Auto Insurance Claims: Claim likely less than deducatible, paintless dent repair, painting company

Question
My car was recently dinged while parked in my apartment complex. I believe I know what happened, however I don't have direct proof.

Here's the story:
The carports were to be painted on Tuesday and I was told to move my car then. However, without warning the painters ended up painting on Wednesday instead. There was no dent on my car on Tuesday and when I saw it on Thursday morning, I noticed a large dent on my car. Observing the painter's tools as well as what they were painting that day, the dent is the size of the end of one of their tools as well as where their ladder was. I believe the dent came from either dropping a tool on my car while painting, or they slipped off their ladder and hit the car with the back of their tool during the fall.

I gave a call to the painting company, but they have not returned my calls.

Given this is likely around the cost of my deducatible, does it make sense to file a claim on this? My agent mentioned if I filed a claim, they may try to recover costs from the painting company which would seem to be the only scenario in which a claim would make sense.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Leonard

Answer
Leonard,
I'm sorry for the apparant delay.  I actually answered this last week, but didn't post it right or something.

I'd involve your apartment management on this one as they should have a lot more clout with the painting contractor.

As far as filing a claim, I'd get a body shop to write an estimate first to see what the damage really is.  If the paint is not broken, they may be able to use PDR (paintless dent repair) but painting and blending other panels can get quite expensive.