Neighbor door dinging my car insurance claim.

Edward Huang

New Member
2
I live in California and I've been having issues with my neighbor dinging the door of my new car. The apartment complex I live in has assigned parking and she is the only one who parks to my right and we are all required to carry insurance in order to park inside. There are now 6 sizeable dents on my door and 3-4 paint chips. This occurred over the last 5 months. I have already confronted them twice about it by putting a note on my car but the response I got was she isn't doing it and that I'm threatening her with my note and that since the first time I talked to her she been noticing new scratches on her car. Now since she is refusing to admit it and refuses to be more careful. I have filed a claim before back in January when there were only two dents but since i had no evidence there wasn't much they could do so I closed the claim. I then hooked up a camera inside my car pointing out my rear passenger side door. After a week of me reviewing the footage every day, one day her daughter opened their door and literally pushed it up against my door and you can see the door stop and a thunk sound then the door rebounds the other way after she lets go of it. Should I take the video to my insurance company and file a claim right away and try to get their insurance to pay for all the dents and damages they have caused over the few months. Or should i wait and get a few more clips showing that they hit my door numerous times and all the prior damage is caused by them. Also, should I be concerned about using this footage since I had to record sound in order for the thunk to be heard from her door colliding my panel? Will one evidence clip be enough to try to get their insurance to fix all 6 dents on my door?

TLDR. My neighbor dings my door refuses to admit it. I hook up a camera and have footage of her daughter hitting my door. Will one clip be enough to claim the other 6 dents on my door? Will recording audio to hear for the thunk be an issue?
 
Should I take the video to my insurance company and file a claim right away

Your insurance company? Hardly worth the effort as you'll pay a deductible for each incidence of damage.

try to get their insurance to pay for all the dents and damages they have caused over the few months. Or should i wait and get a few more clips showing that they hit my door numerous times and all the prior damage is caused by them.Will one evidence clip be enough to try to get their insurance to fix all 6 dents on my door?

Your videos will only be evidence of what's on the videos, not the prior dings for which you have no evidence. Were I your neighbor's liability rep I would deny those.

Also, should I be concerned about using this footage since I had to record sound in order for the thunk to be heard from her door colliding my panel?

I don't think you'll have a problem since you didn't record conversations nor was there any expectation of privacy.

Read the following:

California | Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press

I suggest you seriously consider getting an estimate for all the dings, send the estimate with a demand letter, and be prepared to file a lawsuit in small claims court.

The only thing that is likely to wake these people up to what they are doing is a lawsuit.

Once you get your car fixed, think about having body side molding installed so that there doors don't hit your sheet metal.
 
Your insurance company? Hardly worth the effort as you'll pay a deductible for each incidence of damage.
what I meant was should I take it to them so they can get the information of the other vehicle so they will file a claim on their insurance for me or is that not how it works?

Your videos will only be evidence of what's on the videos, not the prior dings for which you have no evidence. Were I your neighbor's liability rep I would deny those.
Say if I wait a few more weeks and get more footage of them dinging my door like 3 more clips will this then prove that they caused all the damages due to the carelessness of her daughter repeatedly damaging my door numerous times.

Once you get your car fixed, think about having body side molding installed so that there doors don't hit your sheet metal.
theres no where to install this because their door is contacting a bodyline on my car along that links to my door handle.

I appreciate the reply thank you.
 

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what I meant was should I take it to them so they can get the information of the other vehicle so they will file a claim on their insurance for me or is that not how it works?

No, that's not how it works. Your insurance company does not represent you in actions against others. Your insurance would first have to pay for your repairs and then go after the other owner for reimbursement.

You can certainly ask. But, in the end, if you don't use your own coverage for your damage you are on your own with regard to a claim against the other owner.

Say if I wait a few more weeks and get more footage of them dinging my door like 3 more clips will this then prove that they caused all the damages due to the carelessness of her daughter repeatedly damaging my door numerous times.

No, it will only prove who made the dings that occurred during the video. The source of prior dings are just speculation and could easily have happened in the supermarket's parking lot.

And, by the way, if you continue to let this happen without doing anything now, you may get future dings denied due to lack of mitigation.

Get an estimate right now for the repairs and present it to the neighbor with a copy of the video and a demand for payment.

theres no where to install this because their door is contacting a bodyline on my car along that links to my door handle.

Rubber coated molding goes below the door handle.

Take a look:

body side moulding - Google Search

You can search your own make and model and probably find samples with body side molding.
 
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