# Paint taken off of passenger side mirror?!



## clueful (Aug 12, 2018)

Long story short - I've had this car for 5 months now and have driven 4,200km and first it was my bumper hanging lopsided on one side and now my mirror has a line going across it. Haven't been in any accidents or altercations, so I'm wondering what happened. I'm so annoyed!
Anyhow, has anyone else had this happen to them? Is there any way to fix it without completely destroying the bloody thing? Thanks.









Doesn't look too good on a black car...


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## mikestony (Jan 17, 2013)

Looks like paint transfer. Some white vehicle probably cut it too close and hit your mirror.

Just need to get some good polishing compound to try to get that off.


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## crunch21 (Jul 16, 2018)

how to fix:

step 1: file a police report if you havent already, your car was hit parked and unoccupied, the sooner you do this the better

step 2: figure out what your deductible for collision insurance with uninsured motorist coverage is, if its a very low amount proceed to step 3, if not go to step 4

step 3: contact your insurance company, file a claim, depending on uninsured motorist coverage on your policy and state law this will be applied since there is 0% chance of finding the guy who hit you

step 4: go to a repair facility and get an estimate for a full repair

step 5: get it fixed or shrug it off and try to buff off the paint transfer and jimmy rig the bumper back on. depends on how expensive the fix is and how much your insurance deductible is and/or uninsured motorist coverage

keep in mind a parked and unoccupied accident (even if its small like in your case) is a no fault event, there was nothing you could have done to avoid or prevent it.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

crunch21 said:


> how to fix:
> 
> step 1: file a police report if you havent already, your car was hit parked and unoccupied, the sooner you do this the better
> 
> ...


That is a really unique take on Auto Insurance but you are quite mistaken. This would be a possible claim (and who usually claims a scratch) on your Comprehensive Insurance and you can't apply underinsured motorist coverage. According to the O/P, "I haven't been in any accidents or altercations, so I'm wondering what happened"? I would wonder too yet you only file a collision claim when you've been in a collision. Claiming an accident just happened somehow is fraud ?

"*Uninsured motorist coverage protects you if you're in an accident with an at-fault driver who doesn't carry liability insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage, on the other hand, steps in when you're in an accident with an at-fault driver whose liability limits are too low to cover the damage or medical expenses."*


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I'm not sure I'd even bother getting insurance involved - it's highly unlikely the cost of fixing this is more than your deductible. 

Literally should buff off.


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## crunch21 (Jul 16, 2018)

Eddy Cruze said:


> That is a really unique take on Auto Insurance but you are quite mistaken. This would be a possible claim (and who usually claims a scratch) on your Comprehensive Insurance and you can't apply underinsured motorist coverage. According to the O/P, "I haven't been in any accidents or altercations, so I'm wondering what happened"? I would wonder too yet you only file a collision claim when you've been in a collision. Claiming an accident just happened somehow is fraud ?
> 
> "*Uninsured motorist coverage protects you if you're in an accident with an at-fault driver who doesn't carry liability insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage, on the other hand, steps in when you're in an accident with an at-fault driver whose liability limits are too low to cover the damage or medical expenses."*


I handle claims so its not a unique take, the unknown driver doesnt have liability coverage because you stand no chance of finding this driver. and is at fault for striking the parked and unoccupied vehicle. Youll have to have uninsured motorist property damage coverage, if your state allows you to have it this is what it is used most for. All states/provinces have their own little special UM/UMPD laws and coverages so its not a simple answer. Also you quoted the UM coverage not the UMPD (not all state carry property damage for uninsured)

For most of the US, if you carry the coverage, this would be applicable if the OP filed a police report in a reasonable amount of time.

Also its not comprehensive, another vehicle stuck the car, its collision.

