Quote:
Originally Posted by arm79
But the OP should treat it how an insurance company would. They would never pay to repair pre-existing damage. So a small cash payout commensurate to what the actual damage would be is all that's required. A smash repairer should easily be able to differentiate between what was there and what was new. |
Unfortunately the insurance company would just cough up the repair even if there was pre existing damage, they wont pay for any other damage that is not in the affected area, so if the fender had damage and it was not from the accident and you can see that the bumper was previously damaged when the fender was, they will still pay for the bumper repair but not the fender.
In this case they would just pay for the bumper repair in that spot and blend it into the rest of the bumper, what they will pay for is the R&R of the bumper and disassemble for repair, the repair of the damage and a spot up on the affected area.
We see it every day and the customers always complain that the whole bumper was not repainted, then we have to explain that the rest of the bumper was not damaged in the incident therefore its not covered, most times when the quote is done this is explained and they are asked if they would like to pay the extra to do the whole bumper, most people decline as its usually another $500.