So I got in my first car accident the other day...

[Avalon]

It was my fault. Rear ended a car at a stop light at about 5-10mph. No alcohol/drugs were involved. The other party and myself pulled over to a gas station with a couple cops. There was practically no damage. My car's bumper was unharmed, and the other guy's rear bumper had two light, one inch long hairline scratches.

The cops left because it was so minor and let us take care of it ourselves. We exchanged info, but the party I hit was freaking out about the scratches on the bumper. One of them kept saying they were huge and they could never buff those out, and would have to take them into an auto paint shop and get the whole bumper re-done. The car wasn't anything to write home about, so I thought that at best case, they'd tell me to forget about it, or worst case I'd just give them $50 or so to fix up the scratches. I even apologized profusely. I was genuinely very upset.

Is it just me, or are they going overboard? I'm starting to get worried now that they might go and do something unnecessary to the car, and then try and charge me for it. They can't do that, can they?

 

[krunchykrome]

Some people will go overboard just because they're drama kings/queens or just because they're looking for a golden ticket in one way or another.

 

[Cobalt]

No police report? If he tries to fvck you over, do the same to him.

 

[se7en]

Thats what car insurance is for. They will work it out for you.

EDIT: And with no police report YOUR insurance is d@mn sure not gonna pay another insurance unless it is absoultely provable you were at fault. When reports aren't filed I generally see the companies settle on "Ill pay for my customer you pay for yours" kinda deal.

 

[vi edit]

$50 to cover scratches? You obviously have never been exposed to car repairs.

Slap another zero onto the end of that and maybe add another 50%.

$500-$1000 to replace a bumper and color match it.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome
Some people will go overboard just because they're drama kings/queens or just because they're looking for a golden ticket in one way or another.

^^^

let your insurance handle the idiot

 

[Xavier434]

I have done the no police report route out of faith and kindness before. It was a nightmare and I will never do it again. Small scratches or big scratches doesn't matter. The person determined to be at fault should be responsible to fix the damages through their insurance no questions asked.

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: Avalon
worst case I'd just give them $50 or so to fix up the scratches.

LMAO! $50?

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
$50 to cover scratches? You obviously have never been exposed to car repairs.

Slap another zero onto the end of that and maybe add another 50%.

$500-$1000 to replace a bumper and color match it.

If you do a search for threads posted by me, you will most certainly find I HAVE been exposed to car repairs.

The bumper does not need replacement. it is in 100% perfect physical condition, minus the two hairline surface scratches I put on it.

Even just a removal of the bumper and paint job of it down here is only $250.

Originally posted by: Dacalo
LMAO! $50?

Yes. $25 for touch up paint, and an extra $25 for their time to buff it, if they were being reasonable. It looks like they're going to whine and cry until they get the bumper re-painted, unfortunately.

I'm not saying I won't pay what they ask, whatever they decide to do with the car. Jeesh.

 

[luv2liv]

what were u doing though?

i was changing track on the ipod when i hit someone at a stop sign too. we got out to check and she didnt mind. i shoulda got her phone number cause she was hot!

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
$50 to cover scratches? You obviously have never been exposed to car repairs.

Slap another zero onto the end of that and maybe add another 50%.

$500-$1000 to replace a bumper and color match it.

Depending on the year and make of the car, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual repair numbers were somewhere near these. Anytime a bumper's involved, the repair shop (in my experience) will usually recommend replacing the whole thing for safety's sake.

 

[coolied]

Originally posted by: luv2liv
what were u doing though?

i was changing track on the ipod when i hit someone at a stop sign too. we got out to check and she didnt mind. i shoulda got her phone number cause she was hot!

trying to give new meaning to the term "hit it"?

 

[Firebot]

Originally posted by: Avalon
Yes. $25 for touch up paint, and an extra $25 for their time to buff it, if they were being reasonable. It looks like they're going to whine and cry until they get the bumper re-painted, unfortunately.

I'm not saying I won't pay what they ask, whatever they decide to do with the car. Jeesh.

