File insurance claim?

[ricematthews]

This should not be interpreted as legal advice, but just an idea - Maybe you
could file it as a"vandalism" claim against your comprehensive insurance
(assuming you have comprehensive).  This may not raise your rates.  You may
also consider waiting until your other one has been cleared from your record
before reporting this one.
-Mark

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Today I walked out to my '87 4kq, which is in very nice shape overall, and
found a bit of cosmetic damage. There was a slight scrape at the 12 o'clock
position on the lip of the left rear wheel arch, there was a dent in the
rear
bumper, and the cladding below the bumper was slightly pulled away from the
bodywork. I assume someone must have clipped me at some point when the car
was
parked. It's hard to imagine that I wouldn't have felt the impact if I'd
been
in the car. I know from experience that bodywork isn't cheap, even if the
damage doesn't look too bad. I really don't want to go down the slippery
slope
of neglecting this sort of thing until the car looks like hell.

Now, here's the rub. I have a claim incurred 2/19/00 about ready to drop off
my
record. That one was my fault--I misjudged clearance and smacked a pillar in
a
parking garage, and I figured I'd just have to play straight with my
insurance
company (Safeco) and admit it. Coming in with another claim has an obvious
downside, but so does eating it myself. I don't think this one should count
against me, since I'm not at fault, but I don't know if that's realistic. I
imagine I could call my agent on Monday, sound her out, and then decide
whether
to file a claim. Any advice is welcome, thanks!