People are usually quite surprised when i tell them im opening their UMPD coverage for a park and unoccupied collision but its a one of the most common uses of the coverage, its actually more complicated when the other party is known and doesnt have insurance than for an unknown driver.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

crunch21 said:


> I handle claims so its not a unique take, the unknown driver doesnt have liability coverage because you stand no chance of finding this driver. and is at fault for striking the parked and unoccupied vehicle. Youll have to have uninsured motorist property damage coverage, if your state allows you to have it this is what it is used most for. All states/provinces have their own little special UM/UMPD laws and coverages so its not a simple answer. Also you quoted the UM coverage not the UMPD (not all state carry property damage for uninsured)
> 
> For most of the US, if you carry the coverage, this would be applicable if the OP filed a police report in a reasonable amount of time.
> 
> ...


But this wasn't an accident involving collision,more like a scratch and it was unknown by the driver how the damage occurred. Does it even look like a collision. If there is a responsible at fault party who doesn't have the proper coverage you can attempt to collect UM. Are you saying when I broke off my side mirror I could have claimed my Garage collided with me?


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## Tomko (Jun 1, 2013)

I’ve seen identical mirror damage like that twice in my life. Both times it was North End boys _accidentally _running the car up against the garage door jamb. 

Suggest that you have a chat with whoever has access to your keys.


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## Robby (Mar 1, 2013)

My money is on a garage trim hit.....that is paint transfer and it likely will polish off as stated previously.

Rob


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## crunch21 (Jul 16, 2018)

Eddy Cruze said:


> But this wasn't an accident involving collision,more like a scratch and it was unknown by the driver how the damage occurred. Does it even look like a collision. If there is a responsible at fault party who doesn't have the proper coverage you can attempt to collect UM. Are you saying when I broke off my side mirror I could have claimed my Garage collided with me?


contact with another vehicle is a collision in insurance speak, as is your vehicle colliding with a stationary object like a pole (which is a single car collision). comprehensive is typically resulting from any animal strike (dead or alive) airborne objects or "missiles", damage due to nature event....think act of god type things that do not involve another vehicle. 

Insurance speak is very particular and its extremely rare someone who doesnt work in the industry truly understands how auto insurance works, aside from people who file a claim every year for something.

OP is canadian, so the specifics could be different, and not every state/province allows the use of uninsured motorist coverage for property damage (your car being the property). States that do allow the uninsured motorist property damage coverage....the vast majority are regarding parked and unoccupied strikes (you came back from the kroger and had a dent), and hit and runs. Usually if someone else is involved and known they have some form of insurance, not always though. Ive seen lots of people claim they were uninsured but then we run a lexisnexis insurance search and low and behold we can qualify them with another insurance company they had an active policy with and they are insured. For instance most people dont know in most situations when you buy a new car it qualifies for a period of time under your last cars insurance policy ect.

Yes you could have filed a single car collision claim when you struck your garage, would it have made sense? Depends on deductible at play (your collision) and extent of repair damages. Was your garage uninsured, no, it would not qualify as it was not a person who was at fault, you were at fault, because the garage is a stationary object. If someone had jump kicked your side mirror and ran away you would have comprehensive at play with possible subrogation if other parties found. If your were at walmart and returned to your car and the mirror was off, you could assume another car struck it, filed a police report (always a must btw) and then filed a collision claim, if you carried UMPD it would apply in just about every jurisdiction. In that situation the only advantage would be a reduced deductible.

Seriously though im happy to answer ANY insurance related question. People typically carry misunderstandings and its a pain explaining those misunderstanding when they are all worked up over an accident. Its a huge source of friction on the job. However i dont handle injury related claims, thats a whole other can of state specific laws and its a mess.

If the OP has a very low deductible filing a claim would make sense, regardless if the garage or object was struck or if another car did it. Filing a police report at the time of accident and stating it was probably a car would have solidified the case it was caused by another driver, stuff like that is more based on the honor system unless its super obvious or the claim handler wanted to play super detective regarding what kind of paint ect, which wouldnt happen imo.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Robby said:


> My money is on a garage trim hit.....that is paint transfer and it likely will polish off as stated previously.


My wife did that (albeit with the quarter panel of the car...somehow...and had no idea) like one day after we bought our house. We got rear-ended a year or two later and had to have the rear fascia replaced, and the dealer just buffed it out for us for no charge, since they were already doing paint work.


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