[Quebec] Was in a not-at-fault accident, new car, small damages, would you claim insurance

1.) I don't believe a Not-At-Fault accident affects your rates.

2.) I would get an estimate from the bodyshop and deal with the other party privately. The reason being is if you claim your insurance, when you try to sell the car it'll show the damages claimed. An accident hurts the resale value more the newer a car is.

DreamSanctuary wrote: ↑ 1.) I don't believe a Not-At-Fault accident affects your rates.

2.) I would get an estimate from the bodyshop and deal with the other party privately. The reason being is if you claim your insurance, when you try to sell the car it'll show the damages claimed. An accident hurts the resale value more the newer a car is.

Good luck getting the other party to pay. One incident under 3K won't hurt the value. Sold 2 cars last year both with a minor claim. I had pictures and bills for the repairs with Carfax reports. Both sold at market value. Buyers did even mention the repair.

DreamSanctuary wrote: ↑ 1.) I don't believe a Not-At-Fault accident affects your rates.

2.) I would get an estimate from the bodyshop and deal with the other party privately. The reason being is if you claim your insurance, when you try to sell the car it'll show the damages claimed. An accident hurts the resale value more the newer a car is.

Thanks for your reply

1. I think it is true in Ontario but in Quebec it seems to be not the case... But I don't know

2. We filled out the form and the other party told me to deal with insurance and he won't do anything. I think he is calling me a bluff...

typer100 wrote: ↑ Good luck getting the other party to pay. One incident under 3K won't hurt the value. Sold 2 cars last year both with a minor claim. I had pictures and bills for the repairs with Carfax reports. Both sold at market value. Buyers did even mention the repair.

Thanks for your reply

Did you sell privately? How old was your car? Did you repair in dealership?

The thing is I think it seems the entire rear bumper has to be replaced and I don't know if it is minor or major.... There is small crack of around 10cm and you can't notice it if the bumper is dirty

ryan10075 wrote: ↑ It is in Quebec.

So I was just in a not at fault accident that my rear bumper was hit. There were some scratches and cracks on the rear plastic bumper. It is a 6 month old car.

I wonder if I should claim insurance? (I have to claim my own insurance because Quebec is no fault)

After some searches in this forum, my concern is in Quebec, it seems like not at fault accident will still affect my rate.

Also, if I go to a shop which insurance company allows, I think it would be a big hit on my resale value

The other party has no damages and tells me that I should claim my own insurance, so it is not possible to do it other way.

Thanks for advice.

Short answer... yes. I can't understand why people pay for insurance and then don't want to use it. No fault or not, I would get my new car repaired and be happy to be driving it again damage free.
Just my opinion.

typer100 wrote: ↑ Good luck getting the other party to pay. One incident under 3K won't hurt the value. Sold 2 cars last year both with a minor claim. I had pictures and bills for the repairs with Carfax reports. Both sold at market value. Buyers did even mention the repair.

It depends on how old the car is. A brand new car with a 3K accident definitely takes a hit in value. That's like saying 10K KM won't hurt a car's value. Yeah, maybe not when the car is 8 years old, but if it's a 2018/2019 - it definitely will.

But, it depends on the damages. If it's a lot in damages, you kind of have to go through insurance. If it's under $500, is it worth putting in an insurance claim? (Unless you have to). If you plan on keeping the car for a while, you might as well go for the claim as it's not your fault.

Check to see if your insurance gives you a "no claim" discount. See if this will be lost if you launch a not-at-fault claim. While it is true that a not-at-fault accident can't raise your premiums, the insurance company *could* technically remove your no-claims discount, which is bottom line money out of your pocket.

The carte-blanche "claim it" proponents, don't always account for all of the factors. Insurance companies are sneaky as f--k.

It shouldn’t affect your rate, the repair will probably be around 1k-2K. Get it done through insurance.
Damage under 3k doesn’t need to be disclosed and it shouldn’t affect the value of your car. If you are upfront about the minor accident and show them the repair bill, you shouldn’t have a problem selling the vehicle.
I was shopping for a used Rav4 recently and most of them were in some sort of accident, the dealer didn’t budge much on one car with 2 accident, one above 4K and one was close to 1k. Of course I walked away but as you can see it doesn’t affect the value much if the car popular.
I ended up buying a better car that was also involved in a minor parking lot fender bender, damage was under 1k and it was repair at the dealer. I couldn’t get the price down at all.

I got hit from behind by a careless driver near Montréal. SSQ assurance took over a month to close such an obvious file before increasing my premiums.

I switched to TD and never looked back.

Thanks for all of your replies.

I finally decided to open a claim and fix it properly.

Thanks for user ncnmra's mention of ncb, which I forgot, though I know I won't have it because I had a serious not at fault crash two years ago... well. (And it was the reason I have this new car) On the online claim it claims it won't increase my premium. I don't know if it is true, but I choose to believe them this time..

Also I was thinking last hour and I think realistically I may keep the car until it dies. I am still using iPhone 6S and many old stuff and I think realistically by the time I sell the ding would be minimal, or straight to scrapyard. On the other hand the bumper damage and the potential "interior" damages quite bother me...

Thanks everybody for your replies

DreamSanctuary wrote: ↑ It depends on how old the car is. A brand new car with a 3K accident definitely takes a hit in value. That's like saying 10K KM won't hurt a car's value. Yeah, maybe not when the car is 8 years old, but if it's a 2018/2019 - it definitely will.

But, it depends on the damages. If it's a lot in damages, you kind of have to go through insurance. If it's under $500, is it worth putting in an insurance claim? (Unless you have to). If you plan on keeping the car for a while, you might as well go for the claim as it's not your fault.

Nope, sold a '16 Golf R back in 2018 for market value with a 3K repair to the rear bumper/hatch. No question asked.

If the other party reports it to their insurance, your company will be notified and you will still have it on your record. How much your rate goes up by depends on your policy, your insurer, your record and claims/loss profile of your model. Remember rates go up anyway annually.

If the car is a lease I would have it reported and fixed. If not, any damage that is withing a few hundred of the deductible I usually absorb. At 3000$ I would go through insurance.

ryan10075 wrote: ↑ Thanks for your reply

1. I think it is true in Ontario but in Quebec it seems to be not the case... But I don't know

2. We filled out the form and the other party told me to deal with insurance and he won't do anything. I think he is calling me a bluff...
Thanks for your reply

Did you sell privately? How old was your car? Did you repair in dealership?

The thing is I think it seems the entire rear bumper has to be replaced and I don't know if it is minor or major.... There is small crack of around 10cm and you can't notice it if the bumper is dirty

Just make sure the repair shop uses OEM bumper, not 3rd party ones

NoCountry4RFDer wrote: ↑ Just make sure the repair shop uses OEM bumper, not 3rd party ones

Thanks, insurance allowed me to get it fixed in dealership so i should be fine.

ryan10075 wrote: ↑ Thanks, insurance allowed me to get it fixed in dealership so i should be fine.

That's good, if you didn't do it yet, confirm with them it's indeed OEM