Recently a lot of insurance companies (auto and homeowner)are getting on the bandwagon of booting you if you claim too many times regardless of fault. Of course they wont tell you how many are too many.

As soon as you get canceled and try to go somewhere else you are going to get really stuck.

 

No, it's normal wear and tear.

 

IMHO these two scenarios are FARRRRR from the scenario presented by the OP. 20 dot sized chips on your bumper due to normal road debris over 20-30-40k miles of driving the car are in no way comparable to someone vandalizing your car or a truck driver being negligent of a large rock on his truck and it hitting and crushing your hood/windshield...

It's not whether or not its a purely cosmetic thing or not, it's whether or not its normal wear and tear due to normal operation over tens of thousands of miles or if its an extraneous event at no fault to one's self.

I.e. the scenarios you presented above, hitting and killing a roaming raccoon or deer, hail damage, etc. should be covered as you have no control over it. However if you choose to drive your vehicle 20-50-90k miles, choose to follow large trucks too closely that tend to fling stones, etc. that is a choice you have made and is normal wear and tear IMO. If you don't want a few tiny rock chips, keep the car in the garage or stop following so closely. Rocks just don't jump off the road into your bumper for no reason, they are flung by other vehicles.

If I were his agent I would laugh. Laugh either way really. Laugh and deny him first off. And if he insisted my (figurative) Company fix his normal wear and tear I would just laugh my way to the bank when I jack his rates for the next 3 years.

 

Actually, you're probably correct. The incidents that I described are a single event. Each rock ding would have to be treated as a single event, unless a load of rocks fell off a truck and caused the damage at one time. The individual damage would be too small to claim.

I wouldn't think of claiming it myself. A new bumper cost less than the deductible plus future higher rates, not to mention the likelyhood of being dropped in the future. The claim will show on a Carfax as well as the system insurance companies use. Too much colateral damage.

 

Pay out of pocket.
I will be doing the same here in a month or two myself.
Insurance is a huge PITA. I am fairly sure they would deny your claim, and if the didn't, you'll end up paying for it in the long run anyhow.

 

I didn't think of it that way either, but you may be right as well.

"Sure, we'll pay for those rock chips, its a $500 deductible for each one... Soooo, you owe us $14,500."

I'm still waiting to hear from the OP what his insurance agent really told him. However, I'm sure even if they laughed him off the phone (my bet is there was a 95% chance this happened) he isn't going to admit it.

 

lol thanks for the help man. i like how if anyone asks a serious question on this forum, someone will follow closely behind looking for an excuse to flame. come on man, if i knew the answer to my question, why would i ask it in the first place. sorry for even askin.

and its not 20 little rock chips. my entire front bumper is literally polka dotted with the damn things. like its REALLY bad. it not "normal wear and tear" because the fact is i WAS stuck behind a gravel truck. and its not 20-40k miles. my car just hit 18,000 and its an 04. but i probably will just pay out of pocket. i didnt have a chance to call insurance because frankly i dont even have the 500 bucks for the deductible. i just wanted to know what my options were. so thanks for pointing it out and makin me feel like a tard in the process man.

 

Don't feel so bad, mine is just like that and getting worse by the week. I'd get it repaired or replaced but the same thing will happen again and again. I'm thinking about getting a replacement, getting it painted and getting a clear bra.

 

 

1) So do you really think someone on a message board, who doesn't know the circumstances, and hasn't seen the car, can give you a correct answer? It wouldn't have taken as long to call your agent as it took to post a messsage.

2) If you can't cough up $500 for the deductible, how are you going "to pay out of pocket"?

bill

 

i had rockchips too. I took care of them all for 35.00 on my bumper, hood and fenders, and my car looks like new. I used nissan touch-up paint, sandpaper, polish, wax, rubbing compound, and about 5hrs of time.

If your not sure how the above products I described can fix rock chips then dont attempt it...

 

I have an idea on rock chips. I have yet to try it but maybe someone on here would have some luck.

When any vehicle is carrying a load of anything they are responsible for securing that load to their vehicle. If a gravel truck is carrying gravel it is their responsibility to make sure that the gravel stays on the truck and doesn't fly off the back. If it does it is considered to be "a failure to secure load". Therefore, the next time you are behind a truck that is carrying a load that is unsecured or falling off (make sure you are following from a proper distance) and some of that load hits your car call the police. Try to attempt to get the driver to stop and if he does ask for his insurance information. If you can't get him to stop then give the police his license plate number and say that something fell off of his truck and hit your car. His insurance should pay for the damage to your front bumper which will include anything chipped prior to that particular instance.

