Keyed

[SD_E88]

Someone keyed my car yesterday (along with 2 other cars parked on the same street). The scratches are from the nose to the tail... None are particularly deep but they will require repair or serious buffing. I'm looking for a reasonable shop to do the work. Not sure if the damage will be enough to involve my insurance company (especially with a 1k deductible). Any thoughts?

[champignon]

Take the car to a good body shop or paint shop and and get an estimate, to see where you are at.

The insurance claim would come under your "comprehensive" auto policy, and in theory the insurance company should not raise your rates if you claim, however my own experience with vandalism on a nearly new STi belies that. My insurance cost on the STi went up several hundred dollars a year after my claim was paid, at the next renewal.

Not long after someone vandalized my STi in a Home Depot parking lot, another bozo dented by Z3M Coupe in a Costco parking lot, and left no note. The damage to the rear quarter panel was around $900, but the body shop offered to do the work for $800 if I paid directly rather than going through the insurance company. Since I had a $500 deductible and would have only gotten $300 from the claim, I decided to pay for the repair myself, since I was reasonably certain that the insurance company was going to extract the $300 (and then some) back from me in higher premiums if I submitted the claim. I took the opportunity to have the body shop do a couple of other things on the car, most importantly to clean up the under spoiler damage done by the previous owner, which cost an additional few hundred $$$. I did that so that when I picked up the car at least I would feel like I got something for my money, rather than just getting fucked over by a cretin in the parking lot.

My guess is that in your case you will find that any money you can get out of your insurance company will not be enough to be worth it, longer term, because they will get the money back from you over the next few years even if they claim they will not.

[SD_E88]

Good advice. Looking into if the thousand dollar deductible is more than the damage...

[champignon]

Originally Posted by SD_F30

Good advice. Looking into if the thousand dollar deductible is more than the damage...

Must be absolutely infuriating. That is how I felt when my STi got vandalized, and later, when the clown dented my Z3M Coupe in the Costco parking lot, and didn't even leave a note.

[B.M.W.]

That sounds horrible but I really do like your car collection. I love the Z3 Coupes, but saying a clown dented the clownshoe is kind of funny.

Painful, but a little funny.