Got rear ended. Minor bumper damage, settle outside insurance?

[theeedude]

So this lady braked too late at red light and hit me, I thought it would be more damage, but I guess it she slowed down enough and looks like it's just bumper impressions of her license plate. Car drives fine everything works, underneath seems ok too, based on just visual inspection, even the styrofoam and license plate lights that were right in the impact zone.
We discussed it a little bit, and I offered to give her the option of settling it outside insurance to avoid it going to her driving record and increasing her insurance. I am going to take it to a body shop to get an estimate, and then give her an option of paying me that amount herself or me filing a claim. I may not even fix it since it's looks sort of minor, and repainted bumper may look worse, but I do want to be compensated for the cosmetic damage.
Anyone have experience with this sort of thing? What would be the magic number below which its generally better for the guilty party to pay out of pocket instead paying higher insurance later? I figure for me it would be around 500 dollars.

 

[earthman]

Since you didn't get a police report you are in a weak position legally if she just decides not to pay. Handling it this way is generally not a good idea.

 

[amdhunter]

You got rear-ended, go through insurance, your premium won't go up. Unless it's under your deductible, but make sure they are positive that no other issues have arisen.

 

[kornphlake]

I got rear-ended by a guy and he said his insurance would drop him if he filed another claim, he said he worked for a large dealership and he could get my car fixed at cost, I got his insurance info and told him I wouldn't file a claim as long as he could get my bumper replaced and painted. I contacted him a few times, about getting the car worked on, he promised everything was going to work out and he gave me the name and number of a friend who was supposed to take care of everything. I called the guy thinking I'd be calling the autobody shop at the dealership, someone who didn't speak English answered the phone, that's fine I spoke Spanish too. Turns out this was some guy who did body work in his garage. I wasn't too comfortable having a guy take my car for who knows how long so he could do a hack job on it. I tired calling the guy who rearended me to explain my concerns but he didn't answer his phone or return my messages, the next day I called his insurance co and filed a claim. The next day the guy calls all upset that I'd called his insurance. I told him I needed to get my car fixed and it'd been a couple weeks since the accident and nothing had been done, his friends weren't professionals and they didn't know how to make an appointment to repair the car. I ended up getting a $1200 or so from the insurance, which I thought was fair, I'm pretty sure I'd still be trying to get money from the guy if I hadn't gone through his insurance.

 

[theeedude]

I guess it doesn't hurt to get an estimate and see if she pays wants to pay out of pocket, I can always file a claim if she doesn't.
Seemed like a professional woman with a kid in child seat, I called sheriffs department and they said to just exchange info, since there were no injuries.
By the way, how does this get reported as far as vehicle history, if there is no insurance claim, does it get recorded?
Honestly, if there is no frame damage, I would be fine living with the cosmetic aftermath for a few hundred bucks.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

I just went through this

The lady who hit me wanted to do cash as well, but when they pulled my bumper off they found a lot more damaged inside so we ended up going through insurance. So before you settle with anyone make sure you have the shop pull the bumper off and check to see if theres anything broken on the inside.

 

[theeedude]

Looks like even the cosmetic bumper damage repair estimate, $670, is too much for her, so we are going through her insurance. The other thing is with insurance I'd get a rental for the duration, which would be convenient since it's raining and I can't bike to work.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Always use insurance. They deal with all the ball-ache, that's why you pay them.

 

[StageLeft]

I got rear-ended by a guy and he said his insurance would drop him if he filed another claim, he said he worked for a large dealership and he could get my car fixed at cost, I got his insurance info and told him I wouldn't file a claim as long as he could get my bumper replaced and painted. I contacted him a few times, about getting the car worked on, he promised everything was going to work out and he gave me the name and number of a friend who was supposed to take care of everything. I called the guy thinking I'd be calling the autobody shop at the dealership, someone who didn't speak English answered the phone, that's fine I spoke Spanish too. Turns out this was some guy who did body work in his garage. I wasn't too comfortable having a guy take my car for who knows how long so he could do a hack job on it. I tired calling the guy who rearended me to explain my concerns but he didn't answer his phone or return my messages, the next day I called his insurance co and filed a claim. The next day the guy calls all upset that I'd called his insurance. I told him I needed to get my car fixed and it'd been a couple weeks since the accident and nothing had been done, his friends weren't professionals and they didn't know how to make an appointment to repair the car. I ended up getting a $1200 or so from the insurance, which I thought was fair, I'm pretty sure I'd still be trying to get money from the guy if I hadn't gone through his insurance.

Fvck him. You ask somebody for a favor who you don't know and you should not screw them around. I actually got hit a few years ago for $700 in damage and we did not do insurance. I cannot remember if I got a police report or not. I think I did. The lady's husband really dragged his heels on getting me a check and I was about to call their insurance but he did pull through eventually. Always try and get a police report, though because many people are very slow and useless.

