damage of a parked car

my car was parked at my place of employment and a 16 year old boy was racing somebody in the parking lot and ran in to the passenger side of my car. I would like to know if the impact bent my wheel would they have to replace all 4 wheels if they unable to find the matching wheel. They are after market wheels. I have had the car for about 3 months and have not done any to it, such as installing the after market wheels. The wheels were on the car when I bought the car.

Answer

Well, there are some issues here. Some states will allow you to recover for all four wheels, some will only allow you to recover for the one that was damaged.

One thing is clear here. The insurance company will try to only pay you for one wheel. This is of course not very good since you cannot have 3 wheels that match and one that does not. You should argue for the replacement of all wheels.

Note, the insurance company will want the salvage (the four wheels you have) and try to give you money so you can find the replacements, however, they will probably try depreciate your wheels (they are not new, so they will not want to pay you for new wheels).

Your best argument here is to make sure they put you back in the position you were before the accident. You had four after market wheels that (match), in all states they owe you for that.

To find your exact answer (in your state), call the office of the insurance commissioner or the department of insurance (depending in your state), and they will probably be able to give you an answer on what they exactly owe.

Good Luck.