This way you are not committing insurance fraud because something actually did fall off of the truck. Plus if enough people start claiming this then trucking companies will start securing what they are carrying properly and there will be less debris flying all over the place.

Just an idea.

 

One thing to remember is that it cover per occurence. You just can't drive your car for a year and get it hit numerous times over numerous instances and expect the insurance company to cover as only one instance (unless you were behind a gravel truck).

 

How did you fill all the pits in the surface of the soft plastic front bumper?

It seems like somewhere along the line, you would have had to spray the front bumper to make it look uniform. Touch-up paint can only do so much.

I guess if you only had one or two chips that would be easy enough to do as you described. Most of us have hundreds of rock dings and chips. Replacement is our only real option.

 

People get flamed for stupid questions and questions we cannot possibly answer but just seem uber-silly. It's pretty simple... And now you gave us even more reason to flame:

Wah, wah you were stuck behind a gravel truck my ****. Ever hear of brakes?! I've been behind a "state" truck dropping cinders and salt in poor weather before (in vehicles other than my Z) and you quickly learn to brake, back the fock off, and give them their space. If you were riding a gravel truck's a$$, you deserve to pay IMO. Not a smart thing to do... That IS wear and tear due to driver stupidity.

 

On a positive note however, the body shop up the road from me just repainted my front bumper for about $200. Pass on the fenders, hood, etc. for now and just get your bumper repainted at an affordable (read: not dealer) local bodyshop.

 

+1000
If anyone with half a brain was getting pummeled with gravel from a truck in front of him, they would at least slow the hell down.
Also, they would get the license plate of the truck as well as any other information on the truck.
The OP got flamed, so he lied to make his story sound better but only made himself look stupid AND dishonest.
Keep in mind the OP made MANY bs claims about his car and mods when he 1st hit the site. Old habits die hard.

 

...

 

1500 is way to steep. To get fenders, hood, and bumper painted should'nt cost more than 1000. Even then, thats kind of high.

 

Dansir is 100% right and Blacryan & Infamous350 are why your rates are high to begin with.

Here is your real answer:
Technically speaking, for each time you had the paint chip, you had a loss. Therefore, a new deductible applies to each of them. It would be very unlikely that the insurance company could tell which happened when or how many separate incidents there have been. However, if the damage is obviously over time, they will have to work out an acceptible settlement. Depending on how long you have been with them, they may just handle it all under one claim and have you just pay one deductible as a customer service move.

As far as coverage goes, Comprehensive (or other than collision) coverage is for things like fire, theft vandalism, flying objects, etc. While normal wear and tear is not covered, there is a provision for chips to paint from a gravel truck; as they are classified as flying objects.

I would not go fix your bumper and then just hand the bill to the insurance company. They may not pay anything as you would have violated your contract in that you did not give the Company a chance to inspect the vehicle prior to repair. Also, you then screw yourself if your company denies your claim and you want to pursue a matter against them simply because you did not follow the conditions section of your policy.

Furthermore, your estimate sounds really high for just a front bumper. One more thing to note is that the insurance company will most likely negotiate a better price on that paint work. Contrary to public opinion, body shops routinely write the estimate high when insurance is not involved.

Best advice you I can give you is contact your agent. Discuss the matter with your him/her and find out how it would effect your rate if you file the claim. Your agent should be able to tell you how your policy will react. If your agent can't, or won't, get a new agent. They can call underwriters if they are unsure and they can speak with the claims department to get their input, as well. In California, a comprehensive cliam is not a reason for them to raise your rates, Dansir's comment on claim frequency could come into play. In some circumstances, you can be cancelled if you have an above average amount of claims as you could be what the industry terms a "substantial increase in hazard" situation.

Lastly, always pose your question to your agent as a hypothetical situtation. Remember that your agent has a feduciary responsibility to the carrier in that they are suppose to know what he/she knows. So if this is just a "what if" question then your agent is only giving an answer to a situation that has not yet happened...as far as they know. What you are doing by asking it that way is giving your agent "plausable denyibility."

On a personal note, I would fix it myself and clear bra it. I have one on mine and front end is immaculate.