self-inflicted vehicle damage

[jack sprat]

in louisiana, say I was to have accidentally backed my car out of the garage with the hood open and caused some damage to the hood itself. i have full coverage to the hilt, it is a classic car, with $24,900 worth of coverage. can i file a claim and have it covered by my insurance?

 

[racer72]

That is what comprehensive coverage is for, call your insurance agent.

 

[ecmst12]

Sure you can file; however if you don't have special coverage for it being a "classic car", they will probably not cover all of the damage. Either way you will have to pay your deductible. Your insurance may also cover the damage to the garage, if there was any.

It's not comp, it's collision.

 

[jack sprat]

thanks.

i have read through the paperwork a few times and figured that it would be a collision claim, if any, as comprehensive is for acts of vandalism, falling trees, etc. it is covered as a classic car and covered at declared value of 20,000, however, i have since acquired an appraisal valued at 24,900. anyways, there was no damage to the garage, just the car. luckily i have a small deductible, too.

 

[teflon_jones]

Whether your insurance company decides this is a claim against your comprehensive or collision portion of your policy is up to them. Based on your post, I'm guessing it will be covered under the comprehensive portion of the policy because 1) it happened on your own property rather than a public street and 2) it wasn't the result of a collision between 2 or more vehicles.

How much is your deductible and how much is the damage? This could raise your rates by a significant amount on not only this vehicle but any others you have a policy for, so if the damage isn't very much then I would consider paying the entire amount out of pocket. How much your premiums will go up (if anything) is up to the insurance company and will take into account a lot of factors such as your claims and violations histories among other things.

 

[ecmst12]

Teflon is WRONG, again. This is a COLLISION between a vehicle and a fixed object. Where it happened and that it only involved one vehicle has nothing to do with it. As mentioned, comp is for things "other then collision" - vandalism, theft, falling/flying objects, weather damage. The only thing that a person can collide with and have it be a comp claim is an animal.

Not only that, but if it WAS a comp claim, they could not then charge it as an at-fault accident and it couldn't raise your rates.

Since it was a collision, it WILL go down as an at-fault accident and raise your rates some. If there's a lot of damage though, it may still be worth it to put in the claim.

 

[jack sprat]

the deductible for collision is 250, and comp is 100. the online replacement parts places will sell me a hood for around $300 plus truck freight of $150 avg. i have been quoted $300 - $500 for paint and fitting. it looks like around $1000 or so total.

i am not crazy about big rate increases because of this being an at-fault claim.

Hypothetically, say the car was parked and unattended (at a cruise in-type event) with the hood open and I came back to the car after walking around for a while to find the hood closed and damaged, what would happen then? Hypothetically, could I file a comprehensive claim for vandalism? What would the insurance company require from me to process the claim?

 

[ecmst12]

Don't lie to your insurance company. It's dumb. If you don't want your rates to increase, then pay for the job yourself. It's obviously not vandalism damage so it's not going under comp, it's a collision claim any way you look at it. And if you want to claim hit and run you'd have to file a police report and lie to THEM - another bad idea.