Neighbour damages my brand new Baleno: Should I claim insurance or not

I liked the 2022 Baleno a lot and cancelled my Kia Carens Premium 1.5 NA petrol booking to go for Baleno Sigma.

BHPian heavyduty recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello everyone, I'm a BHP noob and this is my first post. I hope this helps any potential buyers.

I liked the 2022 Baleno a lot and cancelled my Kia Carens Premium 1.5 NA petrol booking to go for Baleno Sigma. This was going to be my first car which I'm buying with my own hard earned money. I didn't want a fully loaded variant and Sigma with accesories worth 50k was enough and affordable for me without financing the car. I got the delivery on 25th March, Friday.

It's been 4 days, I was about to leave for my office when I noticed something, the left rear view mirror cover was broken, after a closer inspection, I found out that their was a dent on the door, window bezel just below A pillar. I enquired with my neighbours and found out one of my neighbour dropped their Rasika Cooler on my car while unloading it from a Tata pickup.

Bad news is obviously the unfortunate accident, but good news is A pillar is undamaged, just scuffed. Will take the car to the dealer and see what are my options.

I need an advice, should I go for the insurance cover and keep 10k from my neighbour which will kill my NCB or just give him the bill?

Also, should I change the entire door? What's your experience of paint match and quality at Nexa dealerships?

Here's what BHPian Leoshashi had to say on the matter:

Firstly, congratulations on your new car. Incidents like these happen, but they surely are painful. Do take an estimate from NEXA, but ensure they don't change your door for this minor damage. Replaced door will NOT be the same as original factory door. Explained here (My first car: 2020 Maruti Suzuki XL6 Alpha MT Review) when I had to go through almost similar damage.

In my opinion, they will give you an estimate of around 6k and you should hand over the bill to your neighbour. Don't change the entire mirror assembly, just it's cover is available.

Regards,

Shashi

Here's what BHPian Chetan_Rao had to say on the matter:

From the pictures, the damage fortunately appears cosmetic.

Only the mirror cover seems broken and should be replaceable as a child part. It doesn't seem to be the electric type with integrated blinkers, so shouldn't cost much even if you do replace the whole unit (in case any clips/holders for the top cover are broken).

The door damage seems fixable with some dent pulling and repainting.

Doesn't look like it will be a large bill overall. Let your neighbor cover it, if so agreed. No need to get insurance involved unless it's a large expense.

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