You're right, this is your first car accident. Technically they can get the bumper replaced, and without a police report, you may be forced to pay out of pocket for several hundred to a thousand (if your insurance washes its hand of it due to no report). ALWAYS get a police report, no matter how minor (especially if the other guy is having a fit), unless you agree to pay for it on the spot and it's the end of it. Expect a large quote for repair costs sent to you, and be prepared to be shocked.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: luv2liv
what were u doing though?

i was changing track on the ipod when i hit someone at a stop sign too. we got out to check and she didnt mind. i shoulda got her phone number cause she was hot!

I guess I just zoned out. I had been driving on a long, boring, desolate road for the previous hour, and had finally gotten into civilization.

 

[Sphexi]

For one thing, they can't do whatever they want to the car then simply charge you, doesn't work like that. They have to go to their insurance company, then go get an estimate from an approved mechanic/shop, then get the work done, then their insurance will send the bill to your insurance company, who will either cover it or pass it on to you.

If you want to leave insurance companies out of it, have them get an estimate from a shop YOU approve of so you know you're not getting screwed, and pay their bill yourself. Get it in writing though, so they don't try to come back later for more cash.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Wait so what I'm reading is everyone here gets a police report no matter what? I've been in bigger wrecks with my parents where they slam into someone at 25mph and its roughly $3k worth of damages. People passed us and asked if we wanted to call the cops, but we were civil and said it was ok.

Based on that when I got into my crash on the highway in another post (it was a low speed rear end), we pulled over and dealed with it. It's probably gonna require bumper replacement simply because there's a hole in the plastic, but overall you can tell the impact was minimal and we didn't call the cops either.

Isn't it clear who's at fault especially when it's a rear end accident? You don't really need a police report to deal with that do you?

 

[dyna]

Insurance will cover it. Your insurance will probably call you after they report it to them. No police report required.

 

[Beev]

Some guy rear ended me about a month ago. He was only going ~5mph. We pulled over, he apologized, I didn't see any damage so I said "pfeh, looks fine to me" and we went our separate ways.

 

[Avalon]

I get the feeling that the car they were driving wasn't their car, now that I think about it.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Firebot
You're right, this is your first car accident. Technically they can get the bumper replaced, and without a police report, you may be forced to pay out of pocket for several hundred to a thousand (if your insurance washes its hand of it due to no report). ALWAYS get a police report, no matter how minor (especially if the other guy is having a fit), unless you agree to pay for it on the spot and it's the end of it. Expect a large quote for repair costs sent to you, and be prepared to be shocked.

With no police report, no one can be proven at fault!

If it truly was 5-10 MPH, that's barely over the "zero damage" speed of a car bumper. It shouldn't be that expensive, although color matching could be a pain.

 

[ViviTheMage]

well, if you think about it from their standpoint..they did nothing wrong!

 

[AMCRambler]

With plastic bumpers I'm not so sure a re-paint is possible. Sheet metal you can sand or use a paint stripper on. Plastic you really can't use either of those methods to remove paint I don't think. Anyone know about this for sure? I thought I heard that if the plastic bumper cover needs paint, they will just order a replacement bumper cover as they come primed and ready for paint.

 

[Gibson486]

I remember one time that I was getting out of a parking space. I backed and tapped teh car behind me. The lady who owned the car freaked and started claiming that i made this huge scratch on her bumper. I was like "WTF....my car did not do that". the scratch was about 1 inch deep and there were numerous ones. To make things even more suspect, the scratch was on the TOP part of her bumper. In order for me to make that scratch, i would have had to lift up my car about a foot and really back into it. She called the cops and the cops came and just gave her this weird look and told her that she just wasted my time and their time. Some people....they just look for a way to fix things they do not want to fix.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: AMCRambler
With plastic bumpers I'm not so sure a re-paint is possible. Sheet metal you can sand or use a paint stripper on. Plastic you really can't use either of those methods to remove paint I don't think. Anyone know about this for sure? I thought I heard that if the plastic bumper cover needs paint, they will just order a replacement bumper cover as they come primed and ready for paint.

Perhaps. I'll have to look into this myself.

On the bright side, it's been 2 days (only 1 day if you count business days), and I haven't heard from them. For being so figgity over a little bumper scratch, I'd have thought they would have gone to get an estimate already, or at least contact me regarding what they're going to do next.

Maybe they slept on it and in the morning decided that it was too much effort for something so small?