Can I Get Money From Insurance Company To Repair The Car

You've had a car blow and yous're relieved to discover that the harm to your vehicle is only corrective.

When the check for repairs arrives from the insurance visitor, you're tempted to eolith it in your checking account and use the money for more than pressing needs, like your daughter's new braces or a well-deserved weekend getaway.

Could you? Should you lot? Let's look at the possible consequences.

Tin can I keep my claims bank check? Cashing out the insurance payment

As long as the check is fabricated out to yous, it is your pick whether to "greenbacks out," equally the exercise is chosen, or repair the car, says Dan Young, one-time senior vice president of insurance relations for CARSTAR, the largest standoff-repair network in North America, who is now senior vice president at AsTech — Automotive Service Technicians.

Pocketing insurance claims money Yet, sometimes insurance merits checks are made out directly to body shops or, if you're financing the auto, to both you and your lender. If you are leasing, the cheque might exist made out to you and your leasing company. If you are leasing or loaning your motorcar, y'all are obligated to use the money to repair your car.

Even if you're able to cash out, opinions differ on whether information technology'south a wise motility.

Dean Baker, co-manager of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., says information technology could be "a smart thing to exercise" if the dents and dings are minor and they don't bother you.

"I had a car that got damaged in a hail tempest and it was an quondam car," Baker says. "I wasn't going to spend the insurance money I got to set it. I wasn't expecting to continue the car long and I didn't really intendance what it looked like."

Primal Takeaways

If the check is made out to yous, information technology is your choice to repair the automobile or proceed the money.
If the machine is financed or leased, the check is normally in both your name and that of the finance company and you'll exist required to repair the vehicle with the coin.
If you fail to repair the automobile, don't wait to be able to merits them later on. Instead, if you're in another accident, the unrepaired damages will be taken into account and payout volition be only for new damages.

The car had fiddling resale value, so a few more dings weren't going to make much of a departure at trade time, he says.

Why using your claims check to repair your car is a smart movement

Others warn that a decision to cash out and skip the repairs tin can come back to haunt y'all.

Condom is a large concern for unrepaired cars, Young says. The damage from your blow may not look that bad, but there could exist problem with the brakes or the wheels or even the engine that you can't come across. If you lot proceed to drive the unrepaired car, it may brand the problems worse.

Immature observes that cashing out is condign less popular. Because the economy is picking up, "I don't recall it'due south equally prevalent now as information technology was in previous years."

Want a good reason to repair your car as soon as you get the cheque? Some of the damage may not exist visible to your claims adjuster. When the trunk store starts working on your car, it might find more than problems. Your insurance policy typically volition pay for any additional impairment that's revealed. However, if you delay repairs, your insurer may dubiousness the true crusade of structural or mechanical bug.

If you keep your claims check, you may not go additional repairs done

Don't expect your automobile insurance visitor to pay for the boosted repairs after on if you tin't prove the damage occurred due to the accident, says a spokesperson for Allstate.

For example, it could be that your cycle assembly was damaged and no one noticed, but standing to drive the car caused you lot to ruin the front stop. In such cases, your insurance company can say "no" to the additional cost of the repairs.

What if you take some other blow and the same area of your motorcar is damaged? Your insurance company is going to endeavour to decide what part of the damage was from the showtime accident. It's not going to pay you for the same damage twice.

If you haven't shopped effectually for auto insurance in a while, consider reviewing the best car insurance companies to come across if yous can salvage some cash on your annual policy.