~$1K single-vehicle incident—pay out of pocket?

[TheBadger]

I scraped my rear door on a post while parking my car. Got three estimates, two ~$1,000 and one $2,000, to clean up the paint and a small dent in the door. My deductible is $500.

Progressive said they can’t tell me, even ballpark, how much a claim of this size would increase my future premium. Does anyone here have any sense of that, or know a resource where I could find out? Bottom line, I’m trying to figure out if the increase in premium related to a claim would outweigh the ~$500 I’d save using my insurance.

I’ve seen similar discussion on the thread below, but I wasn’t sure if that situation is comparable because it deals with multiple vehicles.
https://insurance-forums.com/community/threads/premium-increase-versus-out-of-pocket-expense.64922/

Thanks!

 

[fed up]

Don't know what state you are in or how long you have been an insured with no claims. Having said that, the national average of increase in premium after a claim has been made is between 30-45%. If your premium was $200/month, expect it to increase to $275/month. If you know that the repair is $1000 and you will pay the first $500, a claim could stay with you for 3 years. That $500 which is paid by your insurer could ultimately cost you $2700 over the next 3 years and that is without a general rate increase.
Car accident? Here's how much your rates could rise.
Lots of factors weigh in but I would pay the claim out of pocket and see if the bodyshop treats you well

 

[adjusterjack]

Agree with Fed Up. Fix it and leave your insurance alone.

I had an at-fault claim with GEICO a few years ago and my rates went up 70%. Progressive has a bad enough rep, I wouldn't take the chance.

 

[TheBadger]

Thanks for the feedback. I’m in WA, for the record. And recently moved here from NYC where I didn’t have a car for 10+ years, so I hadn’t had insurance for quite some time until recently.

Like I said, I haven’t filed a claim but I did call Progressive to ask about a potential premium increase. Is it likely they’ve already logged that call and would bake the data point that I mentioned an accident into my next rate? And if I were to pay out of pocket, do I need to follow up w/them in any way?

 

[fed up]

Next time call your agent, don't call Claims. No, you do not need to follow up with them or tell them anything. There should be no record of your call unless they assigned a claim number. In that case you could be screwed if you try to change carriers in the near future. If there is a claim number it will show on your CLUE report