How much to repair small paint chips on a new truck

[MillCreek]

The story: our landscaper was over at the house a couple weeks ago doing some work for my wife.  I was out mowing the yard at the same time.  My weedwhacker kicked up a couple of pebbles and we all heard them go 'ding' off the bed of our landscaper's new Dodge Ram pickup.  There are two chips in the paint, each maybe 2 mm in diameter about three inches apart.  I told him to go get it looked at and that I would pay to have it fixed, but call me first if it was over $ 250.

He dropped by the house yesterday and had two estimates from local reputable body shops, each of which were for about $ 1100.  According to them, the only way to repair it with a match is to sand, paint and clear coat the entire right hand bed panel.  I told him that I would have to send this along to my homeowner's insurance and file a claim. 

How does this sound to the Collective?  I have a $ 1000 deductible, so I will essentially be paying the whole bill.  The moral of the story is, if you have to get a rock ding on your vehicle, make sure it is done by someone with insurance or assets.

[Ben]

How does this sound to the Collective? 

It sounds like your landscaper is a Mary. He'll end up doing that to his truck himself within a year unless he has a bunch of illegals working for him and he just drives around checking on them. If it's a landscape work truck, it's getting dinged up as par for the course, and he deducts the whole truck in five years via depreciation anyway.

I applaud you wanting to make things right, but a real man would just take $250 or $500 from you for putting the first dings in the truck instead of him. If you actually pay him that whole grand, I'd make it the last thing you ever pay him, then go find a landscaper that's not a sissy.

[MillCreek]

^^^I have already told my wife that we will not be using him for the rest of the year; since we have a budget for this, and $1000 is going to put the budget in negative territory.  I will be letting him know this after the repair is done.  We'll see if we use him next year; the odd thing is that it is almost impossible to find landscaping up here.  Everyone seems to be completely full up with customers, and the people we call or email usually don't even bother to return the contact.  Where are the illegals who work for dirt cheap when you need them?

[Ben]

^^^I have already told my wife that we will not be using him for the rest of the year; since we have a budget for this, and $1000 is going to put the budget in negative territory.  I will be letting him know this after the repair is done.  We'll see if we use him next year; the odd thing is that it is almost impossible to find landscaping up here.  Everyone seems to be completely full up with customers, and the people we call or email usually don't even bother to return the contact.  Where are the illegals who work for dirt cheap when you need them?

Interesting. It's the same thing here. I was calling people who were up high in the Googles and either no return calls or, "we're busy". I finally found a good guy buy doing searches for "landscaping [little towns near me]" and got someone who's good, lives 20 minutes away in the next podunk town over, but is not into the internet advertising thing.

[Brad Johnson]

Actually sounds about right, including the part about doing the whole panel. They may be small dings but they have to be sanded and feathered, surface prepped, primered, color shot, cleared, cut, and polished of the repairs are to be invisible. Otherise they'll show up as obvious spot repairs. Figure at least a couple hours labor for each step, plus materials. Sometimes it's cheaper and/or yields better results to cut down and reshoot the whole panel than to feather in a spot repair.

Decent automotive finishes take a lot of prep and repairs often take more prep than an initial paint job due to the need to match existing colors and finishes.

Brad

[Hawkmoon]

Actually sounds about right, including the part about doing the whole panel. They may be small dings but they have to be sanded and feathered, surface prepped, primered, color shot, cleared, cut, and polished of the repairs are to be invisible. Otherise they'll show up as obvious spot repairs. Figure at least a couple hours labor for each step, plus materials. Sometimes it's cheaper and/or yields better results to cut down and reshoot the whole panel than to feather in a spot repair.

Decent automotive finishes take a lot of prep and repairs often take more prep than an initial paint job due to the need to match existing colors and finishes.

Brad

Agreed.

Been there, done that.

[grampster]

Your $1000 deductible usually only applies to losses to your own property and contents.  Liability claims usually do not apply the deductible.  Don't call the insurance company to find out whether that is true in your state and policy.  Call your agent and ask him first.

[Kingcreek]

Don’t know about the repair but I’m thinking if your landscaper is driving a new truck, you’re probably paying too much for landscaping.

[230RN]

^

I'd check on that deductible, per grampster's post.

(And there goes next year's premiums.)

[grampster]

^

I'd check on that deductible, per grampster's post.

(And there goes next year's premiums.)

Homeowners rates don't usually increase with a loss like your auto insurance does.

[Jim147]

gramster first. We had a hail storm go around he years ago. I wasn't hit. Everyone's rates went up and deductibles went from $500 to $1000 as a minimum.

Is the truck white? It is a very hard color to match.

[zxcvbob]

Homeowners rates don't usually increase with a loss like your auto insurance does.

No, but they'll cancel your policy after the 2nd claim in too short a period of time (a year? 2 years? not sure) no matter how small they are.

[MillCreek]

I had a nice chat with the adjuster.  I was careful to emphasize this was a liability claim causing damage to the property of someone else.  The claim will be covered and no deductible will apply.  He said that the $ 1100 estimate sounded pretty accurate and added that there is really no such thing as spot repairs any more.  If you want a good match, you have to paint and clear coat the entire panel.  I learn something every day.

[230RN]

Thanks, grampster !

(See his advice in Reply #6 above.)

[grampster]

With any kind of insurance, the rules may differ from state to state as to whether rates go up and or deductibles changed or policies cancelled.

That's why I recommend talking to your AGENT before you call the claim department.  Generally, (again rules might vary company to company) if you call the CLAIM department whether you decide to present a claim or not, your call goes into the files as a claim call and even if the company doesn't pay anything at all because you didn't follow through with the claim, you could run afoul of whatever the rules are.  If you call your AGENT and discuss "what if" scenarios, that shouldn't trigger a claim report.