Opinions on whether or not to make an insurance claim
 

Not really F-Type specific but wanted to solicit some opinions. Was driving on the highway Sunday evening and ran over debris on the road. It left a pretty big gouge in the front passenger wheel, and damaged the tire's sidewall. Took it to a shop and they said the wheel might be repairable (assuming it rolls straight, they were closing up so we didn't take it off the car), and I'd definitely need a new tire.

So I called my insurance company, and I'm not sure if I should have... I have an appointment scheduled Friday to have the damage inspected. I can elect not to make the claim of course.

I have a $500 deductible. Doing it myself I'd be inclined to replace the wheel rather than repair; repairing and repainting costs ~$350, I've seen new replacement wheels for $400-550. Let's say $280 for the tire. I think I could just replace one, as other front tire only has 1000 miles on it.

So basically, the thing that I'm pondering is do I bother making a claim or just take care of it out of pocket. I asked the insurance agent if making this claim is going to affect my premium, and of course they're non-committal about that. This would come out of my collision, rather than comprehensive coverage.

No insurance. This is part of pay to play. Which wheels do you have? You won't get a "new" one for $400-550 if it's an OEM wheel. Refurbished perhaps, but then....just fix your own wheel.

Given that the estimated cost of repair is within a few hundred dollars of the deductible, I don't think I would take the chance of a premium hike by filing the claim, especially if they're considering it a collision claim and not a comprehensive claim. It can also negatively impact you if you choose to switch insurance companies in the future, as they'll see that you had a collision claim but not necessarily the details surrounding it.

Hmm yeah on closer inspection the wheels I found are all reconditioned to be "like-new", and not actually new. So that's pushing me to either repair and repaint (if possible), or it actually starts to make more sense to actually go through with the claim. Again, the thing I wish I knew is how it will affect my premium going forward...

If this happened to me I would go with out of pocket. Id prefer the certainty of a few hundred dollars for a fairly rare event and its resolution, rather than an uncertain raise of some amount for coverage for many many years. Particularly in CA, or with multiple & expensive cars on insurance policy. Even if they raise rates by only a few percent, break even within a couple years I would think.

Plus you don't deal with insurance logistics and paperwork

Withdraw the claim. For $150-175 a wheel refinisher will make it look like new. Another $400 gets you a new tire. Why fret over the premium increase for just 50 or 75 bucks?

Of course the person on the phone was non-committal about rate increases- customer service (or you local agent) doesn’t control that. Take the wallet hit now and just pay for it. Otherwise, you will be paying for it for years on your insurance premium. I made the mistake once in my early 20s of filing a small claim (because I stupidly thought it was the right thing to do). Lesson learned. Get it fixed and move on.

In the UK when I had pothole damage I got the local council to recompense me for new tyres (wheel was undamaged). Here the roads are so bad they have quite a streamlined process for making claims. Wish they didn't need it, though.

That's why I have a $1000.00 deductible, I would not file a claim for under 1000, maybe even 1500 the way they (insurance co.) want to play Gotcha.

So! I regret involving the insurance company at all. While I can elect to not move forward with the claim, it will be recorded as an “incident”. Since there is a less than $1k payout (in this case, $0) it won’t affect my rates but yeah it would have been better to have never contacted them.

In the UK it might affect the rates since they now know that you drive in places where you're likely to risk damage to the car, and hence you're more of a risk to them. Insurers will always look at ways to minimise their risks and load premiums.

I wish there were any sort of link between poor road quality and ease of making claims. Here the roads are so bad that the local authorities... do nothing about it.