In short— No. It will be used in the future to devalue your claim. Click this link to learn about the tricks insurance companies deploy on injured victims after an accident or slip-and-fall injury.

If you were not at fault, your insurance won’t go up just because you have your insurance company pay for the damages. The responsible party’s insurer will eventually be called upon to arbitrate the claim and pay for its insured’s faulty driving that caused the accident. That is known as a subrogation claim, and your insurer will pursue that claim, along with your claim for any deductible you had to pay towards the cost of car repairs. In most policies, you will have a $250 to $500 deductible to pay if your insurer pays for the repairs up front. Then, you will be notified by your insurer once it recovers the subrogation claim, and a refund of your deductible will be paid to you. In that process, you are not assigned insurance points for the accident, since it was not your fault. As such, your premiums won’t go up.

You can get paid for your car repairs bills and resolve all property damage related issues separately from your personal injury claim. The claim for damages to your vehicle, loss of use expenses such as towing and car rental expenses, and of course, the cost to repair your car, are all considered separate legal claims from your personal injury claim. Having a separate legal right to recover for property damage means that you don’t have to wait to settle your car damage claim until after you have completed your medical treatment, and recovered from injuries your body sustained in an accident.

Most often, you are going to want to have an attorney to handle your personal injury case. There are some instances when you could handle your own case, but the traps are many for the unwary. Therefore, it is always advisable to at least have your case checked over by a lawyer to see if it is one that is safe to resolve on your own. Most people just don’t have the background and experience to locate multiple sources of coverage, know what to say or not say to an adjuster, and how to argue successfully for a recovery that is just and fair from an insurance company. If you have the experience and knowledge of the many issues involved, and have a relatively minor injury with a few medical bills and clear liability on your side, it may be safe to try and settle the case on your own. However, if you need help finding sources to pay for medical care after an accident, or have significant injuries that will take weeks or months to resolve, or there are any issues as to who was at fault in the accident, then you should hire an attorney before making the first call to the insurance company. Don’t fall prey to the adjuster’s request to “take a simple or quick recorded statement”. Those adjusters are trained in ways to get you to say damaging things to reduce the value of your case, or destroy the case entirely. Before you talk to an adjuster, call a lawyer skilled in personal injury cases to look over your case an give you some advice on how to proceed.