Probably time for a Bumper Badger, eh?
June 14, 2010 6:46 AM Subscribe
My fiance parks his car at a garage in NYC for a monthly fee. This past Friday, we got the car and the front right bumper was hanging off and he noticed a new dent above the front left tire. What next?
Unfortunately, we noticed the damage after we arrived at our destination Friday night. He called the garage and complained and took pictures. We returned last night and the attendant said that they will try to fix the bumper and for my fiance to speak to the manager today (Monday).
At this time, my fiance does not want to switch garages. Both the attendant on the phone and the one last night were not defensive and did seem to want to resolve the situation. We do have car insurance, but do not have renters insurance.
The ideal outcome would be if the garage would be able to fix the bumper. If they can do that, my fiance is willing to let the dent slide. If they cannot, we could get a quote at a repair shop of our choice and get the garage to pay for both the bumper and dent damage.
Does anyone have any similar experiences to share? Is there anything else that we need to do to make sure we can get the best possible outcome? What other information do we need to collect or get in writing? Does he inform his insurance company now or wait to see if the garage can fix the bumper? Do we stop tipping them because they aren't insuring proper service?
Unfortunately, we noticed the damage after we arrived at our destination Friday night. He called the garage and complained and took pictures. We returned last night and the attendant said that they will try to fix the bumper and for my fiance to speak to the manager today (Monday).
At this time, my fiance does not want to switch garages. Both the attendant on the phone and the one last night were not defensive and did seem to want to resolve the situation. We do have car insurance, but do not have renters insurance.
The ideal outcome would be if the garage would be able to fix the bumper. If they can do that, my fiance is willing to let the dent slide. If they cannot, we could get a quote at a repair shop of our choice and get the garage to pay for both the bumper and dent damage.
Does anyone have any similar experiences to share? Is there anything else that we need to do to make sure we can get the best possible outcome? What other information do we need to collect or get in writing? Does he inform his insurance company now or wait to see if the garage can fix the bumper? Do we stop tipping them because they aren't insuring proper service?
Unless this is a valet garage, I do't see why you are blaming the parking garage. This sounds like a hit and run by another customer of the garage and that would be handled through your fiance's car insurance either through a hit and run or vandalism add on.
posted by WeekendJen at 7:37 AM on June 14, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by WeekendJen at 7:37 AM on June 14, 2010 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Read your contract with the garage. Most of them specifically disclaim any responsibility for damage to your vehicle unless, as WeekendJen suggests, it's a valet garage, in which case they accept a greater degree of control over and thus responsibility for your vehicle. I'd be surprised if there's any way you can get the garage to pay, but hey, if they to, I wouldn't go out of my way to stop them.
If the garage doesn't want to pay, this is what insurance is for. Call your agent and file a claim. Because the vehicle wasn't being operated at the time, this would probably fall under your comprehensive coverage rather than collision coverage, which is good, as the former has a far lower impact on underwriting than the latter.* Most insurance carriers don't automatically bump your premium for comprehensive claims the way they do for collision claims.
*Unless you have a bunch of claims, e.g. one comp. claim is an accident, two is coincidence, but three starts to look fishy, etc.
posted by valkyryn at 8:08 AM on June 14, 2010
If the garage doesn't want to pay, this is what insurance is for. Call your agent and file a claim. Because the vehicle wasn't being operated at the time, this would probably fall under your comprehensive coverage rather than collision coverage, which is good, as the former has a far lower impact on underwriting than the latter.* Most insurance carriers don't automatically bump your premium for comprehensive claims the way they do for collision claims.
*Unless you have a bunch of claims, e.g. one comp. claim is an accident, two is coincidence, but three starts to look fishy, etc.
posted by valkyryn at 8:08 AM on June 14, 2010
Best answer: Take a lot of photos.
Talk with the manager of the garage ASAP, in person.
Get a quote from the repair shop.
Garages have insurance policies for this kind of stuff, it *should* be a pretty routine issue.
See how manager wants it handled - if their insurance company comes into the picture, they might need to inspect the damage as well.
Best outcome? You get a check that should cover the full cost of repair.
Worst outcome? They're jerks about it, you can't prove it happened while the car was in their custody, and you either pay for it yourself, or go to your insurance company.
If they're smart about it, and you're a good customer, this should be handled pretty reasonably. They should cover the full cost of repair. Just make sure you know what the minimum amount you'd settle for is, and don't go below that.
And if they're total jerks, you find somewhere else to park!
posted by swngnmonk at 8:10 AM on June 14, 2010
Talk with the manager of the garage ASAP, in person.
Get a quote from the repair shop.
Garages have insurance policies for this kind of stuff, it *should* be a pretty routine issue.
See how manager wants it handled - if their insurance company comes into the picture, they might need to inspect the damage as well.
Best outcome? You get a check that should cover the full cost of repair.
Worst outcome? They're jerks about it, you can't prove it happened while the car was in their custody, and you either pay for it yourself, or go to your insurance company.
If they're smart about it, and you're a good customer, this should be handled pretty reasonably. They should cover the full cost of repair. Just make sure you know what the minimum amount you'd settle for is, and don't go below that.
