Got in a hit and run in the '21 Prime, is it worth going through insurance?

Yes. Let your insurance take care of it.
Sometimes strange things happen that you don't want to try and handle yourself.

Like for instance, when the police contact the other driver, he makes some ridiculous claim that might end up with you on court.
Part of your insurance is legal defense too.......if you have "full coverage".

 

If you have a reputable insurance company they won’t increase your rates if you are not at fault. If it’s your first accident even if you are at fault the chances are excellent you won’t get a rate uptick. Not implying it pertains to you but remember damage can occur that’s not visible to the untrained person.

 

Yes. That too.

 

Yes. I had a parking lot bump on my front bumper. Driver left no note or contact information. I went first to a body shop to see if it was more than my $250.00 deductible because I thought the damage was so small. Turns out I was off by a factor of 10! It was about $2400.00 in damage.

 

Different insurance companies have different procedures on whether or not to increase the rate for the first one or two claims within a certain time period. Check with your agent or phone the company.

I'll slightly disagree with Sam about "full coverage." There is no standard definition of what full coverage includes. It's whatever the agent put in. It can be a good idea to get your policy declaration page and see if the coverages you are buying fit your needs. Do you have enough of some coverages? Are you buying too much of another? If you don't understand everything, call your agent. In some cases coverages from other insurance may be duplicated which you don't need to buy twice. Some coverages may no longer be needed, such as gap insurance after you've paid substantially on your car loan. And, there's umbrella liability coverage. If you own much you might save money buying umbrella coverage, sold in million dollar multiples, and reduce your home, car, and other policy liability limits to the minimum the umbrella policy requires. (Liability means any time you are claimed to be at fault.)

It's also an interesting exercise to shop your policies around to other companies to see who can offer better rates. I choose to bundle all policies with the same company for my convenience, and every few years I offer the bundle to other insurers. In 40 years I've switched twice. Several times I've confirmed that what I have is the best I can get. (For example highly rated Amica was higher on some policies, lower on others, about the same for the bundle. USAA was higher that my current Safeco.)

 

Yes! That’s exactly what it’s for. And that damage is beyond superficial.

waxing our 2010 the other day, I noticed a couple of license plate paint bolt chips on the rear bumper. That I’ll just hit with touch up pen. Kinda puzzling: with all the “advances” the automotive industry has made, they can’t manage to make effective numbers anymore. Since the early eighties IIRC.

 

Your car insurance premium does not increase with no-fault accidents. If it does, change your insurance company immediately. Yes, hit-and-runs are standard operating procedure in California. Have at least $100,000 of uninsured motorist coverage.

 

OK, sorry. Let's try this.
Typically the term "full coverage" means that you have liability, comprehensive and COLLISION coverage.
If you leave out the collision coverage and you are involved in a wreck, your company will not provide any legal assistance, regardless of who was at fault.

 

Key Terms for Understanding Car Insurance - NerdWallet
Collision insurance: Pays to fix your vehicle if you cause a crash or have a one-car accident, such as hitting a tree. Typically required with an auto loan.
Liability insurance: Pays for others' injury treatment and property damage if you cause a crash, as well as your legal defense costs if you're sued.
--end quote--

I think every state requires that every car is covered by liability insurance. Often the state minimum is ridiculously low.

 

And those insurance companies that advertise on cable channel court programs brag on just how minimal their policies are. Beware.

 

Good advice on this thread. I certainly agree that it is worth at minimum a call to your insurance agent, and particularly since you have his/her plate etc that should help. Hopefully they don’t dispute, I don’t imagine you have a witness?

On that note, I would add this is a perfect example of why dash cams are amazing and cheap insurance. It is worth investing in a good 2-channel (front & back) camera with backup battery for parking monitoring as well. It may cost $500-$1000 to buy a good one initially, but if this saves one claim (hit & run, etc), it will pay for itself many times over... Also, you never know when you may witness something that could help the police or witness another accident or crime, etc.

