The Black Month of November…should I put in for an insurance claim?

[Matell]

Hi fellas, I've also posted this on acurazine.com.


This has been the worst month my Euro and I have had in the six months I’ve had it. Four bad things have happened. :hang:



http://img14.exs.cx/img14/3807/rimscrape.jpg



(1) Somehow scraped the front left rim (now rear left after rotation) on a low curb taking my mother to have a new cast put on her ankle.



(2) The neighbours feral cat found it’s way into the garage, knocking down an toddlers kids metal trike onto the front left corner of my car. Resultant damage –



(a) A scratch on the headlight clear lens,

(b) a gouge in the upper surface of the bumper

(c) a suff on the lower edge of the bumper

(d) a scrape on the web of the underlip spoiler

(e) a chip on the outer edge of the under lip spoiler



http://img14.exs.cx/img14/7765/front41.jpg



All this I think was done by the exposed tubular metal end of the handlebar judging by the position of the trike when I found it. I haven’t seen that cat since :D



(3) Now I thought this was bad enough, then I found my mother hadn’t swung her leg with the cast out far enough and gouged my passenger side skirt!. Grrrrrr



http://img14.exs.cx/img14/6002/side18.jpg



It was all made worse by being rear ended :sick: today on my way to a flight medical.



(4) a stupid (but attractive) ditzy brunette, in a green Daewoo Leganza :hurl: bumped into the back of me at a set of lights where we’d been stationary for about 1.5mins!. When the lights changed we rolled through and pulled up. She only got part way out of her car as she claimed “her leg is in a cast” and she “went for the brake and her foot slipped”. The impact would have been less than or almost 5km/h. At the time the area of impact was covered in a weeks road grime and I had to look intently for any damage. All I found at the time was a rusty imprint of the screw head that attached her licence plate which was bent (it looked like she’d done this more than once). She was being very apologetic and as the damage seemed insignificant to me. As a result she successfully played the female gender card on me and I failed to get her details. So stupidly I let her go, however I did get her registration number. After getting home and cleaning the area up I found more damage. :bawling: :bawling: :bawling:



I’m now seriously piffed with myself for not getting her name and address (even if to bargain for a “one night stand” settlement). :pissed:

The damage is

(f) the Phillips screw head imprint

(g) A crease where the bumper folded in

(h) And an impression in the bumper from her plate



Oh and I've buffed the area down with 3M PI III (05933), then used Scratch X followed by Gold Class in the false hope of being able to make the mark less noticable.



http://img14.exs.cx/img14/3148/rearender1.jpg http://img14.exs.cx/img14/5819/rearender2.jpg



So my question is do you think I should go ahead and put in an insurance claim for the rear? Or live with it and hope for a bigger bingle to get it fixed?



I had planned to try to fix the other imperfections using the chip and scratch methods of repairing paint and rims that can be found on bettercarcare.com. If only we could get clear car bra’s installed in Australia. There's only one place I know of and that's in Sydney and I'm 1000km away.



I’m so pissed about it all in general. spend 2-3hrs each weekend washing and detailing my car and shit like this happens!...Grrrrrrr. I’ll take some better pics in natural light this weekend once I’ve washed her.



Comprehensive car insurance is all very new to me as my previous car was an old clapped out 1982 GM product.



So guys’s what are your thoughts? :dunno:



Thanks…..a venting Matell

[Dominik]

I think thats what anyone would be like if they had just bought a $45k car and got scratched.

I feel for ya mate, that must suck... Just speak to some panel beaters to see if it can be touched up. It would cost ya a couple of hundred, but cheaper than trying to claim insurance (unless you plan on dobbing the girl in). I dont think insurance companies bother with claims worth less than $500 anyway...

[Slugoid]

It's a car, it will get minor scratches no matter what. To get all those fixed will cost jack all. I got my whole rear bumper resprayed, when my mum backed it into my sister's old bomb, for $250 only.

I've had my Euro for a year now, and I've noticed a lot of minor chips here and there. It's black too, so it's more obvious than other colours. My rims have minor scratches cos I've accidently gone a bit too close to the kerb. At first i was like, OMG!!, but now if it's not obvious as I walk past my car, then I just turn a blind eye to it.

[Catcha]

hahah that's the funniest thing put an insurance claim on that stuff, how high do you want your premiums to go ? Maybe if she did your bumper big time i would consider a claim but even then, you better off just paying for a new one, and

save having your annual premiums go up in the long run you save. Don't know about that scratch on the headlight though if they are the HID. didn't u get headlight protectors ? i certainly

Best way is to get a panel beater to give you some quotes to touch it up, but then with them you need a spray, a touch up will show up cause it's metallic paint....and you need to spary the whole panel to match it..big dollars...

Your rims well you fix them you probably to it again..... live with it...

