[masraum]

OK, son is making ok money and getting his life on track, it's been a long road. He had a vehicle that was pretty trashed and started having mechanical problems that he couldn't fix or afford to fix. We gave him our second vehicle (the missus has been talking about getting rid of it for over 2 years anyway). Today, he totalled it, accident on the freeway, the story that we heard is that he swerved, lost control and it rolled. He was taken to the hospital via ambulance, his clothes were cut off on the way so they could check him out. He's fine (thankfully, today is his mother's birthday). The car that cut him off and caused him to swerve didn't hit him and kept going. He didn't get a ticket. He had minimum insurance. He has medical through work.

The question is this, should he claim the accident even though it won't help with his vehicle situation and will drive his rate up?

I was initially leaning towards no, but then when it clicked that he'd been taken to the emergency room in an ambulance, no less, I realized that unless his insurance is medical insurance is phenomenal, he'll probably end up with quite a bit of medical bills, and the insurance should help with that. If he gets them, and then doesn't pay, then his credit will be trashed and he doesn't need that, especially since he's about to have to take a loan out (hopefully, he can) to buy a replacement vehicle.

Thoughts?

Thanks.