 

[theeedude]

The insurance guy for her company called me to confirm some info, and when I said I would have to check with my insurance first if they want me talking to him, he said that she admitted fault. So I guess I got my bases covered at this point.
Anyways, definitely good to go through insurance if you want the stuff repaired. I would have been fine taking the cash and not repairing it, since it's just a couple screw marks. There are definitely better things to spend 700 bucks on, but oh well

 

[PhoKingGuy]

The insurance guy for her company called me to confirm some info, and when I said I would have to check with my insurance first if they want me talking to him, he said that she admitted fault. So I guess I got my bases covered at this point.
Anyways, definitely good to go through insurance if you want the stuff repaired. I would have been fine taking the cash and not repairing it, since it's just a couple screw marks. There are definitely better things to spend 700 bucks on, but oh well

Yeah that got me too, they wanted my account of things and I hesitated but they told me she admitted fault so it was no big deal. 700 was my original estimate but it ballooned to 1300 after they realized the inside was broken as well

 

[69Mach1]

Fvck him. You ask somebody for a favor who you don't know and you should not screw them around. I actually got hit a few years ago for $700 in damage and we did not do insurance. I cannot remember if I got a police report or not. I think I did. The lady's husband really dragged his heels on getting me a check and I was about to call their insurance but he did pull through eventually. Always try and get a police report, though because many people are very slow and useless.

This. I got hit by a personal friend who talked me out of getting a police report. He talked a good game until he saw the estimates, then refused to pay. Without a police report I was pretty much screwed. I had to pay for it myself. That accident cost me about $1000 and a friend. I haven't spoken to him since. He did try to contact me through mutual friends, trying to say it was his wife not him, but I don't really care. You don't screw your friends, no matter what the wife says.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

This. I got hit by a personal friend who talked me out of getting a police report. He talked a good game until he saw the estimates, then refused to pay. Without a police report I was pretty much screwed. I had to pay for it myself. That accident cost me about $1000 and a friend. I haven't spoken to him since. He did try to contact me through mutual friends, trying to say it was his wife not him, but I don't really care. You don't screw your friends, no matter what the wife says.

Around here cops wont even come out unless theres an injury

 

[theeedude]

Yeah, I called the Sheriff Dept, they asked me if there was injury, I said no, they say just exchange info and call us if there are problems.

 

[Doggiedog]

I got rear ended a few weeks ago. I made sure I got all of the guy's information. I had insurance come look at my car and they told me I need a new bumper. It should cost around $1000 for a new BMW 335i bumper. My ex wife got rear ended in our MDX and while it just looked like bumper damage, the rear ender hit the exhaust as well so that accident ended up being close to $2000 in damage.

 

[69Mach1]

Around here cops wont even come out unless theres an injury

I live in a small town, cops don't have anything else to do. It was on my old work truck, and I only had liability on it. So no help from my insurance. He lied to his insurance and said he wasn't the one who hit it. They told me without a police report there was nothing they could do. My mistake was in trusting an old friend, won't happen again.

 

[theeedude]

Grr, now body shop that AAA recommends wants to "repair" rear bumper cover, which they are going to charge $344 in labor to do not including painting it. I am seeing online, an OEM replacement bumper cover costs < $300. Can I insist that the bumper cover be replaced instead of repaired, or is it at discretion of AAA? Going to call them tomorrow. Seems to me like it's in their interest to have satisfied customer especially if it saves them money.

 

[microAmp]

You should be able to have the choice of new or repair, OEM parts or 3rd party. It's between you and the body shop, insurance company shouldn't have any say in it.

 

[Vette73]

You should be able to have the choice of new or repair, OEM parts or 3rd party. It's between you and the body shop, insurance company shouldn't have any say in it.

No its not. Insurance only has to pay to repair the vehicle to like condition.

If you want anything above that either talk them into it or pay.

 

[theeedude]

No its not. Insurance only has to pay to repair the vehicle to like condition.

If you want anything above that either talk them into it or pay.

After I contacted the shop about replacement, they lowered the repair estimate and inflated the replacement estimate, and now they are saying I would need to pay the difference.
Basically they are saying that it would cost more labor to prep a primered replacement bumper cover than it would to primer and prep the repaired one. Feels like they are trying to steer me into repair even though replacement would be better and in reality cheaper.
Going to contact AAA and see what they say, and start looking at other shops.

To me, like condition would be undamaged new bumper, not something repaired with a heat iron and bondo. My friend had similar accident in same car and got bumper replaced.

 

[Katacald123]

you could have got an estimate at an expensive body shop and then have her insurance company write the check out to you instead of the body shop you just tell her ins co that you weren't sure where exactly you want to have your car fixed at. then just cash the check from her insurance company and you would've gotten a lot more money than her paying out-of-pocket I do it every time I'm in an accident and someone else is at fault I usually get my car fixed at a cheap place and make a few hundred dollars !

Since this accident happened in 2010, I'm sure the member is no longer in need of advice - especially insurance fraud advice.
admin allisolm

 

[boomerang]

you could have got an estimate at an expensive body shop and then have her insurance company write the check out to you instead of the body shop you just tell her ins co that you weren't sure where exactly you want to have your car fixed at. then just cash the check from her insurance company and you would've gotten a lot more money than her paying out-of-pocket I do it every time I'm in an accident and someone else is at fault I usually get my car fixed at a cheap place and make a few hundred dollars !

Who says crime doesn't pay, eh?