Advice needed on minor accident

[Maxx]

A tractor trailer carrying heavy machinery dumped a big chunk of rock at the truck. The hood is damaged but I think it missed the windshield. If it did hit it after the hood, I didn't notice any cracks.

The tractor trailer had both tags covered but I contacted the company. They said do you have a photo of damage? Then do you have a video of the rocks hitting your truck? so it looks like, it may be hard to get anything out of them but my insurance rates have been going through the roof without any claims. Not sure if I should call them. Got $500 deductible.

Is the hood aluminum? How involved is it to fix.

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[RocketGhost]

Hard to tell the scale of the dent but I suggest looking into paintless dent repair. Get quotes before calling your insurance.

 

[Maxx]

Hard to tell the scale of the dent but I suggest looking into paintless dent repair. Get quotes before calling your insurance.

1.5 times of a quarter.

Anyone has had similar experience and can shed light on cost?

p.s. some of the paint is gone.

 

[Runaway Tractor]

This advice applies to anything at all involving insurance, whether it is home or auto: call them last and only after determining you absolutely require their financial assistance.

If you call them, then decide not to pursue the claim, it's too late. They already know, they already added it to the database on you. And it will be a factor in your next rate adjustment. It doesn't matter if you don't tell them your name. They know your phone number and know it's you calling.

 

[Pioneer74]

Is the hood aluminum?

Yes

 

[Zprime29]

Definitely asking for a dash cam for Christmas this year.

 

[hturnerfamily]

as an insurance agent for 3 decades, I can tell you that it will VERY difficult to get ANY vehicle's owner to file with 'their' insurer, or pay for your 'damages', when there is no accident or connection between two vehicles, even if you clearly saw a rock fall FROM their truck and strike your vehicle. This is annoying, aggravating, and why, I, a good driver for over 40 years, stay WAY back from dump trucks and the like, especially as they are approaching bridges and any roadway that will cause that vehicle to 'bump' any debris from their rear end, or, in the case of even EMPTY trailers, left over rocks and stuff left on the trailer, itself, just waiting to 'connect' with a following vehicle.

Insurers have a hard time finding FAULT with vehicles that may, or may not, have 'caused' something to impact your vehicle. Most dump trucks have a 'disclaimer' placard that might read "stay back 100 feet" , or some non-sense, that you can't read without BEING closer than that! Alas, though, it won't serve you any purpose to try to find them at fault. YOUR insurance is for this very reason - use it.
COMPREHENSIVE is typically for this situation, as long as your story is that the rock or offending item came from UP in the air, not just something you 'ran over'.

I, personally, had a similar thing happen back in '17 while towing our Ford FIESTA behind our diesel pusher motorhome, in, of all places, MANITOBA, Canada, right over the US Border. Canadian trucking laws may allow for longer, and double, and maybe even triple, dump truck trailers. Some of these are also side-tip dump trailers. One that passed us in the opposite direction, on a very rural skinny road, and at extreme speed, hit something in the road, sending it directly underneath the FIESTA. This Ford vehicle has an automatic transmission, and was in NEUTRAL, of course, while towing it, but the engineers at Ford left the transmission 'linkage' exposed to the underside of the car, which the item made contact with, then sending the linkage into REVERSE.
You might can image what then transpired: I felt a tug when it happened. I didn't know what happened. I turned on my rear camera, just as I felt another 'tug'... then I saw smoke. Smoke from the rear of the motorhome, with a rear DIESEL, caused me MUCH pause! I immediately pulled over, though only half-way out of the skinny roadway. I ran back to the rear expected to be devastated by an engine 'blow up', to be surprised to see only smoke coming from the HOOD of the car. The hood was open. It was BLOWN open. Engine parts, black with smoot, were all over the engine bay. Clearly, something caused the engine to blow. Yes, the 'cause', was the item thrown by the dump truck, under the car, causing the linkage to 'move' into gear, when then created a situation where the TRANSMISSION was now in gear. This then turned the engine with every rotation of the wheels, but with NO radiator or oil pump. It didn't take long for the engine to SEIZE up, and blow the pistons thru the hood of the car, like a bomb had gone off.
We had towed this car more than 50,000 miles, over several years, before this happened.

