I really hate people.

[Savij]

I was walking back to my car after a long day at work and was greated with this. It's my "new" car and I've had it for less than 6 months. Until now, it had only the minor dings and scratches from before I purchased the car and those were barely noticable.

Both the bumper and the quarter panel (I think that's what it's called) are bent. The plastic piece that forms the wheel well isn't attached properly anymore as can be seen here and here.

How much is this going to cost to fix? Should I even bother calling my insurance company since I've got a $500 deductable?

The car is an 04 RSX type S if that makes any difference.

 

[randay]

holy shit. make a police report?

just a wild guess, I'd say thats at least a couple grand worth of damage.

 

[Savij]

Not yet, I've talked to the police and they said they can look at the car tomorrow and do the report then. You think it's that bad? The car doesn't drive weird or shake anything like that...

 

[Zenmervolt]

Minor cosmetic issue. A few hundred at most unless they need to replace the bumper cover, then maybe several hundred. Certainly nothing that would make the car drive improperly.

Very honestly, if the other person was driving a larger SUV-type vehicle and wasn't paying attention it's possible they didn't even notice. (And yes, I know that makes it worse, not better.)

This is essentially a hit-and-run incident. If you have an otherwise clear record, even if you report it you shouldn't have your premiums go up. However, with a $500 deductible you may only end up saving $100-$200.

ZV

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Minor cosmetic issue. A few hundred at most unless they need to replace the bumper cover, then maybe several hundred. Certainly nothing that would make the car drive improperly.

Very honestly, if the other person was driving a larger SUV-type vehicle and wasn't paying attention it's possible they didn't even notice. (And yes, I know that makes it worse, not better.)

This is essentially a hit-and-run incident. If you have an otherwise clear record, even if you report it you shouldn't have your premiums go up. However, with a $500 deductible you may only end up saving $100-$200.

ZV

Yeah, that's closer to what I was expecting.

 

[dud]

Unfortunately this happens WAY too often. My wife told me the other day that she saw a truck clobber a parked car in the Mall lot and then left. She got the tag number and reported it to the police. The driver of the truck is going to be in for a big surprise ...

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: dud
Unfortunately this happens WAY too often. My wife told me the other day that she saw a truck clobber a parked car in the Mall lot and then left. She got the tag number and reported it to the police. The driver of the truck is going to be in for a big surprise ...

Yeah, I used to take pride in keeping my car spotless. I have forced myself to stop caring because other people don't care what they do to it.

My old car: Stupid drunk kids knocking the driver's side mirror off...and the 3 foot long gash I got across the top of the hood (some large truck??)...and the paint being scraped off the bumper and sides...and...and...

 

[Hyperlite]

my home town is predominantly retirees and its downright sickening to watch them roll back into another vehicle because they're too old to move their fucking necks and just drive off...

 

[sniperruff]

yeah some asshat in a trunk plow into my car and smashed my door and rear quarter panel and now they are rusting and i have no time to take it to the garage.

 

[AnnonUSA]

You are looking at a minimum of 800 to 1000 in repairs, if it's done right.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
You are looking at a minimum of 800 to 1000 in repairs, if it's done right.

Bull for that little bit of damage.

I had the driver's door handle pried out of my 951, they had to re-form the metal around the door handle and re-paint both the door and a portion of the quarter panel to blend it. $750 from a very high-end shop.

I would be absolutely shocked if this was more than $1,000.

ZV

 

[Chapbass]

Yep, i had my drivers side door all gouged up and the mirror broken completely off my car and lying on the ground...no note. boo for college towns :


upside was I've got a local guy who does GM body work, and ended up doing the whole thing for me for 325. whew...

 

[Blackjack200]

Would it be at all feasible to have constantly running video cams? Maybe use the same cameras they already have for backing up... Wouldn't it be great if you walked out to your car, saw something like this, and just downloaded the last 6 hours of video from the car's hard drive? This has never happened to me but it makes me want to vomit when these threads pop up.

 

[Audiotherapy]

is it a parking lot at work? does it have surveillance? maybe look for the car tomorrow with your paint on their passenger side fender or bumper. (from the photos, possibly a white colored car)

good luck

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: audiotherapy
is it a parking lot at work? does it have surveillance? maybe look for the car tomorrow with your paint on their passenger side fender or bumper. (from the photos, possibly a white colored car)

good luck

It's a public lot close to work and it doesn't have cameras. I'll be on the lookout, but I'm not optimistic about finding him/her.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Don't hate me. I didn't do it!

(sucks, sorry to hear this)

 

[Rio Rebel]

I had this exact thing happen to me. Here's what happened:

I came out of a restaurant and my car had been hit from the side. The rear door and quarter panel were smashed in (looks like the guy backed into me from maybe 20 feet away without slowing down.

