Paying for repair myself or using insurance ?

[r3lax]

Bimmer got scrapped while parked. Have to replace/ the front bumper / front end panel, right headlight, maybe parking sensor and side view camera.

Things like this happen, it is depressing and it costs money and I sure could use guidance. Any strategic advice how to manage would be amazing. For me to learn but also for anyone on the forum who didn't have to deal with this kind of stuff yet.

So.
If I get this fixed at BMW and have insurance pay for it - it will be expensive as hospital bill AND it will show up on Carfax as damage .
In the past I’ve avoided ANY cars showing damage on Carfax reports. Not knowing exactly what the damage was meant avoid purchasing.
It wouldn't be fair to consider this car that way after the cracked parts are replaced with new.

What would you do?

Do I pay for the repair and keep the record clean?
How does damage get reported to CarFax and similar services / does it matter that this is cosmetic and not structural damage etc?
Should I do this repair at BMW or elsewhere ? Who do you trust ?

[TractionControlDelete]

Originally Posted by r3lax

Bimmer got scrapped while parked. Have to replace/ the front bumper / front end panel, right headlight, maybe parking sensor and side view camera.

Things like this happen, it is depressing and it costs money and I sure could use guidance. Any strategic advice how to manage would be amazing. For me to learn but also for anyone on the forum who didn't have to deal with this kind of stuff yet.

So.
If I get this fixed at BMW and have insurance pay for it - it will be expensive as hospital bill AND it will show up on Carfax as damage .
In the past I've avoided ANY cars showing damage on Carfax reports. Not knowing exactly what the damage was meant avoid purchasing.
It wouldn't be fair to consider this car that way after the cracked parts are replaced with new.

What would you do?

Do I pay for the repair and keep the record clean?
How does damage get reported to CarFax and similar services / does it matter that this is cosmetic and not structural damage etc?
Should I do this repair at BMW or elsewhere ? Who do you trust ?

Personally I've always just dealt with things through the insurance company and then have taken the car the BMW repair center to fix it. That way I get new parts and the proper paint without any guesswork. Also, no matter what price I expected it to be, the actual costs were always alarmingly higher.

If I was buying a used BMW in the future, and there was past damage, I wouldn't be concerned if it was repaired by BMW because I've been pleased with their work. Ofcourse, I'd try to get some money off but I'd always try to do that regardless of history lol