Yeah that's kind of what I am hoping for. Her Escape isn't bad, just a couple marks from paint swapping and a bent up license plate so her car really does not merit a lot of attention at the moment. It's mainly what I want to do with his car at this point. His damage looked minimal so hopefully I can get it taken care of on the side instead of through the insurance company. I know a claim filed against her will increase her rates significantly hence why I want to leave it on the side. I will try to get in contact with him this weekend and possibly work something out. Unless he's one of those "my neck hurts" kinds of people.
People are usually pretty easy to work with as long as they know you're going to pay and there's minimal damage. I'd definitely contact him sooner rather than later before he contacts insurance, because then it's out of your hands. Good luck.
You may end up paying more if you try to pay out of pocket than you would if you let your carrier handle and pay the premium increase over a period of time.
my dad was rear ended about year ago with very little damage to his truck. he took the person's info, but never pursued it any further. no one was hurt and he and i agreed it wasn't worth the hassle to "get it fixed". so, who knows. the guy your wife hit may not care if it was minimal damage.
Always get a police report. There are a few exceptions to this rule, for example, if you know you're 100% at fault and you are likely to get cited. If you're not at fault, definitely get one. Who knows? He could be a wanted felon and he would go straight to jail. Always get the other persons insurance information. Also, know how your insurance weights accidents and traffic violations. For example, in my state, insurance companies use the point system. 1 point for insignificant violations, 3 points for speeding tickets. 4 points for wreckless driving. ect. Accidents are weighted as 1 point for >$1500 claim, 2 points for $1500-$3000 and 3 points for <$3000. So basically, a speeding ticket weighs the same as a traffic accident that exceeds $3000. So in other words, thinking that fixing your own vehicle may have less of an impact could rate increases may not be the best idea. Texas could be vastly different, but it doesn't hurt to check.
Anybody happen to know how much it'll cost to replace a broken taillight and some (golfball to baseball size) dings. I got rear ended today. The lady offered to pay 500 straight up, but I just didn't know how much it would be to get the dings out. If it was one of my previous trucks I probably wouldn't care (I've let small dents like that go in the past), but I love my truck too much to let it slide this time. I'd hate to have to go through insurance though if it can be fixed for 500 or less.
If there's one thing I can tell you about auto repair, it costs several hundred more than you think. I got rear ended in a parking lot, damage was one dent just over the size of a baseball bat. This was a 2004 Focus, shop had it for about 5 days, estimate ran about $1,600. Thank god he had insurance.