Those little marks on your bumper. and side .i would get a touch up paint pen, get the colour as close as you can match, and just colour it over. it won't be noticable guarantee, won't be perfect but it won't be that obvious.

If i was in your position that is what i would do , colour it with touch up. don't claim insurance....they will probably laugh at you for wasting there time.

you get a door dent you fix it next day you get another one..it's never ending get a few or a whole panel full of dents then call the chip or dent to do the whole thing just to find a dent the next time you go shopping and spending $$$ on it the previous day. man not worth it in the end.......that's what my panel beater told me

let us know how you go

[coladuna]

Why would you even bother with insurance claims for those minor stuff?
That's ridiculous.

[Matell]

lol yup I'm a paranoid crying little bitch! :rolleyes:

yeah I now know it's ridiculous to put in an insurance claim. I just had to vent and be given a reality check. I plan on touching them up in two weeks time, and the rim I'll do once I've got my 18"s fitted, the screw mark will be the first to be done as I notice it every time I go to the boot, so fingers crossed it'll work out alright. I'm not expecting a miracle though.

It doesn't stop the fact that it sucks dogs balls to have something stupid like that happen in completely stationary traffic, to the most expensive thing I've ever owned. I keep looking at the rears of other cars now to see what damage they have, and I've noticed a surprising trend with a large number of cars having a tow ball fitted, that don't look like they've ever pulled more than a full load of pax and luggage. That might be a good rear protector, but I think the Honda tow ball spoils the look of the Euro's rear.

I'll live with it :cool: . Might be an excuse to waste some $$$$'s on a nice Mugen Body kit.....gawd then I really would be a freakn cry baby if anything happened!!!! :)

My main gripe with things now is my stupidity for not using the best chance I've had in a while to get a non bush-pig chicks details. Damn I reckon she would've gone off! :D

Thanks guys!

[--eskimo-eg--]

dont be bothered to fix it man, just save up some money to buy new bodykits, so far phase racing kit is the best for euro, imo :thumbsup:

[Pum[Z]]

Those are minor little marks...

Its nothing much... Don't look at the negative side of it look at the positive side of it. Now that u have these small scratches what can u do to get rid of it.

U say ur getting 18inch alloys, thats a start to get rid of the gutter mark on ur alloys.

If u that paranoid about those little scratches then get ur bumpers resprayed. Nowdays Panel Beaters do a real good job matching the colours that u can't tell the difference between factory and resprayed bumpers. I reversed to a poll once on the euro and and had my bumper badly scratched... Costed only $180 to get it resprayed... & While its getting resprayed u can put like a bodykit in the panel and paint shop as well :D

So think positive alright!! There's always light at the end of a tunnel... Use it to ur advantage....

[euro77]

Thinking about black month of November, my euro was first damaged by hail in November last year, not even a week after I took possession of it. hahaha... maybe november is indeed a black month for euro

[jtboo]

You know you can get some touch up paint from your dealer. Only cost $14.50 for it.

[VirIIx]

I got my car hand washed yesterday.. damn it looked great.. went to the back.. and noticed my first scratch... wasn't pleased.. all the dirt was covering it up, polished it a bit, and it went away *phew*

But it's bound to happen

[razaman]

Fark man, I know how you feel.

My wife came back from the supermarket to tell me someone scraped the rear bumper. Took the paint clear off - about 12 cm long and 3cm high.

No note, nothing. Apparently a white station wagon was parked beside her when she arrived. I can confirm that a white car made the mark.

It's a small 'local' supermarket that we frequent often - hopefully in my travels I will see a white wagon with my red paint on it.

Pay back will be f'in sweet :mad:

Raz

[Catcha]

Fark man, I know how you feel.

My wife came back from the supermarket to tell me someone scraped the rear bumper. Took the paint clear off - about 12 cm long and 3cm high.

No note, nothing. Apparently a white station wagon was parked beside her when she arrived. I can confirm that a white car made the mark.

It's a small 'local' supermarket that we frequent often - hopefully in my travels I will see a white wagon with my red paint on it.

Pay back will be f'in sweet :mad:

Raz
For someone to do that they wouldn't care anyway so payback would be no big deal to the other owner unless the car was in pretty good condition

[Type R Positive]

For someone to do that they wouldn't care anyway so payback would be no big deal to the other owner unless the car was in pretty good condition yeah, but it is hard to see out of a smashed windscreen!

[razaman]

yeah, but it is hard to see out of a smashed windscreen! We're thinking similar thoughts!:thumbsup:

It's too big not to have resprayed - if it was a wee scratch I could leave with it but in 3cm wide. It's already driving me nuts.

And it's not enough to claim through my insurance, it just means I'm out of pocket because some dishonest **** can't drive.

Raz

[Catcha]

yeah, but it is hard to see out of a smashed windscreen!Oh like that hey :D tyres are easier