I was convinced that this was going to be expensive, and I assumed it would be treated like an uninsured motorist (wrong!), so I reported it and took it to have it fixed.

In the end, the damage was only around $700, and my $500 deductible applied, AND though my insurance didn't go up, it did go on my record and other insurance companies factor it in when determining my rates.

So get an estimate first, before reporting it. I wish I hadn't.

 

[Raduque]

That reminds me of what happened to my truck at work. Some broad backed into me and caused this. Luckily, there were witnesses who reported it and turned her in to HR. She wasn't going to come forward on her own. I then had to fight for insurance information to get the money to get it fixed (which I did myself).

 

[Mayfriday0529]

I had similar small hit done to a 2005 Nissan Altima within the 1st month. Someone must have backed up and scratch it pretty much on the same spot as you.
it cost $2500 to get it fixed. The entire headlight had to be replaced also because in the little corner of the car body and the headlight it got broken.

oh got lucky, found the original picture that i posted on here when it happen in 2004.
Pic

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
I had similar small hit done to a 2005 Nissan Altima within the 1st month. Someone must have backed up and scratch it pretty much on the same spot as you.
it cost $2500 to get it fixed. The entire headlight had to be replaced also because in the little corner of the car body and the headlight it got broken.

oh got lucky, found the original picture that i posted on here when it happen in 2004.
Pic

$2,500?! Did the shop that quoted you that much at least provide the vasoline for free?

ZV

 

[bruceb]

Raduque ... That was good hit you got there. Crumpled and wrinkled rear quarter
that would take a bit to get back to normal.

Jnetty99 ... Just my own view, but that tiny amount of damage did not warrant $2500
Now for me, depending on how new the car is, I would have just had the fender and
bumper buffed out & would have left that little blemish on the headlight alone. At some
point, the whole headlight would get replaced anyway, as they either get hazy / dull / foggy
or it gets really cracked, say a rock or similar. But it was your own choice.

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Jnetty99
I had similar small hit done to a 2005 Nissan Altima within the 1st month. Someone must have backed up and scratch it pretty much on the same spot as you.
it cost $2500 to get it fixed. The entire headlight had to be replaced also because in the little corner of the car body and the headlight it got broken.

oh got lucky, found the original picture that i posted on here when it happen in 2004.
Pic

$2,500?! Did the shop that quoted you that much at least provide the vasoline for free?

ZV

Headlights cost a bitch these days

My dads ES350's headlights are about 2-3k each CDN

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Originally posted by: bruceb
Raduque ... That was good hit you got there. Crumpled and wrinkled rear quarter
that would take a bit to get back to normal.

Jnetty99 ... Just my own view, but that tiny amount of damage did not warrant $2500
Now for me, depending on how new the car is, I would have just had the fender and
bumper buffed out & would have left that little blemish on the headlight alone. At some
point, the whole headlight would get replaced anyway, as they either get hazy / dull / foggy
or it gets really cracked, say a rock or similar. But it was your own choice.

I put the wrong number it came out to $1800
It was brand new car and a lease. The insurance paid it and my rates never went up.
When i had the car inspected at the end of lease the inspector new to whole side panel had been replaced he said "the body shop did an amazing job".

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: bruceb
Raduque ... That was good hit you got there. Crumpled and wrinkled rear quarter
that would take a bit to get back to normal.

And it was, too. I fiddled with it a biit, brought some of the trucks lines back out and straightened up where the light goes, but its still not right. My dad's a body man, so he's gonna do the real body work when he gets bacl for good.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: AnnonUSA
You are looking at a minimum of 800 to 1000 in repairs, if it's done right.

Bull for that little bit of damage.

I had the driver's door handle pried out of my 951, they had to re-form the metal around the door handle and re-paint both the door and a portion of the quarter panel to blend it. $750 from a very high-end shop.

I would be absolutely shocked if this was more than $1,000.

ZV

Depends where you are at and the quality of the body man more than likely....people can get a whole car painted for $300 too.

If the part is going to need to be painted expect a quality shop to be around $300 just for paint. The part price can be found on parts.com.

Personally if I was trying to save money on the deal I'd just have them spray it and install myself. The labor is easy, but it's going to take a little time.

The only drawback of this is often times with the shop does the work they can report hidden damage and possibly correct other blemishes at the same time 'for free'.

I live in Palm Beach County and much of the labor type stuff is not cheap here.

Someone did the same thing to my wife's saturn...smacked the corner of the rear bumper causing just some paint scrapes.

Police saw the SUV that more than likely did it, but nothing could be proved so it was considered a hit and run.

My repair will eventually pull a good bumper off a salvage car. I have touched up the paint and she was happy with that for now rather than paying $400-500 to fix it.