Is it dishonest to use insurance payout for something else?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people ask dumb questions like this?!

The Insurance company insured an event. The event happened and the company paid out per the terms of the agreement. It's upto the owner to do what he pleases with the proceeds. Why is that difficult to understand?

It's not dumb because as was pointed out, the answer is different if the car is paid off vs if it is financed.

There is no clause in a typical finance agreement that forces the repair. I never repaired any cosmetic damage on mine, only made it drivable.

It's not in the finance agreement. The financing institution is typically listed as a loss payee on your car insurance. So while they may not have found out about it, you were supposed to get it repaired because you are not the owner, they are. And that's their money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people ask dumb questions like this?!

The Insurance company insured an event. The event happened and the company paid out per the terms of the agreement. It's upto the owner to do what he pleases with the proceeds. Why is that difficult to understand?

It's not dumb because as was pointed out, the answer is different if the car is paid off vs if it is financed.

There is no clause in a typical finance agreement that forces the repair. I never repaired any cosmetic damage on mine, only made it drivable.

It's not in the finance agreement. The financing institution is typically listed as a loss payee on your car insurance. So while they may not have found out about it, you were supposed to get it repaired because you are not the owner, they are. And that's their money.

Maybe it's different from state to state, but financial institution is not listed on my insurance (loan, not lease).
If I total the car, I would be still on the hook for the loan. If I stop paying and bank repossesses the car then I still might be on the hook for the delta between the car value and what I owe (depending on potential negotiations). In a case of no fault accident, the other insurance will pay for the half of the damage, and nobody can force you to repair with your own money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people ask dumb questions like this?!

The Insurance company insured an event. The event happened and the company paid out per the terms of the agreement. It's upto the owner to do what he pleases with the proceeds. Why is that difficult to understand?

It's not dumb because as was pointed out, the answer is different if the car is paid off vs if it is financed.

There is no clause in a typical finance agreement that forces the repair. I never repaired any cosmetic damage on mine, only made it drivable.

It's not in the finance agreement. The financing institution is typically listed as a loss payee on your car insurance. So while they may not have found out about it, you were supposed to get it repaired because you are not the owner, they are. And that's their money.

The bank isn't the owner of the car if you financed it, the car is collateral on the loan if you don't pay it. As long as you pay the car loan, why does the bank care if the car has a scratch on it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do people ask dumb questions like this?!

The Insurance company insured an event. The event happened and the company paid out per the terms of the agreement. It's upto the owner to do what he pleases with the proceeds. Why is that difficult to understand?

It's not dumb because as was pointed out, the answer is different if the car is paid off vs if it is financed.

There is no clause in a typical finance agreement that forces the repair. I never repaired any cosmetic damage on mine, only made it drivable.

It's not in the finance agreement. The financing institution is typically listed as a loss payee on your car insurance. So while they may not have found out about it, you were supposed to get it repaired because you are not the owner, they are. And that's their money.

The bank isn't the owner of the car if you financed it, the car is collateral on the loan if you don't pay it. As long as you pay the car loan, why does the bank care if the car has a scratch on it?

Because a scratch lowers the value of the car/collateral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay thanks. I told my mother about this and she thought it was totally dishonest. "If you don't want to fix the car, then what are they paying you for?". I kinda reasoned that the money was due me regardless because the person hit my car. My mother reasoned that because this isn't an emergency (as in, I need to pay $1200 in order to not be evicted), spending the money on anything else is fraud.

You pay your premiums for a reason. Not dishonest. We've spent money earmarked for one thing on other things often. We've gotten credits for real estate transactions on inspection items we didn't actually care about then never did the work. According to your mother that would be dishonest too.

Yes, people do pay their premiums for a reason and it’s not so that they can pay off other drivers’ unrelated debt. The driver who hit OP’s car will see a premium increase as a result of OP’s claim. He paid those premiums to mitigate damage or loss that he caused, not to pay off OP’s credit card debt or student loans.

OP, let your own actions serve as a lesson to you to drive carefully. There are a lot of other people out there who would be happy to file a claim against you in a hot second if they thought they’d get a windfall.

Correct, the person who hit OP's car paid their premiums to mitigate damage. He caused the damage, whether OP pays to have it fixed or not. If OP decides to drive around in a damaged car, that has nothing to do with whether an insurer sees the driver who hit OP's car as more or less of a risk (which is what determines the premium cost).

I had a car once that was totaled in an accident where neither driver was found to be at fault. I took the payout and didn't buy another car for 11 years. Under your theory, did I commit fraud? Why should I have been required to buy a car if I decided I didn't need one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay thanks. I told my mother about this and she thought it was totally dishonest. "If you don't want to fix the car, then what are they paying you for?". I kinda reasoned that the money was due me regardless because the person hit my car. My mother reasoned that because this isn't an emergency (as in, I need to pay $1200 in order to not be evicted), spending the money on anything else is fraud.

You pay your premiums for a reason. Not dishonest. We've spent money earmarked for one thing on other things often. We've gotten credits for real estate transactions on inspection items we didn't actually care about then never did the work. According to your mother that would be dishonest too.

Yes, people do pay their premiums for a reason and it’s not so that they can pay off other drivers’ unrelated debt. The driver who hit OP’s car will see a premium increase as a result of OP’s claim. He paid those premiums to mitigate damage or loss that he caused, not to pay off OP’s credit card debt or student loans.

OP, let your own actions serve as a lesson to you to drive carefully. There are a lot of other people out there who would be happy to file a claim against you in a hot second if they thought they’d get a windfall.

