I bought a used car a few months ago that had a near flawless finish. Over the past few months it's been scratched several times by my nephew on his bike. We've talked and now I need to file a claim with my insurance. The marks are everywhere, back of the trunk, right rear quarter panel, hood, left rear quarter panel.
The problem is, before I knew I could claim damages, I used a touch up kit to cover the scratches and gouges so they are hard to see. But I could still take pictures of them as they stand now and probably get a letter from the salesman, proclaiming the condition that he told it to me in. What else do I need to file a claim with Auto Owners? Yes, I have full coverage, including comprehensive.
I would settle out of pocket or pay for this yourself, each one of these scratches is a separate occurrence... which means for each scratch before your insurance will pay anything you have to pay your deductible for comprehensive/other that collision coverage. Typically this is $500 or so for each scratch... in the end your only going to end up with a higher premium and nothing from your insurance company to show for it.
Are you filing against your policy or theirs ? If yours, you will probably end up with a higher premium for many years which will offset whatever you collect.
You need to call your insurance company and open a claim. They may send an independent adjuster, but as it's just scratches, I doubt it. They'll probably tell you to take it to a shop that will fax the estimate to them. They have a list of how much the repairs should cost and as long as the estimate is within the limits, you should be okay. You'll have to pay any deductible and they will want to know how the damage occurred. Also, if the damage occurred while the car was parked in a driveway, they may want the owner of the home to use their homeowner's insurance to settle the claim.
If you make a claim, your rates may rise. Either get the entire car painted or you will go broke trying to keep the scratches off. I would talk to your sibling about the scratches and maybe use a little switch on the tyke. Every time he scratches your car, scratch his bike. He will eventually stop
Insurance claims lesson #1: each and every loss event is a seperate claim with a seperate deductible. Even if you have zero deductible your claims frenquency will soar and you will risk either being non-renewed or super high premiums. Don't think you can shark the inspector either -- they can tell old, touched-up damage from fresh damage. My advice is to make your brother/sister pay for the damage....
First of all, comprehensive coverage will not cover someone scratching your vehicle. Comprehensive is an act of nature or by a wild animal such as a deer.
As others have said, It would not be cost effective nor would it be smart to run this through your insurance under your collision insurance.
I would strongly suggest having the parents pay for this out of pocket. Maybe even check into their homeowners insurance paying for it.
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