Aeromotive

My car paint has been perfect for 2 years, not even a dent or a ding, until yesterday.
I walked back to my car to find this red absolutely hideous Camry next to me. As I opened the my door I realized there was a very small ding, with red paint on it, at the perfect spot where his door would it. Because it was my first ding and I thought "hey I caught the guy" I called the police, which took some time to arrive. In the meantime the owner of the car and his family (and extended) arrived, all in all 15 people (hahaha). I confronted him and he denied, saying he wasn't responsible, but for some reason he didn't want to open his rear driver door to see if its position matched my ding! However he did open his front passenger door and said "hey it doesn't even touch your car", to which I answered "are you kidding me?". After the cops arrived they asked him to open the door and I got a clear picture.

As we were talking his daughter came to my front left fender and started rubbing the paint with her nails (LOL). My wife was right behind her and gave her a push away, and told me immediately... I started yelling at them "why the hell do you do that? Wasn't one ding enough?" Everybody had their mouths shut at that point and didn't know what to answer. But as they say, that'll buff out.

TLDR : Now I kind of regret doing all this for a tiny ding and I'm having second thoughts about claiming it to my insurance or not. It's just that the faulty car and person were obviously there and I wanted to protect myself, thinking I could repair it for free. I also think I got emotional because the car was flawless before that, but these things happen and I'm not so mad about it. Going back in time, I think I should just have let it go and repaired it myself. I'm sure it can be done without the hassle of going through insurance, etc. On the other hand I filed a report so something's going into my carfax

Opinions, thoughts? Comments?

Scott610

iTrader: (3)

If u have comprehensive insurance gonna have to pay a deductible and your insurance won't go up a kid just scratch my 2011 isf up on some hating **** but took care of him lol and it was real bad from trunk all the way up to driver side to hood crazy only females do that type of work and pop my tire too just one . If the ding is on a crease or line of the body dentless guy won't be able to get it out and it's going to need body work good luck bro people have no respect and seems like when u drive somthing nice we owe them somthing just a quote to all the mother****s sitting in there *** and clocking other men" if u can't save money u useless all u gonna have is excuses" lol good luck with the fix oh yea make the other guys insurance pay for it

KMG

It took me a long time to finally except the fact that a majority of people could really care less about anyone else's property. I know things are going to happen to my car and I really try not to worry about it, door dings are almost unavoidable anymore with parking spots and lots getting tighter and tighter. It does suck that it happened, however it's really nothing that a quick PDR repair and some polish can't fix though if it bothers you that much.

zmcgovern4

iTrader: (2)

Perhaps I am missing something... but if the guy was found to be guilty of causing the damage, and it was recorded with the police, then why are you reporting it to your insurance? The guilty party should be responsible for the cost of damages whether you get it fixed or not.

For example, my old IS250 was keyed, and I found out who did it. I called the police and he confessed to the officer that he had scratched my car. He also agreed to cover damages, which was documented in the police report. I received a quote from a body shop to have the panel repainted and his insurance wrote me a check for the quote even though I never got it repainted.

typocl

are those scratches I see from the nails? I don't blame you for what you did, although it's good the cops got there with that family being 15 (!!!) people. It certainly looks like more than "it'll buff out". And people need to be more careful. When I'm parked in a tight space, I tell the kids in the back to be careful with the doors when opening.

Aeromotive

Hmmm that's not how it works in the great north. The police officers are pretty useless. They just describe facts and even though they subjectively said it was clearly his door that dinged me, they can't say who's responsible. They'll just write the facts and let the insurance companies fight against each other. However my company said they'd cover without deductible and no premium increase.

Yes those are the nails and they're hard to see on the picture, but much more apparent in real life. They don't look very deep in the clear coat, though.

Nospinzone

Zach, it's dependent on your state's insurance laws. For example, in my home state of Mass., you file the claim with your own insurance company and subrogate your right to sue to your insurance company. They pay you and then they collect from the other party's insurance company.

It's actually a good way to do it. In the last 10 years I have been rear ended twice and my wife twice (3 of them were using their cell phones). Obviously in all four cases it was the other party's fault. We simply had our cars repaired and the bills were paid by our insurance company, and they recover from their insurance company, or the people personally if they didn't have coverage.

alexulan

The most important part. When your insurance company collects. they will send you the refund for your deductible if you had one.
I'm in CA.

Nospinzone

Alex, another example of varying state insurance laws. In Mass. as long as it is not your fault, there is no deductible, you get the full amount up front.

And as to -

Because I'm a man, I think what you're wearing is fine. I thought what you were wearing five minutes ago was fine, too. Either pair of shoes is fine. With the belt or without it, looks fine. Your hair is fine. You look fine. Can we just go now?

That is just too funny ....... and true!

(But you forgot the earrings)