And if they're total jerks, you find somewhere else to park!
posted by swngnmonk at 8:10 AM on June 14, 2010
@saeculorum & WeekendJen: Every single parking garage in NYC that I've been to has had mandatory valet service (demand in NYC is extremely high, so garages usually find it more profitable to have a valet double-park the cars). I'm guessing this was the case here.
posted by schmod at 8:36 AM on June 14, 2010
posted by schmod at 8:36 AM on June 14, 2010
Response by poster: My apologies for not being clear. This is a valet parking garage.
posted by spec80 at 8:40 AM on June 14, 2010
posted by spec80 at 8:40 AM on June 14, 2010
Best answer: Valet garage then? So you've got two options here. Either way, read your contract first so you know what your rights are.
The first option is to work it out with the garage. Ideally, they'll play nice and everything will be fixed in a reasonable amount of time.
If it looks like they don't want to cough up the cash as quickly or completely as you'd like, file a claim with your insurance carrier and let them subrogate. Odds are pretty good they'll be able to make a full recovery, and this sort of service, i.e. having your losses covered without having to worry about prosecuting the claim yourself, is part of what you're buying when you buy insurance. Most of the big carriers have entire departments devoted to subrogation so they won't think it at all unusual that you want to go this route. You'll have to pay your deductible, but once the carrier makes recovery, you should get most if not all of it back.
Either way, you should be good to go.
posted by valkyryn at 10:42 AM on June 14, 2010
The first option is to work it out with the garage. Ideally, they'll play nice and everything will be fixed in a reasonable amount of time.
If it looks like they don't want to cough up the cash as quickly or completely as you'd like, file a claim with your insurance carrier and let them subrogate. Odds are pretty good they'll be able to make a full recovery, and this sort of service, i.e. having your losses covered without having to worry about prosecuting the claim yourself, is part of what you're buying when you buy insurance. Most of the big carriers have entire departments devoted to subrogation so they won't think it at all unusual that you want to go this route. You'll have to pay your deductible, but once the carrier makes recovery, you should get most if not all of it back.
Either way, you should be good to go.
posted by valkyryn at 10:42 AM on June 14, 2010
Now I'm not sure, but I've heard that collision insurance covers your car when it collides with an object or an object collides with it, whether the car is moving or not, making this a collision claim and not a comprehensive one. Can someone with an insurance background tell me if this is the case?
posted by speedgraphic at 11:33 AM on June 14, 2010
posted by speedgraphic at 11:33 AM on June 14, 2010
I've heard that collision insurance covers your car when it collides with an object or an object collides with it, whether the car is moving or not, making this a collision claim and not a comprehensive one. Can someone with an insurance background tell me if this is the case?
Yes, I can,* and no, it isn't.
"Collision," as defined in the standard ISO personal auto policies, means "the covered auto's collision with another object," or "the cover auto's overturn." "Other than collision coverage"** (OTC) covers other non-excluded physical damage to your auto, including collision with animals (in states with deer, this is a big deal). OTC covers things like theft, fire, vandalism, hail, falling objects, etc.
I think what you may have been thinking of is that collision coverage covers physical damage to your car any time it either strikes or is struck by another auto.
So if you come back to your parked car and it's damaged, what happens? Well, that depends on whether it was damaged by another vehicle or not. If it was, it's actually most likely to be an uninsured motorists claim,*** as UM coverage applies to hit-and-runs or any other situation where the tortfeasor is unknown. If it was damaged by something other than a vehicle, it's an OTC claim. The one thing it isn't likely to be is a collision claim unless you actually saw--or the insurance company can prove--that it was hit by a vehicle, as this is the only situation where collision applies when your car isn't moving.
*I'm in-house counsel for a P&C company.
**The industry is actually moving away from "comprehensive" as a term, as it suggests more coverage than is actually provided. OTC is actually more limited than people think.
***Assuming you have UM PD, which not all policies have and not all states permit. YMMV. If this doesn't apply, it's going to be either collision or OTC depending on the evidence available.
posted by valkyryn at 8:37 AM on June 15, 2010
Yes, I can,* and no, it isn't.
"Collision," as defined in the standard ISO personal auto policies, means "the covered auto's collision with another object," or "the cover auto's overturn." "Other than collision coverage"** (OTC) covers other non-excluded physical damage to your auto, including collision with animals (in states with deer, this is a big deal). OTC covers things like theft, fire, vandalism, hail, falling objects, etc.
I think what you may have been thinking of is that collision coverage covers physical damage to your car any time it either strikes or is struck by another auto.
So if you come back to your parked car and it's damaged, what happens? Well, that depends on whether it was damaged by another vehicle or not. If it was, it's actually most likely to be an uninsured motorists claim,*** as UM coverage applies to hit-and-runs or any other situation where the tortfeasor is unknown. If it was damaged by something other than a vehicle, it's an OTC claim. The one thing it isn't likely to be is a collision claim unless you actually saw--or the insurance company can prove--that it was hit by a vehicle, as this is the only situation where collision applies when your car isn't moving.
*I'm in-house counsel for a P&C company.
**The industry is actually moving away from "comprehensive" as a term, as it suggests more coverage than is actually provided. OTC is actually more limited than people think.
***Assuming you have UM PD, which not all policies have and not all states permit. YMMV. If this doesn't apply, it's going to be either collision or OTC depending on the evidence available.
posted by valkyryn at 8:37 AM on June 15, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Do you have underinsured/uninsured/hit and run insurance? It's usually an add-on to car insurance. If so, this is equivalent to a hit and run and will be (properly) covered under that provision.As an aside, you tip the people at a parking garage? That's a new one to me.
posted by saeculorum at 7:28 AM on June 14, 2010