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Hit some highway debris

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rllu

New member
Location
Houston, TX
Well, I thought I was a pretty careful driver but this goes to show that accidents do and will happen. Driving to work last week I hit a front bumper cover in the middle of the highway.... that bumper cover won.

Killed my bumper cover, adaptive cruise control module, AC condenser, and some other plastic pieces. I'm just hoping that they're able to match the paint and everything lines up.

Definitely miss her!! I've been renting a Nissan Versa... not the same.




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TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
That sucks, indeed. Stuff on the highway is much less common these days, at least. Back in the seventies, for instance, the highways were positively littered with truck tire carcasses, mufflers, various bits and pieces of rusting old cars, and about any crap you can care to think of.
 
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veedubfreak

Go Kart Champion
Location
Denver
This is why I keep a 250 deductible. For stuff like this or for when some jackass hits you in the parking lot. Are you paying out of pocket? That looks expensive.
 
KASPER1

KASPER1

Go Kart Champion
Location
AMONGST U
That sucks dude! With any luck ya get a few stone chips fixed while she's getting new paint.
 
R

reallypeacedoff

Ready to race!
Location
Los Angeles
Sucks dude! I had a rolling hubcap down the highway hit my front bumper. Scraped some paint off but no body damage. Still, annoying to look at when you try to take good care of your car. These things happen, just gotta go with the flow!
 
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Stevo_CT

Ready to race!
Location
Cape Town
Sorry to see this OP, hope the repair is 100% like new.
Can anyone explain deductibles to me? Over here, we have something call excess. I'm assuming it's the amount you pay regardless of any claim?

For instance, if my windscreen gets cracked, I pay an excess of around 50US$.
Should I get into an accident, my excess is around 200US$.

You guys often talk about out of pocket and deductibles, for us (not all I'm sure) non US folks, how does this work?
 
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TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
Stevo_CT said:
Sorry to see this OP, hope the repair is 100% like new.
Can anyone explain deductibles to me? Over here, we have something call excess. I'm assuming it's the amount you pay regardless of any claim?

For instance, if my windscreen gets cracked, I pay an excess of around 50US$.
Should I get into an accident, my excess is around 200US$.

You guys often talk about out of pocket and deductibles, for us (not all I'm sure) non US folks, how does this work?
Click to expand...

Yeah, sounds like your "excess" is our "deductible." In the USA, for insurance (health or car), the deductible is the amount you pay regardless of what the insurance is covering. So, if I have a $500 deductible on my car policy, and I need repairs that cost $1000, the insurance only starts paying after I've paid my $500. Likewise, if the deductible is $250, I only have to pay that and the insurance picks up the other $750.

Higher deductibles mean, usually, lower rates. Lower deductibles mean, generally, higher rates. Most people try and balance it out by figuring how much out of pocket they can afford vs. how much they want to spend on a monthly insurance premium.

Out of pocket gets trickier. My health plan has both a deductible and an out of pocket limit. Together, they essentially make up the amount you have to pay, in total, before the insurance takes care of everything after that.

Before I meet my deductible, some stuff is covered 100%, some is covered partially; for the latter, I pay out of pocket and that amount applies to my deductible. Once I meet my deductible, the insurance pays for nearly all of the charges I incur, but there's still a small amount I have to pay; this is called the out of pocket limit. Once I hit that, further charges are pretty much 100% covered by insurance. The reason there are two numbers it seems is that, for some plans like mine, once you meet your deductible the insurance pays, roughly, like 90% instead of 80%, until you meet your out of pocket limit, when it starts to pay 100%.

Essentially, despite the complicated terminology, for the consumer, your out of pocket expenses are simply what you have to pay above and beyond your premiums. Part of that is the formal deductible, which is set by your plan and what you pay for insurance, and part may be labeled "out of pocket" which then functions as sort of an additional deductible.
 
T

tax guy

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
New Rochelle, NY
A quality body shop should be able to match the paint precisely. Did you get any advance warning from the Intelligent Crash Response System (ICRS) or was it not so intelligent that it missed a piece of debris on the road as large as a bumper cover?
 
R

rllu

New member
Location
Houston, TX
tax guy said:
A quality body shop should be able to match the paint precisely. Did you get any advance warning from the Intelligent Crash Response System (ICRS) or was it not so intelligent that it missed a piece of debris on the road as large as a bumper cover?
Click to expand...



It didn't pick it up... I think it was rather low to the ground and 'flying under the radar'


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S

Stevo_CT

Ready to race!
Location
Cape Town
TheWombat said:
Yeah, sounds like your "excess" is our "deductible." In the USA, for insurance (health or car), the deductible is the amount you pay regardless of what the insurance is covering. So, if I have a $500 deductible on my car policy, and I need repairs that cost $1000, the insurance only starts paying after I've paid my $500. Likewise, if the deductible is $250, I only have to pay that and the insurance picks up the other $750.

Higher deductibles mean, usually, lower rates. Lower deductibles mean, generally, higher rates. Most people try and balance it out by figuring how much out of pocket they can afford vs. how much they want to spend on a monthly insurance premium.

Out of pocket gets trickier. My health plan has both a deductible and an out of pocket limit. Together, they essentially make up the amount you have to pay, in total, before the insurance takes care of everything after that.

Before I meet my deductible, some stuff is covered 100%, some is covered partially; for the latter, I pay out of pocket and that amount applies to my deductible. Once I meet my deductible, the insurance pays for nearly all of the charges I incur, but there's still a small amount I have to pay; this is called the out of pocket limit. Once I hit that, further charges are pretty much 100% covered by insurance. The reason there are two numbers it seems is that, for some plans like mine, once you meet your deductible the insurance pays, roughly, like 90% instead of 80%, until you meet your out of pocket limit, when it starts to pay 100%.

Essentially, despite the complicated terminology, for the consumer, your out of pocket expenses are simply what you have to pay above and beyond your premiums. Part of that is the formal deductible, which is set by your plan and what you pay for insurance, and part may be labeled "out of pocket" which then functions as sort of an additional deductible.
Click to expand...

Great info. Thanks for the reply, this clarifies my confusion 100%.
We have to be really careful when arranging insurance here, in particular pay attention to quotes that offer very low monthly premiums.

I had a quote provided for my GTI, around 25% cheaper, it turns out the deductible worked out to a minimum payment of around 3000US$ for any accident.

Another tip over here is to negotiate with your existing insurer.
Shop around, find a cheaper quote, (without compromising cover of course), and tell your existing provide you want to cancel.

They put you onto a "retentions" team, who magically find a way to beat your best quote. Insurance is essential of course, but this does mean we cannot treat this decision as you would any other purchase you make.
 
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veedubfreak

Go Kart Champion
Location
Denver
Unfortunately in the US there are only really 2 options. Expensive insurance that won't screw you over in the event you need them, and cut rate insurers that you'll likely have to hire a lawyer to actually get fully paid out.
I'm paying entirely too much for my insurance, but at least State Farm hasn't screwed me over. The amount of stories of people getting screwed by Geico, Allstate, Farmers, etc astounds me.
 
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