I scratched my car, need an advise about the insurance

rosenrot

While parking my car in a new place, I didn't see a column in my blind spot and I scratched the back of my car while reversing.
Since the panels of the car are plastic, they didn't bend, nor dislocate, as I was reversing at very slow speed, it only made a a few significant visible scratches (about 15-20 centimeters long each) on my right back panel. In addition, my car is black, so those are very easily noticeable.

I have a comprehensive car insurance, so I was wondering what should be my course of action now?
Shall I call them and ask them if they cover it (after all it is a comprehensive insurance) and if I call them - would such a minor accident like that increase my insurance in the future?

or

I should deal with that myself and find a garage to remove the scratches as much as possible?

Any advise greatly appreciated.

bazz26

First thing you do is go to a few body shops and get quotes for how much it costs to put right. You then weigh up whether or not is worth going through your insurance or paying it yourself, taking into account that you will have to pay the excess on any claim you make against your policy anyway plus more than likely you could loose some or all of your No Claims Bonus.

gandalf

As bazz26 says your best bet is to get a quote asap, check what your excess is and then see if it is actually worth risking your no claims bonus to repair the damage. If the repair cost is only a couple of hundred Euro then I'd personally suck it up to experience and cover the cost.

Kevin!

A professional respray will be around €250-300, your better off getting the full panel resprayed as SMART repairs can often be shabby.

It depends, if you have no claims bonus protection your current insurance policy won't rise but you'll be stuck with your current insurer as if you go to change you'll have to declare the claim with another company which will result in a high premium

rosenrot wrote: »

While parking my car in a new place, I didn't see a column in my blind spot and I scratched the back of my car while reversing.
Since the panels of the car are plastic, they didn't bend, nor dislocate, as I was reversing at very slow speed, it only made a a few significant visible scratches (about 15-20 centimeters long each) on my right back panel. In addition, my car is black, so those are very easily noticeable.

I have a comprehensive car insurance with Liberty, so I was wondering what should be my course of action now?
Shall I call them and ask them if they cover it (after all it is a comprehensive insurance) and if I call them - would such a minor accident like that increase my insurance in the future?

or

I should deal with that myself and find a garage to remove the scratches as much as possible?

Any advise greatly appreciated.

MetzgerMeister

Can you post pictures of the scratches? A detailer might be able to remove them instead of you having to get a respray.

If you claim on your insurance and you have NCB Protection, your NCB obviously won't be affected but your premium will hike up considerably next year. It might work out cheaper in the long run to pay for it yourself if it is indeed a respray you need.

rosenrot

Here is a link to the pic with the scratches: |h|ttp://i.im|gur.com/rKOY9k0.j|p|g
Please remove the pipeline characters before pasting the link in the address bar, I added them only because the forum doesn't allow me to paste a link otherwise.

Do you think it would need a respray, or a simpler fix would do?

zwind

it seems that the column is scratched not your car.

try to clean it using a wet towel and use touch up pen maybe ?

rosenrot wrote: »

Here is a link to the pic with the scratches: |h|ttp://i.im|gur.com/rKOY9k0.j|p|g
Please remove the pipeline characters before pasting the link in the address bar, I added them only because the forum doesn't allow me to paste a link otherwise.

Do you think it would need a respray, or a simpler fix would do?

Spook_ie

rosenrot wrote: »

Here is a link to the pic with the scratches: |h|ttp://i.im|gur.com/rKOY9k0.j|p|g
Please remove the pipeline characters before pasting the link in the address bar, I added them only because the forum doesn't allow me to paste a link otherwise.

Do you think it would need a respray, or a simpler fix would do?

I give up on trying to get that link to work

rosenrot

Here is the link again: i.imgur.com/rKOY9k0.jp|g

Please remove the only | character before the very end g letter in the URL in order to get it to work.

MetzgerMeister

I did work on a BMW with the same kind of scratch on it. It's moreso paint transfer than scratch. Here's the job I did:

Before:



After:

smcgiff

To answer your question, even with No claims bonus protection and assuming at least €300 excess, I cannot imagine claiming on comprehensive insurance.

rosenrot

MetzgerMeister, was that a DIY thing and if so - did you use paint recovery pen kit and spray of identical colour or something else?

MetzgerMeister

rosenrot wrote: »

MetzgerMeister, was that a DIY thing and if so - did you use paint recovery pen kit and spray of identical colour or something else?

Nope. I'm a part-time detailer. It was all done with a rotary polisher, a D/A polisher, pads and cutting/jewelling polish.

rosenrot

So how much would the fixing of scratches like mine cost?
And also, do you work in Dublin, as I see you are located in Tipperary?

MetzgerMeister

rosenrot wrote: »

So how much would the fixing of scratches like mine cost?
And also, do you work in Dublin, as I see you are located in Tipperary?

I don't work in Dublin I'm afraid. I would recommend Detailing Shed but they don't provide a service, just products nowadays.

A user here - randy hickey is a detailer and is located in Dublin. Or you could go to Elite Auto Clean and get it done there too.

my3cents

Another thing to think of with your insurance is if you claim you may use up your no claims bonus and not be able to renew it for another 2-3 years so another small bash within that time could start getting very expensive when you come to reinsure.

Idbatterim

op I can highly recommend Johnny from Car cosmetix...

https://www.facebook.com/CarCosmetix

JohnBoy26

A bit of petrol on a soft cloth is the easiest way to remove paint transfer marks. Your bumper likely has some scratches on it too though.

Spook_ie

Resized from original ginormous jpg

Wonder if someone like http://trimtech.ie/ or http://www.thesmartrepaircentre.ie/ or the like would be an option, certainly would ask them first before involving the insurance, as to the OP then as you have comprehensive insurance, yes it should cover it but is it cost effective is the next question.

braddun

they will double your rate next year

colm_mcm

You were so lucky you just missed the quarter panel

I'd be just getting a smart repair on that tbh.

JIdontknow

I would advise you to not go through insurance for that. It can possible be buffed as a previous poster (MetzgerMeister) suggested (depending how deep them scuffs are) a rotary polisher with the correct pads and some rubbing compound / polish will fix that. Happened me before, scuffed black front bumper, had a friend literally 5 minutes work, just buff it with a D/A Polisher and some water and compound and it removed it fully. If there is a panel beater local just pop in and ask them could they buff it or rub it with the D A Polisher and some compound, offer them a few euro and they may do it. I just gave my friend a few euro, he didnt want anything at all, that's how quick it took to buff out.
The above may not get rid of the scratch marks completely if you look closely but should blend it in so its not noticeable unless you inspect it very closely and see the scratch grooves.

You even even try it yourself, go to an autofactors and ask for some rubbing compound, ideally its used with an electrical polisher but I used it with just some elbow grease and cloth before and it worked, look time but worked- this was on a scratch on a door panel as opposed to plastic bumper. All depends on how deep them scuff marks are.

Definitely wouldnt go through insurance for that though, shouldnt cost too much to fix up (even just to blend it in so it doesnt stand out) whereas if you go through insurance your premium will go up.