making a claim after a collision.?

hi, i just got into a collision and it was my fault. the damages were minimal i know i am a auto body man myself. the other vehicle will be needing a bumper and right headlight +paint material+work hours (hourly rates vary by shop 25.-35.). i know my insurance will go up due to this collision but, i was planning on fileing a claim on sandblast on my truck i live here in the desert side of california and the free ways here can sometimes be very bad. i had painted my truck at my own shop about 7 months back my truck came out clean but, now its just sad there is little sand pits all over the front end not to mention the sides. Even after being in this collision, will i still be coverd for a sandblast claim? (sandblast claim is a ligit claim that has no fault ur monthly rate wont go up either, im ust wondering if it is still possible even if he had been in a car accident with the fault being his with only little damage to the other vehicle.

Sargent Michell	You can file multiple claims. The adjuster that does the estimates on them, will adjust one or the other. They aren't going to pay you twice for the same repair. Like if your truck has body damage on the fender and the fender is also damaged from the sand blasting they will pay for the repair necessary for only that item, and only paint on one. Like this. One fender. Sand blast damage from prior incident, dent from accident. Can be done either way by the adjuster, he will pay for the first damage fully, repair and paint. The second one gets paid for only what it takes to repair the dent. No paint, no labor to paint, no labor to take off trim. He only pays once for paint not twice, whether you have em fixed at the same time or not. If you don't file the claim for sandblast damage, they won't pay nor do they owe you for it. They will pay to repair the dent and paint right over the other damage. That's all they owe. Same if you have the sandblast work done and not the dent. Now some good news. The sand blast damage should be covered under your comprehensive coverage if you have it. The damage is considered "Act of God", just like when you hit a deer. It's usually a lower deductible or no deductible, dependent on you policy. Also comp claims do not affect your record or go against you. And aren't used for price increases. Hopefully you don't have State Farm. I work as a DRP for them.They changed their rules a while back. If you have prior damage on a panel they will pay to fix the new damage only, no paint/labor/etc. I have to write an estimate for the new damage complete as if the old damage wasn't there. Then one for the old damage as if the new damage wasn't there. The prior damage estimate is subtracted from the new one and that's all SF will pay. It's up to the owner to pay the rest. Their take is the owner could have filed a claim and pocketed the cash, and if not they don't pay for us to fix old damage or paint over it.

mtwaites	You could try and claim it, but I don't know whether you would be able to with the fact that you were at fault for the accident, but you can try. You usually should report an accident within 24-48 hours after the accident.