Freaking ca roads

[IncisionInd]

Something attacked me this morning when i was driving on the freeway. Damage pictures are attached. Any estimates to how much this might be costing to fix, or will my insurance cover this with no deductible?

 

[phileaglesfan]

The insurance may say it was comprehensive damage which does not go against your insurance record (unless you have too many of them). You usually have to pay the ded which I keep at $100 for comp.

What was it that hit you? Was it an alligator (tire rubber)?

Pics are kind of small so it is hard to say the cost. If I were you I would get a couple quotes and consider paying it yourself especially if it goes against your collision policy.

I know when I had my Grand Prix, some ice fell off a truck and damaged my front bumper. It was considered comp damage. Darn truck was throwing ice all over the road like an idiot.

 

[tx07tahoe]

That suck to see. I'd like to hear what hit your truck too.

 

[Coolade07]

Elins twin sister do that? how you meet that chic? damm psychos

 

[IncisionInd]

I made the photos larger

@phileaglefan:

I know that it wasn't tire tread but after that i cant tell you what it was. It was a big black solid object that after it bounce of my car it physically bounced out and hit another car so it had some bounce to it. I called the insurance company waiting for them to get back to me to figure out what this counts as

@tx07tahoe:

Again if i knew i would tell everyone.

@coolade07

I wish it was someone who did this then i would have someone to blame but me :'(. I also wish i had Tiger money to fix it

---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 AM ----------

Just called in and they dont know if it is going to go against comprehensive or collision. Either way the deductable is going to be $500 so this is gonna suck no matter what.

 

[jdix]

Were you on the 5 freeway? Cars always take a beating on the 5 for some reason

 

[IncisionInd]

Naw i was actually driving down the 405 towards irvine, although i know that you are right about the 5. I live in SoCal and i have NEVER had something hit my car like this before. It is still pissing me off and my insurance is gonna try and screw me.

 

[phileaglesfan]

Is the scrape on the bumper part of the damage. I would try to get a couple estimates. Sometimes they charge you the insurance price, other times a more normal price. If it is anywhere below $1k I would consider fixing it yourself and not dealing with the insurance. Hopefully they can straighten the hood without replacing it.

 

[IncisionInd]

yeah the black is part of the accident and part of the bumper down where the fog light is at is completely missing paint.

 

[phileaglesfan]

Ouch! I heard somewhere dealers charge about $300-500 just to repaint a panel, that is before body work. They usually charge for the full panel while some shops will not. At least it is white so it shouldn't be to hard to match.

I know the dealer charged $1300 just to replace the rear bumper cover on my Envoy a couple years ago. The parts were about $600, labor was the rest (about $500 to paint it alone).

 

[1dopeHoe]

It'll go against comp, so you rates won't change. And how exactly is your insurance company screwing you? By giving you the option to pay on $500 for appears to be close to $2K in damage.

 

[IncisionInd]

@ 1dopeHoe:

Naw i dont mean it like that i would be REALLY thankful if that was what i was getting. They are not giving this to me under comprehensive, they are marking this as a collision as the item hit the ground before flying up and hitting my car. That is what i meant, even though the object was airborne because it hit the ground first its collision which does raise my rates.

Ill take 500 any day of the week to get eveything fixed but the upped premiums are going to piss me off.

@phileaglefan

At this point with the insurance paying for it i want a new hood and maybe swap out to a new black grille.

 

[1STIMEYUKON]

That looks to be a good size dent so more then likely theyre going to replace the hood and obviously the grill. Depending on your insurance company theyre more than likely going to use aftermarket parts and that will really piss you off!

 

[LTZboy]

You can lower your comprehensive to $0 deductible and it will not make your policy go up more than a few dollars a month. I have both my comp. and coll. at $0 deductibles.

Anything filled under Comp will not make your rates go up. That is why you always let someone hit you because if you swerve to miss the accident and you wreck it is collision then and your rates go up.

I would put my foot down and not let them file it as collision!! If the object was flying no matter how many times it hit the road it is a comp claim.

 

[1dopeHoe]

You can lower your comprehensive to $0 deductible and it will not make your policy go up more than a few dollars a month. I have both my comp. and coll. at $0 deductibles.

Anything filled under Comp will not make your rates go up. That is why you always let someone hit you because if you swerve to miss the accident and you wreck it is collision then and your rates go up.

I would put my foot down and not let them file it as collision!! If the object was flying no matter how many times it hit the road it is a comp claim.

X2

I would fight it. It's a no fault accident here. This should definitely not be filed as collision.

 

[phileaglesfan]

Definitely fight it. They can use non-OEM or even junkyard parts if they wish though to restore it to a "like new" condition.

And a collision is a collision, all that matters is who is at fault. This definitely sounds like comprehensive though. Have too many comp claims and they'll consider you "higher" risk though. Just have two broken windshields within a couple months and you'll find out.

 

[IncisionInd]

yeah after this whole thing i contacted my agent to see the cost of lowering my comp deductible to $100 or even $0. It comes out to freaking an extra $1.60 a month for $100 deductible or $2.10 a month for $0 Deductible. If i would have known it was this cheap then i would have been using that all along.

The funny thing is that i have Mercury and they are really good about using all OEM parts for fixing my cars previously.

The weird thing is everyone tells me if you have too many comp claims it will hurt you. In my 8 years as an insured motorist i have NEVER had a comp claim.

BTW Thanks for all of the advice on here, my dad is an attorney and he will be writing a letter to the insurance company on my behalf tomorrow. Hopefully we can get this all taken care of.

 

[LTZboy]

Awesome. Yup I found it out when I did a quote online to have $0 deductibles one time and saw it was so cheap. Lowered mine to $0 haven't had to use them yet, but will be glad when I have to.

Having your father write the letter is the way to go about it. Let us know what happens.

 

[phileaglesfan]

Your Dad's letter should take care of it.

Insurance companies won't tell you about how cheap a lower ded is. Basically, by going with a $500 over $100 you are saying you won't get a comp claim in over 200 months. I can tell you in 25 + years of driving, I'm not even close.

 

[IncisionInd]

They finally accepted it as a comp claim. I dropped it off today