Expert: Bennie719 - 10/22/2007

Question
My vehicle has several dents and scrapes.  I'm not sure what these are from; they look mostly like they are due to parking lot incidents.  (Like, someone parked next to me opened their door into my vehicle's body.)  I remember noticing the first one and thinking that it would not be worthwhile to file a claim, since it was just a little ding and my deductible was probably as much as the repair would cost.  Now that I've had the car for a while, and there are more of these little things, I am wondering if I might be able to use my insurance to clean the car's body up a bit.  Am I able to file a claim for all of these little things at once?  If there is some sort of time limit from when the damage happened to when I file the claim, that would make things tricky, since I don't know when most of these things happened.  If I could file a claim, would it be covered under comprehensive or collision?

Answer
Hi Florina,
This is the reason we volunteers and this site exists.  Agents are not taking the time to adequately explain each coverage when you purchase the policy.
Each and every little scratch,bump and dent is a separate incident and your deductible applies to each separate loss.
Any experienced Claims Adjustor or body shop repair person
can inspect your car and determine how many separate incidents have happened to your car.
We all cringe awaiting that first dent or scratch on our shiny new car, but we can't gather them up and use our insurance as a maintenance item.
So, Sorry, you can't lump everything into one and file a claim.  Don't feel bad, you are not the first person that was never properly informed of exactly your policy coverage applies.  I have seen numerous people over the years who have filed such claims, thinking like you, that the policy would cover the damage with one deductible.
One way to help reduce the number of these incidents is to park in the far reaches of the lot and enjoying the walk back instead of squeezing tightly between two parked cars to get a close-in parking spot.  
Your feedback by rating this answer will be appreciated.
Sincerely,
Bennie
San Francisco Bay Area 10-22-07 12:39 PM PST