Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Ok, so I am at this business checking into some product, talking with the owner for about 20 minutes. After concluding our conversations I head out to my FD and notice a cat, standing on my passenger door with it's paws on the roof. I slowly approach the car so as to not spook the cat, don't need any tread marks on the paint. It jumps up to the top and walks over to me on the drivers side. I gently pick it up and set it down on the ground. I get in my car to leave but thought I'd better check it out, in case it scratched my car.
Yep, scratched the **** out of it on my hood, right rear quarter, hatch and some abrasions on the left rear quarter.
I go back inside and grab the owner, ask him to take a look at something. He's like, "Hmmm, I'm not sure what to do about this, see what you can do and let me know".
Now I realize it's hard to be responsible for your animals sometimes so I said I'd look into what it's going to take to fix. Granted, my paint isn't what it used to be but it was a far cry better before this freakin' cat jumped on it. Only a couple of the scratches go to the primer, but some will definetely NOT buff out, while some might.
I called my insurance company to ask them what I should do. I have a $100 deductible on my comprehensive, but I'm not sure how they will asses my damage or pro-rate my existing paint, etc. I have an appointment this friday with the adjuster.
So my questions are;

- What should I expect from my insurance company (state farm), is it likely they will just say get it detailed and waxed?
- Or will they say to get it touched up, you know, mask around the scratches and blend the areas in?
- Or offer to paint the effected panels?
- Or just offer me a couple bucks, a small percentage compared to the entire un-affected surface of the car, being as the paint is 10 years old.
- Any tricks into getting them to repaint my entire exterior? (hah, right)

They already said that they won't pursue the owner for his cats actions, and I tend to agree. They also said that my rates won't go up on a comprehensive claim.
Any info is much appreciated.
Please no PETA people either (cat DOES tast like chicken).

Regards,
Frank

DrPJM1

If you had taken your german shepherd along this would have never happened.

If you would have shot a slug through the cat as soon as you saw it this tragedy could have been avoided.

"Please no PETA people either." ; )

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Heh, I can just imagine my 100 pound shephard chasing the cat across my hood, the cat would be the least of my problems

Frank

DrPJM1

Yeah, but you could have had your whole car repainted too...LOL

I still say: You should have shot the cat!

A few yrs back the house next door was a live-in elder care home. The nurses brought a cat to live there and on some mornings my wife would see paw prints over the hood of her minivan (my 7 was garaged). I tried bringing this to their attention in a neighborly way but after I bought my wife a new minivan, I talked to their boss, to the head nurse and their administrator, No problems until we find the pawprints again. The administrator said we could not prove it was their cat!
But early one morning after a nice rainfall I see the nuses letting the cat out, and I took pictures of the cat. I scared the cat out of my wife's car and the cat hid under their porch. I knocked on their door to tell them what their cat was up to ans the stupid nurse denied it was their cat until the stupid cat came in through our legs into their house. Now this was WAR! I called Animal Control, the local Police, and the Health Department. The police took an incident report and fined them under a nuisance statute, animal control took the cat, the health dept tested all the elder patients for a few diseases that cats carry, their administrator, the head nurse, and the owner had to be woken up and had to come in...They had to accept the fact that several neighbors had complained over a period of months and that they did nothing. They all got fined for one thing or the other. : )LOL

ICE_Pilot

GS27 Scratch remover..........type that in on Yahoo search....and all you problems are gone. It cost $15 i think. Its just what you need for a cat scratch.
In fact Il go one better and give you the url.

http://www.gs27scratchremover.com/

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

I'm sorry Ice, but all that stuff smells of "snake oil". Kinda' like "Water Wetter". Just money in a bottle to me. Of course, I may be wrong, but I've used it, didn't notice a thing (the WW).
I'm suspect of anything with an infomercial )

Frank

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Does anyone have any advice as far as how I should handle the insurance adjuster?

Frank

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

bump,
anyone?

DrPJM1

Go to a few body shops 1st, get the feel for what's needed. You'll be ready when the insurance man low-***** you with a 1st offer.

DrPJM1

Go to a few body shops 1st, get the feel for what's needed. You'll be ready when the insurance man low-***** you with a 1st offer.

By the way, please avoid repeating the mistake from a guy on another forum: 800-grit sandpaper does not remove light scratches, it will ruin your paint!

Flyrx7

iTrader: (1)

Heh, Yeah, I was thinking of 400 grit, takes the scratches right out (j/k)
Actually met the guy today, they'll pay whatever it takes to fix, but it looks like most of it'll just buff out. I was kinda hoping that 60% would just need repainted I'd be happy paying 40% for a complete paint job.
Oh well.

Frank