I decided to continue towing it down the road 20 or so miles to a little place called SPRAGUE Manitoba, on the highway, where there just happened to be a Diesel SHOP. The man was nice enough to let me leave their in his yard, while we tootled the rest of the way to ALASKA, our planned two month trip.

I called SAFECO and placed a claim. This was a new one for them.
They asked a LOT of questions, and even got some feedback from a few passers-by who helped us when the accident first happened, and left their numbers with us.

Safeco looked at my photos and did not even send out a claims adjuster. They knew it was totalled. One problem, though: it was parked in CANADA. Safeco doesn't do 'business' in Canada. This is another COUNTRY.
There was several weeks where Safeco went back and forth with many different TOWING companies, to try to get this vehicle back to a COPART yard in north MINNESOTA.
The Canadian towing companies didn't want to take it across the border into the US.
The US towing companies didn't want to have to go across the border into Canada.

OH MY.

Finally, they found a couple of 'willing' partners to 'meet' at the border: one bringing it from SPRAGUE MT, to the border, and the other meeting at the border for the rest of the trip. I bet this, alone, was NOT cheap for Safeco.

Safeco also had a FIRE INSPECTOR call me, to confirm that this was not due to a 'fire', as with smoke noted on the claim, they wanted to rule out arson, of course.

In the End, though, with my COMPREHENSIVE coverage, Safeco paid a total loss and sent me a check for enough to actually purchase ANOTHER similar age vehicle, a Ford FOCUS, which I also towed, and probably another 50,000 miles, itself.

I am an insurance agent in the state of Georgia, so your state's rules and your insurer's policy may have a different outcome for your situation. Someone just may be able to 'bump' your dent out, just like they do for hail damage.

 

[hturnerfamily]

also,

someone side-swiped my back in January of '23, doing some 'superficial' damage to the paint along the passenger bed from the front of the bed back over the wheel well, where the offending car's DRIVER MIRROR had scraped it. Their mirror had also dented the inside rear of the cab, right in front of the bed, but no so much to 'see', unless you know where to look for it.

I could NOT get a single BODY SHOP to entertain scheduling me in, and it has been 18 months since then. Even their insurer, GEICO, sent me a nice check.... but, alas, apparently no body shop wants it. Oh well.
My 'damages' probably are not noticeable to most folks, so, it's no big LOSS. My checking account has the money, though, if any body shop ever calls back.

 

[Maxx]

as an insurance agent for 3 decades, I can tell you that it will VERY difficult to get ANY vehicle's owner to file with 'their' insurer, or pay for your 'damages', when there is no accident or connection between two vehicles, even if you clearly saw a rock fall FROM their truck and strike your vehicle. This is annoying, aggravating, and why, I, a good driver for over 40 years, stay WAY back from dump trucks and the like, especially as they are approaching bridges and any roadway that will cause that vehicle to 'bump' any debris from their rear end, or, in the case of even EMPTY trailers, left over rocks and stuff left on the trailer, itself, just waiting to 'connect' with a following vehicle.

Insurers have a hard time finding FAULT with vehicles that may, or may not, have 'caused' something to impact your vehicle. Most dump trucks have a 'disclaimer' placard that might read "stay back 100 feet" , or some non-sense, that you can't read without BEING closer than that! Alas, though, it won't serve you any purpose to try to find them at fault. YOUR insurance is for this very reason - use it.
COMPREHENSIVE is typically for this situation, as long as your story is that the rock or offending item came from UP in the air, not just something you 'ran over'.

