Rental car incident - should I report it to my personal insurance?

[italdesign]

My rental car was involved in a minor, single-car incident without injury. A police report was filed and they said it will be reported to the rental car company, but upon returning car, representative did the walkaround and found no damage (indeed, there's very little, if any, visible damage. I did not mention the incident). So, I may or may not get a bill from them. CC coverage does not apply, so I am trying to decide whether to report the incident to my personal auto insurance NOW, or only if I get a bill. Does anyone know whether insurance companies tend to increase your premium if you report an incident but it doesn't end up requiring them to pay a dime?

On one hand, you're supposed to report any incident asap, but in this case it seems like a calculated risk.

I have a very low deductible so that isn't a concern.

 

[GettingReady]

I wouldn't. We had a similar issue with a rental once but no police report. In hind sight we would have been better off just paying out of pocket for the minor damage versus going through the insurance.

 

[cdancer20]

I would be careful about reporting to your insurance. It may still raise your premium since you "had an accident". My SO hit a cone in the middle of the road a couple months ago. There was no way to avoid it and the angle we were at (heading up a ramp), there was no way to see it beforehand. We researched it and everything said to NOT report it especially if the cost to repair will be less than your deductible. The insurance company will see you as "at-fault" regardless of the incident amount. I would just wait and see if they report it. Just out of curiosity, what did you hit?

 

[Josh F]

I'd wait as well

 

[ZipZapKaZoom]

The moment you call your insurance company to ask if an item is covered they get busy writing up an accident report. Even if the accident is below the deductible, guess what, it just counted against you and your premium increases will be measured accordingly.