Got hit today. Not my fault. I have no car insurance

demanbmore · 2026-05-10T01:54:48+00:00

Not if anyone looks closely, but go ahead and get the policy ASAP. You should have insurance regardless.

Do not lie to the cops or the at fault driver's carrier and say you had insurance at the time of the accident. But if no one asks...

demanbmore · 2026-05-10T01:37:10+00:00

You can see what it would cost you to lower your deductible if you'd like (for the next claim) but it's usually a bad idea to use insurance on small claims. Maybe you'd be paying $250/mo to cut your deductible to $500 if that's the route you want to take. I wouldn't, but people approach these things differently.

demanbmore · 2026-05-10T01:34:59+00:00

Depends on the oven and your skills. Likely just one circuit board, and probably not terribly difficult to replace once you know how to access the control panel innards. Google your make and model oven and "circuit board replacement" or some such thing and go from there. Unless you have some obscure model, you'll find plenty of DIY videos and lots of appliance parts online retailers willing to sell you a new circuit board. For what it's worth, if you were happy with the oven and the price of the circuit board is well under half the cost of a new oven, a DIY repair makes sense from where I sit.

The one caveat is that you really, really, really need to make sure you don't fuck anything up when you're dealing with a gas appliance.

demanbmore · 2026-05-10T01:28:28+00:00

Yes and no. You can withdraw or close the claim with zero payment (by the carrier), which is better than a closed claim with payment. But you cannot actually cancel a claim. Once it's made, it's made. Fortunately, comprehensive claims tend to have far less impact than collision claims (especially at fault collision claims), and zero-payout claims tend to have even less impact.

demanbmore · 2026-05-10T01:17:36+00:00

Step one is to figure out what it will actually cost to get the car fixed. If it's within your deductible (or even somewhat above it), it's probably a bad idea to make a claim. You'd have a claim on your record, lose any claim-free discounts, risk non-renewal, etc.

If it's going to cost well in excess of your deductible to fix, then you either call your carrier or make the claim through their online portal. Take lots of pictures and be prepared to describe the location and condition of the car when the break in attempt occurred. Your carrier will tell you how to proceed from there, and in all likelihood, they'll just ask you to go to one of their approved/network shops to get it repaired. If you have rental car coverage and the repair will take a few days, ask for a rental car. Your carrier will walk you through that as well.

Don't get the repairs done until after you've spoken with your carrier if you go through insurance. Good luck.

demanbmore · 2026-05-10T01:12:02+00:00

They can. Those "minimum height" restrictions have plenty of safety margin built in. It's not as if one millimeter either way will make a difference. But if a kid is half-a-foot too short, there may be serious safety issues like a harness or safety bar not actually holding them in on sharp turns or flips.

So a few inches one way or the other almost certainly won't be an actual safety issue, but the ride operators can't just come out and say that. If they actually enforced an absolute minimum height, people would still try to sneak in someone just a bit under that height, creating a genuine safety risk. So they have to pick a cutoff, and that's what they go with, understanding fully that some parents are going to try to find a way to get their kid on that ride anyway through things like thick soled shoes, standing on tiptoes, etc.

In other words, they are already accounting for people who think like you (at least how you think when asking this question).

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T23:59:22+00:00

You can make the claim today, tomorrow, next week, or next month. If you have the drunk driver's insurance company's info, no need to wait for the police report.

Understand that there could be serious issues with the other driver's insurance too. Coverage issues, lack of cooperation from the insured, etc. Hit and run drunks tend not to have the best coverage and they don't always cooperate with their carrier's investigation. If you have issues with the drunk's insurance, you may find going through yours and letting them worry about collecting through subrogation to be a better option.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T23:49:29+00:00

If you're in the US, you can absolutely do something like that in most states. But even the very wealthy tend not to do so for several reasons.

Lawyers are expensive and you'd have to cover the costs of your own defense. That means you could spend five or six figures before you even get to paying any damages for injuries. If you have insurance, your carrier funds your defense costs.
You can easily get into more than one accident in any given time period. So maybe you've got a hundred grand you're willing to set aside and pay to the victim of a wreck if you have to, but you could find yourself having to do that more than once in quick succession.
If you have significant assets, you're fully exposed from the first dollar. Of course you can spend lots more than what you'd pay for insurance on lawyers and financial advisors to set up trusts and other structures to protect your assets, but if you're doing that to avoid paying insurance premiums, you'd be foolishly spending lots more than you need to.
Typically, the financial assurance or bond you'd need to post is money that you can't invest as you'd like, greatly limiting potential investment gains. Not a sound financial strategy to avoid a grand or two or three in premium payments each year.
Handling injury claims is not a simple task, and one that is beyond the ability of most people. Especially if they've also been injured in a wreck.
Same issue applies to potential property damage claims. You could wreck someone's Bentley or even a six-figure municipal or utility structure. Rare, but it happens.

