Rather unique situation *heavy sarcasm*, but the other day my car was hit by a shopping cart in the home Depot parking lot. The cart had left a rather large and very noticeable dent on my car. I was sitting in my car when the incident occurred. An employee was out doing a cart run, evidently lost control of a cart and it came crashing into my car. The employee chased after it in an attempt to grab the cart before it hit my, but with no luck.

I have reported the incident to the store manager who filed a claim. Spike with The Home Depot's insurance company today.

My question is, has anyone dealt with an issue like this where an employee was at fault for damage caused to a customers car? The damage to my car will probably be upwards of a thousand dollars to fix and I'm concerned that this company is going to brush me off and claim they aren't liable or required to fix the damage.

Did you report it to your insurance agent?

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Did you report it to your insurance agent?

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I have not filed a claim with my insurance as of yet. Should I? I was waiting to hear back from their insurance company before I did anything.

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Originally Posted by daniigirl

I have not filed a claim with my insurance as of yet. Should I? I was waiting to hear back from their insurance company before I did anything.

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Yes! Be sure to report this to your insurance company. That's why you have them. An adjuster will be assigned to the claim, will gather the "facts of the accident," and will wheel and deal with HD's insurance company/adjuster to repair your damage. If subrogation is needed, your adjuster will take care of getting that done in your favor.

Report it to your company. They could make the repairs then file a sibrogation claim against Home Depot's insurance company.

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... My question is, has anyone dealt with an issue like this where an employee was at fault for damage caused to a customers car? The damage to my car will probably be upwards of a thousand dollars to fix and I'm concerned that this company is going to brush me off and claim they aren't liable or required to fix the damage.

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If their employee was negligent, and it appears that he or she was, Home Depot is definitely responsible, if that's what you are getting at.

I've received some conflicting advice. A family member of mine works for an insurance company and has advised me not to file a claim just yet, to wait and see how the other insurance company responds and then go from there. At this point the other insurance company has told me they are investigating the incident and should get back to me within the week or early next week. I think what I am afraid of having happen if I file a claim and my insurance company picks up the tab for the damage (maybe they then pursue reimbursement from T.H.D, maybe not), it then dinging my insurance and it resulting in me paying more monthly for something I wasn't at fault for.

Many insurers require you to report incidents fairly soon after they happen. They know memories of the event change or fade and they become harder to investigate.

I agree with the others - most policies REQUIRE that you report all incidents within a week or ten days, so don't delay. Since this is clearly not your fault your rates will not go up. You should also get a repair estimate. Your insurance company probably has a list of "preferred" body shops, which if you use can avoid you getting into arguments over what specific repairs are required and what they should cost. And as WonderGirl noted your company will be your advocate if/when negotiations start. For example, even if Home Depot admits fault they are likely to argue that the repairs should be less expensive than the estimate you get - your insurance company knows how to respond to nonsense like that. One other thing - take lots of pictures of the damage while it is still fresh.

Do NOT file a claim against your company, DO report it to them. If Home Depot's carrier refuses the claim at least the incident is on record.

I wlll go with Scott, Report it to your insurance company, if you have full coverage insurance (collision).. If you have only liability, then there is no need. Since it is not a covered action

Do not file a claim, wait for Home Depo to pay.

This is a tort issue, due to the negligence actions of the worker, not just a cart blowing in the wind. There should be no issue of getting paid, as you said it happened