<prompt> Human: New driver here. Ive had a small car accident lately: ran into a pole when getting groceries and dinged up my left front fender pretty badlightshood are undamaged though. I ignored it at first thinking it was pretty minor but I recently had a mechanic look at it and he quoted a repair fee of over 1800. Would it be better to foot the bill out of pocket or get my insurance to look at it? The only thing is Id feel kind of dumb having my premiums jacked up because of such a minor incident...  <response>: Shop around mechanics too. Make sure you tell them that youre looking to pay out of pocket too. Most mechanics and home restoration companies have an insurance price and a pay in cash price. They know they can get a little more money out of the insurance company so they dont feel bad about charging more. If they know youre paying out of pocket, they might go easy on you. If they dont go easy on you, file a claim with insurance. Thats why you have insurance. 