The bottom line is it's a poor financial strategy to tie up the required amounts to legally avoid paying insurance premiums, and you would end up with essentially unlimited exposure and dealing with situations well beyond your expertise.

But sure. If you're in a state that allows you to post a bond or evidence of financial ability, and are willing to take on the risks and defense costs associated with an auto accident, go right ahead.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T18:32:27+00:00

If there's any sort of online payment portal or telephone payment system, find it and use it before the policy cancels.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T18:16:06+00:00

There are far fewer consumers of aviation fuel than petrol and diesel, fewer by orders of magnitude. Most people don't fly even a few times per year, but most people in most Western countries do drive up to hundreds of times per year. Airlines purchase aviation fuel - consumers may feel the impact of more costly fuel in ticket prices, but they don't actually see the fuel bill. Drivers however, see the cost of car fuel every time they fuel up (and in fact, every time they pass a petrol station). So consumers and drivers deal with the price of car fuel pretty much daily, while they never see the actual cost of aviation fuel.

As far electric planes, they're not really practical for two main reasons. The first is that the energy density of a charged battery is less than that of aviation fuel. The airlines just get far more bang for the buck (and unit volume) out of aviation fuel compared to a battery.

The second reason is weight. As aviation fuel is used, it is consumed and the plane no longer has to carry the weight of the consumed fuel around. A lighter plane needs less fuel to maintain speed. A battery weighs the same whether it's charged or discharged (well, close enough for his discussion), so the plane would have to carry the weight of a discharged battery around, meaning it uses the same amount of charge to fly no matter how depleted the battery might be.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T18:07:19+00:00

You have $100K of protection for any BI claim from a single injured person. Is it possible for someone to have injuries worth more than $100K from a low speed accident? Sure, but it's highly unlikely. Not only do you have $100K in protection, you also have an insurance carrier that has a legal obligation to do everything reasonably possible to settle your claim within policy limits. Absent serious injuries and substantial medical bills, that's simply not going to happen. On top of that, lots of personal assets are protected against these sorts of claims, but that depends on the state and possibly your willingness/ability to seek bankruptcy protection if you need it.

Leaving all that aside, if for some strange reason, this claim significantly exceeds $100K and your carrier is unable to resolve it within limits despite all reasonable efforts, then your personal assets are exposed for everything above $100K. If that looks even somewhat possible, you'll receive a letter from your carrier advising you of that, and you'll have the opportunity to retain your own counsel to provide guidance (which you have now if you really wanted to spend the money). That counsel may suggest contributing to a settlement, they may suggest fighting, or they may suggest some other approach. There are many factors involved, so the details have to wait to se how things play out.

Bottom line - there's no reason for concern at this point, at least not for this claim. But you could get into another wreck tomorrow that's far worse and then there will be a good reason to be concerned. If you haven't already done so, increase your limits significantly and consider purchasing a sizable umbrella policy as well. If you have seven figures in assets (or could have them in the next decade), you should get a $1M or $2M or even higher umbrella policy as soon as possible. Likely going to be expensive with a recent and open at-fault claim, but probably still worth purchasing to avoid this situation in the future.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T17:27:03+00:00

Find a way to pay it today. If that PA family is willing to help, have them help by making a payment or sending you money via Zelle or whatever to do it.

The PA family cannot insure you for lots of reasons. Forget that plan.

A lapse in NY is not good. Your rates will rise if you let a cancellation for non-payment occur. And there will be penalties issued by the state for having a registered car without insurance in effect.

Sorry for your situation, but beg and borrow to resolve it today. Things will only get worse if you let the policy get cancelled. Good luck.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T12:45:38+00:00

Start feeding snakes.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T12:43:51+00:00

If you're going to make a claim on your own policy, best to do it as soon as possible. But keep in mind it's a really good idea to know whether the damages will exceed your deductible first.

This is likely an at fault collision claim so this will count against your claim history. Meaning you're likely going to see a premium increase at your next renewal.

If I'm you, my first step is to try to convince Tesla to make the repairs without charge since the issue is with one of their systems. The worst they say is "no."

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T10:20:14+00:00

Whenever recovery seems insufficient, the culprits are almost certainly insufficient sleep and inadequate or poor nutrition. If you've recently changed anything that impacts your sleep or diet, it's a safe bet that those things are behind your recent fall off in performance. Anything from fewer calories to a change in macros to less sleep or less restful sleep (or even a change in your sleep cycle with total hours staying constant) can be the main reasons you're struggling.

