Okay, I got ahold of my ins.agent. He told me the letter should of came to him and not me so he wants me to send him the letter, all is good:)

personally i would have told them no way MY mower did that from that distance.

what is the deduct on your HOI? if it is 1k then i would pay out of pocket since the claim counts against you even if the HOI co did not shell out a single penny. you are now in the CLUES database, and your insurance "score" jsut took a hit. many people do not realize that even calling to ask about possibly making a claim has the same negative impact on you as actually making a claim.

if i were you i would sit back and see where this goes. they may try to take you to court, but i would argue tha tthere is just no way that a rock could go that distance. i could see it at 50 yards or less, but 200 yards is 2 football fields long!

as far as where they get the quote, that is their perogative. Ins cannot require that they use any particular place. for that matter the guy can take the money and not even fix the car if he wants.

Davidandkasie...good points...mostly. Not all inquiries will have a negative impact in CLUE. If you speak to the company yes...if you speak to your agent, most likely not.

I would agree that a wait and see attitude is probably best. If you've already turned it over to your company, then just "wash your hands" of it and don't worry. You may see a rate increase at your next renewal, but you can't change that now.

Any time you call about a claim it's submitted to CLUE. (Claims Loss Underwriting something else.) Sorry it's early and I'm not in "work" mode.

I'm puzzled by some of the responses to this post.
There is a witness, according to the OP (the girl who screamed her head off probably did so in response to the stone whizzing across the yard) and the husband also admitted fault - why would you even suggest that "no way" did the mower do that??

Lying to avoid taking responsibility is a sure way to get into bad blood with the neighbors.

Seems to me that the husband's original offer to just fix the scrape himself was the easiest and cheapest way out of this one.
But then, that'll involve "hassling with people".

The horror.

No I had the yardage wrong (I am very bad at math, sorry) The reason I did not want to have him fix it himself is a little hard to explain without me sounding disgruntled and petty, we have never had any problems with them but nor do I want any. I would much rather deal with a rate increase in this particular case and even if I had not of gone over and talked to them the dad would of insisted upon using this other shop that much I could tell just by our conversation (he wanted the lifetime gurantee on the job that they are giving them)
oh well, live and learn.

My uncle was mowing grass and kicked up a nail that went into my aunt's knee. Strange things do happen.
Kathy G in MI

I do not understand why people fret over occasional dings to a car's exterior. Enormous sums of money are wasted keeping cars in pristine condition. Of course, this is just my opinion, but I think it's nuts.

Until you come to sell it and then that little ding can be used to bring down the price!

i stand by what i said, if it were truly 200 yards away, that is 600 feet for those of you who are no good at math, then the mower could not have done it. under 30 yards, yes it could. but very much further than that i would have to say no way and assume that they already had damage and were trying to fleece me.

BTW, i had a side window busted out of my tahoe by a rock kicked up from a weedeater. neither the guy trimming nor i could believe it did it, but we both saw it happen. strange things can happen from debris kicked up, but not at the original distance given.

again, it does not matter who YOU want to get it fixed, it is his vehicle and HE has the right to demand it be fixed at a certain location. about the only thing you can do is try to prove there is price fixing/fraud involved, and that would be nearly impossible. if you had quotes from several guys showing this was a 200.00 fix and the quote he had for the EXACT same work was for 1k, the insurance might perk up, but how are you gonna get the quotes unless he agress to take the vehicle by.

Insurance co have NO say iin where or how you get your car repaired. their only responsibility is to pay the claim. i ahve had my car insurer tell me i HAD to use a certain body shop. one call to the state insurance commissioner and i was able to use who i wished, since the law here forbids them from telling you who you can use.

"...HE has the right to demand it be fixed at a certain location."

Since when?
The most you are obligated to is restoration to original condition.
He does NOT get his choice any more than you do with an auto accident repair.
If your insurance is involved let them deal with it.
It is now there problem.

here the owner of the damaged vehicle has FULL right to get it fixed wherever they choose. insurance companies do not even make the check out to the body shop for most claims, they write it to the owner of the vehicle. a large claim gets written out to both teh owner and the body shop, but small claims such as a couple thousand are not.

it may not be the same in other states, but that is the law here. used to ins cos would tell you that they would not pay unless you got 3 quotes and THEY chose who you use. now they cannot.

this being an election year, the state insurance commissioner passes this message along in his ads so everyone remembers he is the one to vote for.

This is true, he can use whomever he wants, and you are right it would be hard to prove the fraud. Hubby has been out of collision repair for 7 years now, so he could not really say how much a bodyshop would repair it for, even though he himself could of repaired it for 100.00.
But, a insurance adjuster would know, and did know...
We got the estimate and it was a joke, you have no idea.
but as long as the guy gets his money I care not, I just want it to be over with. It is no fun being "subtly" threatened by the owner.

I guess I just have a different view of what an automobile is in relation to the one that owns and operates the thing. To me an automobile is simply a tool. It is out there in the environment getting rained on, hailed on and hit by road debris flung up by other vehicles on the road, and...yes...by the occasional accident, like this stone flung up by the lawn mower.

But, this is slightly off-topic, so I will retreat now and remain silent on this and will comment no more on it.

glennsfc, i HATE driving a new vehicle until it gets it's first ding. after that, i don't worry about it so much. i am definitely not one of these that washs/waxs and babys a vehicle. like you, i feel it is a tool. i take care of it, but i do not try to keep it pristine. i had a guy tell me the other day that i either needed to wash my truck or get some mud on the other side so they match. i told him i washed it May 24, 2005 right before the car show we had in town. since then it gets a bath when it rains. i bought the truck for a work truck, and that means dents, dings, scratches and dirt.

I'd really think twice next time about filing a claim this small. It's great your husband immediately took responsibility but if you have another claim in the next year chances are that your insurance will increase significantly. A third claim or second large claim can even get you cancelled. Doesn't seem fair but insurance is really meant for help in catastrophic cases. Good luck!

Well live and learn, plus to be honest we did not have 1,000.00 to cough up in order to pay the bill.
(we live in a mobile home park, we would not be living here if we had excess money laying around)
We are trying to save for a downpayment on a place out in the country, we need to do this by next year as I made a promise to my 12 year old, I would rather have a claim on my insurance then to break a promise to my son (the neighbors that are friends with this guy flipped my son off here the other day, it is imperitive that we get moved)
I have not heard anything back, but his car was over there and I walked the dogs past to check it out, it has already been repaired.