Looks like a careless shopper hit it with his shopping cart. No witnesses,no notes,no security cameras around. How do I handle it with my insurance company. Can it be classified as a hit and run?
Its a 2012 Corolla.Sorry the car is dirty (road salt)
I would guess that calling your company or agent would work.
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Years ago, my pickup was keyed, it was repaired under Comprehensive with a lower deductible. Call your agent.
Ed B.
If someone did that with a cart they weighed 600 pounds and were sitting in the cart as it rolled down a steep hill into your car. To me it looks like a much harder hit. Either way it’s a comprehensive claim, but first go to a good body shop and get an estimate, then check to see what your deductible is. If the deductible is more than the estimate I wouldn’t even report it to insurance, because you aren’t going to get anything except maybe a mark against you on your claim history.
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My Province implemented “no fault insurance” back in the 70"s. This means that you cannot sue others for messing up your car…insurance companies will determine who is responsible and will pay accordingly. The good thing is that I have no deductable fee for comprehensive and my insurance will not go up for 2 claims if not found responsable.Is that good?
NY State has no fault insurance but it only applies to bodily injury, not property damage. If you or anyone in your car gets injured in an accident, the medical bill are paid by your insurance up to the limit of your coverage and this doesn’t raise your rates.
Thanks! some body shops around here specialize in paintless dent repair. I think that could be a less costly alernative. I wonder if this type of dents could be taken out without using Bondo and repainting?
I see visible paint scratches. The paintless dent repair - the paint can’t be damaged. I’ve done it once. There’s a few youtube videos on how to.
I’d handle it by calling the insurer and reporting it today. Just tell them what you found. Since you have no idea how it happened, anything you tell them other than you found the dent when you came out of the store is fabrication.
If you have some time before you call, you might go to that parking lot and watch the shopping carts. They might roll too well and get away from the users. I had a similar incident at a local grocery store, and I happened to see it. Someone let go of an empty shopping cart and it rolled across the lot and into my door. I. Immediately went into the store, got the manager and showed him the damage. Clearly I wasn’t the first with this problem. He told me to get it fixed, bring him the bill, and he would reimburse me. Yep, I got paid. I still shop at that store, too. I just don’t park in the end spots just across from the store now.
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I’d say it depends on how much you care about perfection, those are most curious scratches, paintless dent repair and a little nail polish type touch up paint might be an inexpensive good enough solution.
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I think you might want to just pay for it yourself. Get an estimate. I can’t tell if the paint is damaged or not but I had a softball size dent in my fender done by a paintless guy and it cost me $150 and was perfect. There was no paint damage though, like a soccer ball hit it.
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I can’t speak to your insurance issues, but it looks like it will be a fairly easy repair for a pro auto body specialist. Get an estimate then contact your insurance company for their advice. If it appears the insurance company isn’t going to be paying you anything to get it repaired, then it is like any other service you need. Find a couple of providers who do good work and choose the least expensive of them. If you don’t mind a less than perfect result you might be able to fix something like that yourself btw.
And park at the back of the lot, far away from other cars in supermarket parking lots, if you want to minimize the chance of a repeat. It’s good exercise to walk more anyway.
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Such a bummer. I had a Honda Civic SI that got a similar parking lot ding and it broke my heart. You may be able to get away with a “door skin” from a body shop, but I suspect by looking at it that paintless dent removal is not going to be enough for that one. Too bad the paint cracked like that. Bing’s experience makes me think you should give it a try anyway.
Ok, the estimate for paintless dent repair was $225 CDN because I had no paint damage after cleaning the area. The tech told me he could do it in around 1 hour…isn’t that great!
http://solutionbosse.ca/about-3
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Great. It could have been a lot worse. Good thing the panel is flat. If there was paint damage it could have cost hundreds more.
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Bing was right! Again! That is a great outcome and no need to bother with insurance or other hassles. I like stories with a happy ending.
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AAA used to have what they called broad based coverage. It only existed among a full coverage policy. If memory serves it handled any damage like a “comprehensive” claim, such as a deer wreck. No deductable. But, even if you had to pay a deducatable on on a panel that large, it would still likely be cheaper than paying for it out of pocket unless you have a buddy in the business.
Correction, it handled any parking lot claim like a “comprehensive” claim. Sorry.
I respectfully disagree.
Circa 2010, I was returning to my car after some shopping, just as a really strong wind/rain storm cropped-up. I was probably no more than 100 feet from my car when a wind-driven shopping cart impacted my right rear passenger door. I tried running to beat that cart, but I was unsuccessful, and when I got to my car, I found very similar damage to what the OP showed us.
At the time, I was preparing to trade my car-in, and had already gotten a trade-in offer. I went back to the dealership, showed the used car manager the damage, and asked how much that would reduce my trade-in value. When he told me that he would only reduce the trade-in by $150, I decided that the time and effort to engage a dent-free repair guy just wasn’t cost-effective for me.
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