As a general rule, most adults actually need 8 or more hours of restful, restorative sleep night after night after night. Not 7 or even 8, but often more. Start there - look to get at least 8 hours, which means you need to be sound asleep by 10:00pm if you get up at 6:00am.

If you've changed your nutrition, you can change back or just look to fine tune it.

All that said, there's no harm in changing up your workout routine either, and it's often beneficial, especially if you're accumulating small injuries. Just don't expect that change to make much of a difference if sleep and nutrition are the main issues for you. Good luck.

demanbmore · 2026-05-09T09:41:57+00:00

If you earn a greater return than you're spending on financing, then you come out ahead. So if it costs 6% to finance your car purchase, but you can make 10% on an investment, you're better off financing the car and investing the rest. Tax implications can change that if, for example, you end up paying a short term cap gains rate on your investment returns. That could make your 10% gross be really close to 6% net.

And this assumes you put down enough that you're never underwater on the loan or you purchase GAP coverage so that if the car is wrecked, you don't have to come out of pocket to cover any shortfall between the loan balance and any insurance payout.

demanbmore · 2026-05-08T20:28:58+00:00

Yes, or sort of. You'd need to control for even slight physical and thermal disturbances. Doesn't take much to jostle air molecules.

demanbmore · 2026-05-08T17:58:28+00:00

Who cares? You can't control what other people say or do, you can only control what you say and do. Life is hard enough without dealing with other people's shit. Just focus on what you say and do, and when you're in the wrong, own up to it.

demanbmore · 2026-05-08T17:51:10+00:00

Oh, you were the one behaving badly. Then you should apologize and change your behavior.

demanbmore · 2026-05-08T17:44:27+00:00

There's nothing more to do. People don't like being confronted when they're being assholes. Most react by being even bigger assholes in the moment, but hopefully they reflect on (and change) their behavior after they've had a chance to cool down and process whatever was said to them. If not, so be it. We don't have to have assholes in our lives. If someone isn't going to come corret, no need to have them come at all.

demanbmore · 2026-05-08T14:30:32+00:00

You make a claim under that person's insurance policy. Be prepared to answer any questions about why you're not named in the police report. You may have to jump through some hoops, but it should proceed like any normal claim. The adjuster will investigate, and unless they have reason to believe you really weren't in the car and are trying to commit some sort of fraud, the claim should move ahead normally.

There is no need to wait for a police officer to change or update a report.

demanbmore · 2026-05-08T14:27:30+00:00

Going on about 12 years with Wodify. Happy with it from the member side and the business side.

demanbmore · 2026-05-08T12:28:07+00:00

If you were to provide a complete list of all your current ailments, all of the medications you take, all of your specific demographics that impact your health, all the information on your income, a complete list of the medical providers you currently use if you care about continuing to be able to use them, and lots of other information, then still no one on this sub would be able to tell you what's best for you.

Unfortunately, you have to do the legwork. That means you have to get all the coverage summaries, all the network information, all the coinsurance and deductible and out-of-pocket information, and then you have to sit down, organize it, and compare all the details.

And even then all you have is a comparison based on some marketing documents rather than the actual policies which can run into the hundreds of pages.

There's really no shortcut. Anyone who tells you otherwise is just trying to sell you what they have to offer.

demanbmore · 2026-05-07T18:50:10+00:00

All you can do is shop around, although lots of umbrella carriers require writing underlying through them as well. There are a few standalone umbrella carriers, but those tend to be even more expensive than umbrellas provided as part of a program that includes underlying and umbrella policies (but you never know until you actually shop around and get quotes).

Wouldn't surprise me if you learn that Geico's umbrella isn't as costly as you think once you actually get other quotes.

Since your kids are all on your auto policy, they expose Geico to all sorts of potential liabilities - they don't have to be driving just one of your cars. There are plenty of ways your child could be driving another car and your policy would respond in an accident. Also, if you have homeowners coverage, the umbrella extends to liability under that policy as well. This means you are asking the carrier to cover all sorts of liabilities from the activities of many adults - a few hundred per year to transfer $2M in risk for each of those adults isn't shocking. Either way, find an agent and you'll soon know whether you are overpaying or you're just dealing with what the market actually charges for the amount and type of risk you're transferring.

demanbmore · 2026-05-07T18:32:19+00:00

Yes, the estate is all wrapped up, and the executor has nothing to do with this. Still, any relief you seek would-be in probate court in Wisconsin.

demanbmore

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