I, personally, had a similar thing happen back in '17 while towing our Ford FIESTA behind our diesel pusher motorhome, in, of all places, MANITOBA, Canada, right over the US Border. Canadian trucking laws may allow for longer, and double, and maybe even triple, dump truck trailers. Some of these are also side-tip dump trailers. One that passed us in the opposite direction, on a very rural skinny road, and at extreme speed, hit something in the road, sending it directly underneath the FIESTA. This Ford vehicle has an automatic transmission, and was in NEUTRAL, of course, while towing it, but the engineers at Ford left the transmission 'linkage' exposed to the underside of the car, which the item made contact with, then sending the linkage into REVERSE.
You might can image what then transpired: I felt a tug when it happened. I didn't know what happened. I turned on my rear camera, just as I felt another 'tug'... then I saw smoke. Smoke from the rear of the motorhome, with a rear DIESEL, caused me MUCH pause! I immediately pulled over, though only half-way out of the skinny roadway. I ran back to the rear expected to be devastated by an engine 'blow up', to be surprised to see only smoke coming from the HOOD of the car. The hood was open. It was BLOWN open. Engine parts, black with smoot, were all over the engine bay. Clearly, something caused the engine to blow. Yes, the 'cause', was the item thrown by the dump truck, under the car, causing the linkage to 'move' into gear, when then created a situation where the TRANSMISSION was now in gear. This then turned the engine with every rotation of the wheels, but with NO radiator or oil pump. It didn't take long for the engine to SEIZE up, and blow the pistons thru the hood of the car, like a bomb had gone off.
We had towed this car more than 50,000 miles, over several years, before this happened.

I decided to continue towing it down the road 20 or so miles to a little place called SPRAGUE Manitoba, on the highway, where there just happened to be a Diesel SHOP. The man was nice enough to let me leave their in his yard, while we tootled the rest of the way to ALASKA, our planned two month trip.

I called SAFECO and placed a claim. This was a new one for them.
They asked a LOT of questions, and even got some feedback from a few passers-by who helped us when the accident first happened, and left their numbers with us.

Safeco looked at my photos and did not even send out a claims adjuster. They knew it was totalled. One problem, though: it was parked in CANADA. Safeco doesn't do 'business' in Canada. This is another COUNTRY.
There was several weeks where Safeco went back and forth with many different TOWING companies, to try to get this vehicle back to a COPART yard in north MINNESOTA.
The Canadian towing companies didn't want to take it across the border into the US.
The US towing companies didn't want to have to go across the border into Canada.

OH MY.

Finally, they found a couple of 'willing' partners to 'meet' at the border: one bringing it from SPRAGUE MT, to the border, and the other meeting at the border for the rest of the trip. I bet this, alone, was NOT cheap for Safeco.

Safeco also had a FIRE INSPECTOR call me, to confirm that this was not due to a 'fire', as with smoke noted on the claim, they wanted to rule out arson, of course.

In the End, though, with my COMPREHENSIVE coverage, Safeco paid a total loss and sent me a check for enough to actually purchase ANOTHER similar age vehicle, a Ford FOCUS, which I also towed, and probably another 50,000 miles, itself.

I am an insurance agent in the state of Georgia, so your state's rules and your insurer's policy may have a different outcome for your situation. Someone just may be able to 'bump' your dent out, just like they do for hail damage.

Your story put things in perspective. Body shop told me $800 to fix it (after considering to replace the whole hood). With $500 deductible on my insurance, I am thinking instead of filing a claim, buy a repair kit from Amazon and take a stab at it myself. I already have a small dent on the door from a shopping cart hit since the first week of ownership. I may try to live with a little more imperfection if I can’t fix it. That is the beauty of getting old, the bad knee, elbow, ……. makes it easier to deal with other bad parts. That is one of the reasons I loved my old frontier. All the rusted parts made other people afraid of me on the road.

This one was partly my fault. I got sloppy. I never stay that close to a big rig as long as I did this time. These refresher lessons are painful but necessary.

thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[RickLightning]

Moat body shops don't do PDR. Seek out a good PDR person before going the body shop route.

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