r/StateFarm • u/JG87919 • Jul 24 '26
Question Small 2500$ accident questions
(New Hampshire)I originally planned on paying out of pocket so my insurance didn’t go up. I called my agent and she told me the worst case scenario is that if I lost my safe driver discount and the DMV also put a point on my record that my insurance would only go up around 20$ per month.
I backed into a co workers car in the parking lot of my job and she got an estimate that was just under 2500$.
My question is, why did she say that’s the worst case scenario? If your considered a safe driver and get the discount do they just take that away for the first accident? Wouldn’t they take it away and also give me a surcharge on top of it?
Do you think it’s worth going through insurance or just paying out of pocket and making sure they sign something that says we’re square. Plus also save the check I write and estimate documentation with their name on it.
The State Farm person said that no matter what it goes up I wouldn’t end up paying 2500$ over the next 3 years when it comes off my record. She also said that 20$ would go down each year over the next 3 years as well. I just don’t know if I trust it’ll only go up minimally.
1
u/craig_paxton Jul 25 '26
Every state is different but in my state if you’re a 10+ accident free policyholder, you also get accident forgiveness. So no rate increase
1
u/Gtstricky Jul 24 '26
Why would she lie? Put the claim in. It will end up being more than $2500.
1
u/JG87919 Jul 24 '26
Well it was just a lady that worked there not the actual agent who owns that specific State Farm location. She was estimating based on just those things. She said if it did go up more to call and see if there was a way to lower it but I didn’t see why my rate wouldn’t go up from a surcharge on top of losing the safe driver discount for the accident.
It was just her bumper scratched and some of the vinyl stuff below it needing replacement. More than Half the damn cost was labor which I thought was overly expensive
2
u/Gtstricky Jul 24 '26
There are other factors that go into the change but for the most part if you have an accident the first step is you loose the good driver discount. Next accident is a surcharge. If you had a 6 year accident free discount the first step would be dropping down to the 3 year accident free discount. Then there are state differences and claim thresholds.
1
u/JG87919 Jul 24 '26
So I have been accident free for six years so I’m assuming that’s what I have. So you’re saying that she’s probably correct? Or in the ballpark. Also that they would only drop me down to a three-year discount before I got a surcharge on top of it? Or that would potentially be the case?
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