nice. I am a very emotional pregnant woman who is about to have a baby in 11 days. As like some people I am having some hard times. So I apologize if I sound as you say discombolated. My question was if I cant afford to prevent the repo and my car gets repo'd with the damage to the driver side of the car......will I get if I am using the right word a penalty for being repo'd in that condition? What happens when the car gets rep'od? How does it affect me after repo. I am sorry for sounding stupid. Hopefully you can answer as best you can to understand me. Please don't insult me....again. I am going through allot of shit right now. Thanks again for your time.

[Avrell]

OK, sorry. Firstly, I don't think they repo a car the minute you go 2 months late. Best thing is to contact the lender and explain the problem. They don't want the car back. They will work something out with you if you show determination to get caught up eventually. Again, if you are short of cash, there is no point to putting it into car repair. When a car is repossessed, they sell off the car and you will still owe the difference between what they sold it for and what you still owe on the loan including the big repo fees. So if the car is damaged, it will sell for less, you will owe more. Again, you should definitely contact the lender, tell them you want to work with them to keep the car. Tell them about the pregnancy. You can even tell them about the damage which will even more discourage them from wanting to repo the vehicle. Good luck.