Acura, Interrupted

I got my car back today, costing me $1930.73. I have full coverage, but I did not choose to claim this incident. Here’s why… and it’s a real scam within the insurance industry.

Considering that no one claimed fault (see previous entries 1, 2), my insurance basically considers it my fault. I can somewhat understand this, as I could of caused the damage myself and tried to claim it. Never the less, it leaves a real problem: someone can do real damage to your car in a parking lot and stick you with the bill. This is exactly what happened to me. I imagine if my insurance company spent as much time with me as my friends do, they’d understand at what lengths I go to prevent such damage to my car, but that isn’t the case… so essentially, it’s “my fault.” My deductible being a relatively low $500, I called to ask at what point they’d raise my insurance. That ceiling was $1000. So repairs over $1500 would stick me with a blemish on my “insurance record” along with higher premiums in the future. And it’s not like I could of switched companies, they all talk to each other. In other words, I would of paid for it — many times over — should I have claimed it. What bullshit.

Why did I not claim it? Aside from the insurance premium increase, considering it’s a $40k car this $2k worth of damage isn’t really “worth” the claim. The insurance company, of course, plans things this way making “every day” damage you could suffer from in any Safeway parking lot being a real liability. Caveat emptor. Given a massive collision, I’d of reeled in the insurance… but this really sucks. I wasn’t even present for the damage, I can do no finger pointing, so I’m stuck with the bill. Given the identity of the culprit, however, my homicidal tendencies would be hard to suppress. At the very least, I’d extract $2k… through whatever means necessary.

But anyway, the good news is, the car looks perfect and I think I picked a good spot to have it repaired: Bay Area Body Spa. I know, it sounds very “Bay Area,” but they did do a good job, and the place was chock full of European luxury cars, which gave me solace… somehow.

I love my car. Acura invented the Japanese luxury market, and while they’ve fallen from the forefront, now dominated by Lexus, they still do things right: good, solid, feature-packed cars engineered by Honda. It’s not quite as plush as say, a BMW, on the inside, but it’s still comfortable and feature-rich (the Japanese don’t shy away from gadgets), but it’s also never in the shop, which can’t be said for the German luxury cars.

Considering the car is now “marred” by this experience, I will no doubt have a new one soon, but I may hold out for a new M5. Yeah, I know, just after bashing the Germans, but… it is an M5. But it’s also twice the cost of a new TL, if not more. Bang for your buck will likely win out, but we’ll see. I suppose I should get a new job first.

Bottom line, I suppose: consider your future cost when making claims.