Auto Insurance Claims: Animal vs. Wood, teeth marks, spotless record

Question
Question     
I was driving on an unlit road when I hit something that seemed to be very solid. It tore off half of my bumper and I drove right home with the bumper rubbing against the tire. I immediately called my ins co and reported the incident. I told them I was not sure what I hit and it was dark so I couldn't check my van at the time. The next day I looked at the damage and noticed that there were teeth marks, blood and hair on the bumper and I took pictures of it. I didn't think any thing of it and I took it to the body shop and they fixed it. A few months later I called the ins co to ask about the rate increase and they said it was due to my accident. I told them I didn't have an accident, I hit an animal in the road. She referred me back to my claim agent and he asked me to bring by the pictures. I made a CD for him and asked him to blow up the image to see the blood and teeth marks. A few days later he called me back and said that he showed the pictures to his manager and the manager said it could be anything and dismissed the dispute so now I have to live with the increased rates and an "accident" on my spotless record. How can one man make this type of determination?

Answer     
Seems like the proper thing to do would have been to notify the insurance company of this new information at the time of the repair before the parts were discarded. They would have sent an adjuster out to look at it. Without seeing the pictures, I can't say if their decision is correct or not.

Responder on vacation so I am directing this question to you.

I do have pictures of the vehicle if you want to leave me your email address. Unfortunately I didn't know that there was a difference in the claim with an animal vs. wood. They don't inform you of these things when they process your claim. What is the best way to proceed?

Answer
Hi Stacie,

You should take your CD to a photo lab to see if they can blow up and enhance the photos.

Insurance companies do not care about you only about making money. If they see an opportunity to increase your premium, they will. It's up to you to fight.  If you are still unable to get them to reverse their decision, you may file a complaint with your state insurance commissioners office. They may be able to help.

I hope this helps
Richard Hixenbaugh