Hi guys,

I discovered my car was hit/scraped last night at my workplace parking lot when leaving work at 11:00 pm. After contacting parking lot security, they told to me contact them in the morning.

I'm insured w/ Geico, but have 500 dollar deductible. What's the best plan of action in this situation - hoping for some advice from experienced members here.

Thanks!
Peachy

Crappy pictures from last night when I discovered the damage:
http://minus.com/lMhd7xoZkHKSB
http://minus.com/l70X5WmVuGuHH


Better picture in the sunlight:
http://minus.com/lE7f3v9ms3cEf

Sorry to hear that bro, hope everything works out for you.

my thoughts are to go thru the insurance. reason being that everything on the e60 and bmw for that matter are ridiculously expensive. I wouldnt be surprised if that was $2k worth of damage and you definitely want it restored to the way it was before the accident. thats why i always park my s**t far away from everyone, i literally weigh all my parking options when parking for that reason. sucks man

Bummer. Unfortunately you're already in at least $500.00, so you may as well get an estimate and go from there. If it's 7 or 8 hundred, pay for it yourself and save the insurance claim for a higher ticket item, which hopefully won't occur. However, if it's much higher like Justin said, have your insurance company earn their money.

That's a bummer for sure.

I urge you to have this 'cosmetic damage' repaired at a BMW Certified Repair shop. The body repair is probably pretty basic but paint match on dark colors is a PIA. As for repair estimate - I'll side with the previous poster ... door and quarter panel repair and refinish is probably $1500 - $2000.

Next week mine is getting some minor dings and scrapes fixed (hood, roof, and trunk lid) from falling branches caused by the storm we had a few weeks ago and the insurance agreed estimate from my BMW Certified Collision Center is $1300. Believe it or not, a local run of mill body shop (they are popular and have a good reputation repairing wrecked Chevys) quoted $1300 more because they were not equipped to handle Paint-less Dent Repair and on some of the dents they would have repainted the hood and the roof and the trunk!!

I DID NOT want repaint done if it wasn't required. In my experience, even bad factory paint is better than a body shop paint job. And since I intend to sell or trade the car in the next few months I didn't want a prospective buyer thinking the car was a wreck because it would have been almost totally repainted. .

As long you can afford it ,just pay it. Always try to avoid insurance claims unless it's really f**ked up -- Just saying

I called Geico. Whew, in California parking lot dings are no-fault and shouldn't affect my premium. I'm currently looking at the list of shops they gave me.

The parking lot I'm using is terrible, it's packed and has only a 1-2 foot clearance on either side. I've already received a door ding but PDR resolved it.

Thank you for your posts!

Go get an estimate or two. Get one from the stealership and another from a good shop. If the cost of repair is a north of $1000 then go through insurance. If it costs $1600 to repair .. There's no way you're going to see a > $1100 increase in your insurance. It will be more cost effective for you to go through insurance. Your rate might not even really change at all. It just depends on factors they cant/won't tell you in advance. Another thing to keep in mind is that insurance companies usually have in the small print that you are to notify them of all damage whether you make a claim or not. So keep that in mind before you call your insurance company to "check" on anything. You will get a little annotation the moment you open your mouth depending on what you say. Sorry + good luck.

As you verified it with Geico, your premium shouldn't go up as you can claim 'hit-n-run'. You will however be out $500 for your deductible.

Sorry for hear that bro, i'm in the similar position someone hit my car park but I was there I try to go with my insurance but they try to get me, so I go with the other person insurance, first estimate they try to put a/m parts 1,800 I said NO them
Go to a better shop for oem parts, the insurance paid 5,000 for fix my car!!!