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My car was scratched by another car door. How should I go about getting my car fixed?

Although you do not mention it, it appears as though you do not have any information regarding who did this to your car. If you did:

You would contact the police to file a report. They would contact that person to try to help determine guilt. You would then need to file it in court or with your insurance company and let them subrogate the claim against the guilty party.

If you don't know who did it:

If you are not at fault, you can file your claim with the at-fault party's insurance company and you won't pay your deductible. You can file a claim with your insurance company if you have physical damage (comprehensive and collision coverage). If you file with your insurance company, you must pay the deductible and your insurance company will work to recover damages (including the deductible) from the at-fault party's insurance company. This is called subrogation. Most policies have a subrogation clause that enables your insurance company to obtain reimbursement from the at-fault party's insurance company for the cost of repairing your vehicle. This is the amount your insurance company actually paid out plus your deductible amount.

If your state has a Comparative Negligence Law then the fault for an accident is not always placed squarely on one participant. After determining the percentage of fault by each party, the compensation by the insurance company is adjusted accordingly. Allocation of fault is made by negotiation between the insurance company and the claimant. There are state-by-state variations in how comparative negligence works. If the other company accepts 100% liability, then reimbursement is for the entire deductible amount. If the other driver involved in the accident is partially liable for the accident, their carrier will pay a percentage of the collision payment, and your deductible amount. You will be reimbursed the percentage of your deductible that was able to be recovered.

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car insurance commentsThe first paragraph says it all. What is the policy when you dont know who scratched your car?
Question Details
This car insurance answer was last updated 10:14 AM Oct-02.
This claims question was asked 9:47 PM May-31-2005.
D requested this car insurance help from CarInsurance.com experts.
Rated 6 out of 10 based on 2 votes.
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