Correct, the person who hit OP's car paid their premiums to mitigate damage. He caused the damage, whether OP pays to have it fixed or not. If OP decides to drive around in a damaged car, that has nothing to do with whether an insurer sees the driver who hit OP's car as more or less of a risk (which is what determines the premium cost).

I had a car once that was totaled in an accident where neither driver was found to be at fault. I took the payout and didn't buy another car for 11 years. Under your theory, did I commit fraud? Why should I have been required to buy a car if I decided I didn't need one?

Yeah - where is this garbage coming out of your mouth coming from PP? You can call your insurance company and ask and they will tell you that you can cash the check and not fix the car, you just can’t ever get another payout for that damage again unless you have it fixed.
So, if your left passenger door is dented, and you get an insurance check and don’t fix the car and then someone dents your left passenger side door further you can’t file a legal insurance claim for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay thanks. I told my mother about this and she thought it was totally dishonest. "If you don't want to fix the car, then what are they paying you for?". I kinda reasoned that the money was due me regardless because the person hit my car. My mother reasoned that because this isn't an emergency (as in, I need to pay $1200 in order to not be evicted), spending the money on anything else is fraud.

You pay your premiums for a reason. Not dishonest. We've spent money earmarked for one thing on other things often. We've gotten credits for real estate transactions on inspection items we didn't actually care about then never did the work. According to your mother that would be dishonest too.

Yes, people do pay their premiums for a reason and it’s not so that they can pay off other drivers’ unrelated debt. The driver who hit OP’s car will see a premium increase as a result of OP’s claim. He paid those premiums to mitigate damage or loss that he caused, not to pay off OP’s credit card debt or student loans.

OP, let your own actions serve as a lesson to you to drive carefully. There are a lot of other people out there who would be happy to file a claim against you in a hot second if they thought they’d get a windfall.

Correct, the person who hit OP's car paid their premiums to mitigate damage. He caused the damage, whether OP pays to have it fixed or not. If OP decides to drive around in a damaged car, that has nothing to do with whether an insurer sees the driver who hit OP's car as more or less of a risk (which is what determines the premium cost).

I had a car once that was totaled in an accident where neither driver was found to be at fault. I took the payout and didn't buy another car for 11 years. Under your theory, did I commit fraud? Why should I have been required to buy a car if I decided I didn't need one?

Yeah - where is this garbage coming out of your mouth coming from PP? You can call your insurance company and ask and they will tell you that you can cash the check and not fix the car, you just can’t ever get another payout for that damage again unless you have it fixed.
So, if your left passenger door is dented, and you get an insurance check and don’t fix the car and then someone dents your left passenger side door further you can’t file a legal insurance claim for that.

That's it. End of story. Beyond that don't get your knickers in a knot. It's YOUR car. If the bank were the owner, the insurance co. will be paying them not you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you can do whatever you want with the money.

You can - but it’s fraud if you have another accident and try to get that same damage fixed with that claim.
So- you only get one payout if that makes sense.

It's not your problem if their adjuster can't tell or pays for existing damage. That is their problem to inspect and detail why or why not they might not pay to fix something on a car involved in accident.

Bumper has a dent, some guy rear ends you. Not your problem to tell them that the bumper had a little dent on the right side. Always keep your mouth shut and just let them inspect. If they miss something speak up.

People have no sense.

[Anonymous]

Here you go everyone. It 100%, absolutely matters if your car is financed or not. OF COURSE if you own the car outright, you can do whatever the F you want. But if you do not outright own the car, you are supposed to repair the car. Is anyone going to find out? Probably not. But are you supposed to? YES. FFS.

"If there is a lienholder on the vehicle, the
lienholder may require that you repair the damage in order to protect its security
for the loan, or the lienholder may require that you pay off the balance of the
loan if you wish to keep any portion of the money you receive from the insurance
company instead of using it to repair the vehicle."

http://insurance.maryland.gov/Consumer/Documents/publications/autoinsuranceguide.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here you go everyone. It 100%, absolutely matters if your car is financed or not. OF COURSE if you own the car outright, you can do whatever the F you want. But if you do not outright own the car, you are supposed to repair the car. Is anyone going to find out? Probably not. But are you supposed to? YES. FFS.

"If there is a lienholder on the vehicle, the
lienholder may require that you repair the damage in order to protect its security
for the loan, or the lienholder may require that you pay off the balance of the
loan if you wish to keep any portion of the money you receive from the insurance
company instead of using it to repair the vehicle."

http://insurance.maryland.gov/Consumer/Documents/publications/autoinsuranceguide.pdf

"May" is not a requirement

[Anonymous]

cash the check and dont bat an eyelash. My boss hit my car once and his insurance was fine paying but my car was old and it was only going to be fixed because of a "betterment" that I had to pay. SO he hit me and I paid about $190 what was I going to do sue him..

[Anonymous]

Funny this JUST happened to my 12 year old car. I bought a mallet for $17 dollars and banged out the dent myself. It looks okay. I took the insurance money and paid for:

-new tires
-new brakes
-the aforementioned mallet
-2 months of math tutoring for DD
-$1000 in to savings.

It was truly helpful to have had that minor fender bender!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny this JUST happened to my 12 year old car. I bought a mallet for $17 dollars and banged out the dent myself. It looks okay. I took the insurance money and paid for:

-new tires
-new brakes
-the aforementioned mallet
-2 months of math tutoring for DD
-$1000 in to savings.

It was truly helpful to have had that minor fender bender!

You rock!