I have had a 2-channel BlackVue camera for about 6 years now, as I was fed up with my last Prius being a magnet for hit & run incidents (I had matching 12-inch ‘door dings’ on both sides of the car...), and in the time since with my PiP my paint is pretty much pristine (*knocks on wood*). Maybe I scared the karma away? Lol. My camera (DR650GW-2CH) is 1080p front / 720p rear, but nowadays absolutely get a 4K to be sure to read plates clearly.. The Prius is also perfect for mounting a stealth camera in the rear hatch in the lower tinted glass that nobody can see.

I can share some pictures of the install if anyone is interested.

Cheers!

 

Oh, sorry to hear that. If you start feeling achy, see a physical therapist / certified sports massage expert ASAP, there are ones who specifically deal with whiplash injuries.

What would happen if you didn't get the license plate info? Like a hit & run? Obv. you could still file the police report.

I would be interested! How much did you pay?

 

Sorry to hear about the accident. Yeah, let the insurance take care of the damage control. After all, that is the insurance is for, isn't it. It's best not to use it, but if you are not going to use it, then why pay the premium. That being said I don't see much damage on the photo of your car. Is the damage mostly cosmetic? It can still be costly to repair. But if the cost of repair is less than the deductible, then I guess, skip the repair or DIY it???

 

The only stupid question is the one you DON'T ask.

Like many things in life it all depends.
If I were sitting in your shoes, the first thing I would do (after giving you your shoes back) would be to get two quotes for a repair from a reputable body shop.
Then?
I would look at my insurance policy, and maybe talk with the agent.

It WILL count as a claim - even if it's not your fault, BUT it might be worth it in the long run for you to take the hit (pun almost unintended) with reduced value since your car will now officially be previously owned AND previously wrecked.

Me?

I do things a little differently than some people....like sell rather than trade.....carry a $1,000 insurance deductible....keep a 6 month emergency fund...etc.
This means that in MY case it's a no-brainer.
I would DIY the repair and move on with my life.
Actually, since most of my cars are long paid for beaters that most people would look down their nose at-I might not even get it fixed for a while.
It's an easy DIY fix.
You can probably get pre-painted rear bumper parts (facia?) and bolt them on and I would definitely go that route rather than pay somebody else to do it.

That's ME.
My time may not be as valuable as yours is.
I really don't care what other people think about my cars, as long as they are DEPENDABLE.


YOU do YOU.
Everybody else is already taken.

Good Luck!

 

My Taurus got rear ended at a stop light. Scuffed paint was the only visible damage. Years later, I finally put two and two together regarding other issues that came up, and realized that hit bent the entire frame of the car.

 

Something else to consider once you determine if the other driver will pay cash or not to have the damage fixed.
Once you get it fixed via insurance payment it gets picked up by carfax. At that point dealers will not generally accept the car for trade-in at any price. Paying cash at a body shop avoids this issue that bites you in the pants down the road.

 

I've never encountered that myself since I'm not into the rather expensive habit of letting the dealer profit by selling me a new car and then profit again by paying me less than my old car is worth.

 

IIRC, I think the 2-channel camera was about ~$650, and it came with a “Power Magic” kit to hardwire it to the fuse box which features a safety shutoff at user-selectable voltage to prevent the battery from draining too low. However, that only gave an hour or two of parking coverage, which declined as the 12v aged... A few years later I opted to add the battery backup (BlackVue B124 - Google it) for ~$300 - which sounds expensive but is no ordinary battery... - and provides 16-18 hours of parking coverage and avoid any risk of unintentionally draining my 12v and tucks away nicely under the passenger seat. With the hardwire connection it charges at 9A and fully charges in about 40 minutes of driving. Again, more peace of mind with a silent witness for my car.

The newer models also offer cloud connectivity that can notify you of an impact to your car and you can view your live dashcam from anywhere. Slick.

I can take some picture in daylight in coming days, if you want to see how it installs, very DIY-able.

Cheers.

 

If you have the plate number you can run them online and sue the owner of the car. This will depend on the state. Make a big stink with the police to go after them. This is no different than destruction of property when the run. I helped a coworker in Michigan get the mini tort payment without going to court. Covered the repair. Just an online search of the plate and one phone call to the owner of the car.

Get it repaired correctly and by someone who knows Toyota repairs. One of my car repairs went bad and it rusted. Last time i used a cheap bodyshop.