Will My insurance company fix my car?

Tonight I was practically left in tears after driving on the highway in my freshly painted (6 weeks ago) 1966 ford mustang.

It was dark and there was very poor visibility and I drove though I pile of stones that had either been dropped off a truck, or from unfinished roadworks. Either way, My $50,000 paint job has been ruined.

I have Full Comprehensive Insurance, on a website I looked at I red this blurb on it.

Comprehensive insurance covers damage to a vehicle that was not involved in a collision. If you carry comprehensive car insurance and the paint chips on your car were caused by vandalism, theft, animals or a natural disaster, then your insurance will repair the paint damage. You will be responsible for paying the deductible on your policy. Tiny paint chips caused by insects, rust or mild weather conditions are not covered by car insurance. These types of paint chips are normal under most driving conditions and are considered common wear and tear.

My car is insured for $85,000

So, am I covered. Or am I going to be wiping my tears away for months.

And yes, I understand that cars will get small stone chips over time (Thats normal wear and tear, which is something I can live with. But I don, t call my car getting showered in loose gravel normal wear and tear.

Thanks guys for the feedback so far. Yes i was driving well within the conditions. I was doing about 45mph on a 60mph road because I'm generally very careful, and I did have my lights on, however as the car is 48 years of age, the lights arent up to the same standard as a brand new car, hence the slow speed. There was no way for me to see gravel scattered on the road unless it was daylight. I just heard it hit. James… I don't even understand a word you said. It sounds like I'm in for a 50/50 here I've been with my insurance company for over 10 years insuring multiple classic vehicles and have never made a claim. I guess at the end of the day, if they don't pay out, I just have to open my wallet again.

P.S) I live in New Zealand so 50K here is around 42,000 USD (which was both for panel and paint to be done to a mirror finish, being a gloss black car, it had to be perfect because it shows up EVERYTHING!

"It was dark and there was very poor visibility and I drove though I pile of stones that had either been dropped off a truck, "

So you were driving too fast for the conditions, didn't have your lights on or you were not paying attention as someone else would have done the same thing before you if it was that bad.

All you can do is ask your insurers and hope they will pay for the damage.

Get a lawyer to look at your coverage. Here's the way insurance companies work. They take your money. End of agreement. They hate to pay… ANYthing… Ever. They will try and weasel out of it by citing fine print and legalese that you can't understand.

Unless you have special coverage for a custom paint job, I'm afraid you are only going to get a regular paint job that would have been comparable to the way it was from the factory. Unless specified exactly in writing, that's generally the way they work.

You're also going to need receipts for everything… And I mean everything. Insurance companies don't like to pay, and the first thing they will do is deny any claim. Trust me… I've been through this. Get a lawyer. Get a nasty bad-a$$ lawyer who is a real specialist in automobile claims.

I would be going straight back to wherever the rocks where and taking a lot of photos of both the rocks and the car so you have some evidence. I think you should be able to claim it if you can prove what happened.

If you TROLL the web you can find your answers. And TROLLing the web will also so 50k for a paint job is near special ed of a mustang. So I Really hope this is true and you lose your paint job

It was accidental damage and the company should cover you, I guess.
But why not just ring them and ask?

$50,000 paint job, what a joke. I used to be involved with custom paint on show cars and there's no way someone would charge you that amount of money for a complete body restoration on a Mustang- $5000 is more probable. If on the off chance you did pay such a ridiculous amount for the work done no insurance company will pay out for the repair.