SOB, somebody clipped my car in a parking lot and took off.

[Joe]

I was two weeks away from trading in my car for a 2017. Sometime in the last week, somebody clipped my rear end in some parking lot and took off.

Bumper damage etc. I took it in today for an estimate. $982. Body shop guy says trade it in as is and they might cut me a little slack since it is a 2014 with only 18,500 miles on it.

It just pisses me off to no end.

 

[NewOrleansSlimm]

pictures would help, I do auto collision for a living...without seeing it and not knowing all the damage...I would have the shop reattach the best they can if the bumper cover is hanging...wipe any paint transfer off and touch up any spots needed with paint. then trade it in

they told you that way because you will spend more fixing it than value it would bring, unless you have full coverage and a low deductable...we just done my neighbors truck, he jacked it up and put big tires on, came to us to modify the fenders and repaint them so it wont rub, done the job and he went and traded it same day for a new truck...he still dont have an answer as to why he spent that money in the first place

 

[merlin]

What's your deduct? On a claim like that(your car lawfully parked, not in motion) your ins wont go up.

 

[Joe]

What's your deduct? On a claim like that(your car lawfully parked, not in motion) your ins wont go up.

$500 deductible. Problem is I don't know where or when it happened. I just noticed it earlier this week. All the road salt residue kind of hid it well.

 

[hammie]

See if there are any "paintless dent repair" shops in your area. Some of the stuff they are doing today is pretty amazing. There are many YouTube videos about this, I especially like the one where the bumper cover has a dent and the guy pops it out with a heat gun.

And here I thought this was your "last car"

 

[Joe]

And here I thought this was your "last car"

I've transformed myself from save mode to spend it while I can enjoy it mode. Honestly, it's hard to change after all these years.

 

[Richard Alpert]

Too bad the SOB isn't on camera, Joe! Edit: Sorry--just read that you don't know where...

Honesty is the best policy. (The second-best policy ("25 cent charge if returned videocassette is not rewound.") doesn't apply to this situation.)

My bride gives me a hard time about parking way out of the way at parking lots.
Just an attempt at managing my risk, but I'm still at the mercy of others' driving skills/lack thereof and honesty/lack thereof.
It doesn't take much damage to get up $1000 on vehicles these days!

RICHARD

 

[dmr]

My bride gives me a hard time about parking way out of the way at parking lots.
Just an attempt at managing my risk, but I'm still at the mercy of others' driving skills/lack thereof and honesty/lack thereof.

Until recently I scoffed at those who park waaaayyyy away from others in a lot. However, if there's open space I'll often do it now, since back in September I noticed a nasty dent in my rear fender, by the wheel.

Below is an almost-surreal shot of the dent. I know it did not happen when I was in the car, so it must have been in a parking lot somewhere.

It doesn't take much damage to get up $1000 on vehicles these days!

Before I got it fixed I got two estimates at two different body shops. (Actually, three, but that's a story for a long rainy Thursday.) Both were just shy of $1000! (OMG!)

I was very fortunate in that I was turned on to a FOAF who has worked in body shops but now has a desk job. He does some body work on his own occasionally to keep in practice and he did a great job on my car at about 1/2 the price. He also clued me in on some of the estimate padding that quite a few body shops do.

Here's the shot of the dent.

 

[NewOrleansSlimm]

we do work on the side all the time, the thing is people dont realize how much materials cost now a days...it is not cheap...a gallon of our clear is $400 our cost, then you need hardners, reducers, ect...paint, primer, sealer, sand paper, body filler...now you are not going to use a gallon on just a bumper or quarter panel but we still have to account for that...

you can go to any shop and if they want your money they will work with you

 

[dmr]

you can go to any shop and if they want your money they will work with you

The two shops I first got estimates from did not even mention a "spot repair", and my FOAF said that it's common as some shops will only quote a full repair and not the cheaper options. My third estimate was at Maaco, which I did not seriously consider mainly because of the bad things I've heard about them. Rather than re-type that story, here's a cut-paste of what I wrote on a local board:

"For those who care, just for giggles I went for an estimate at Maaco and it was a learning experience. I admitted to the guy that I had multiple estimates, all in the range of a kilobuck, and that I thought they were high.

He immediately chimed in with "we get that all the time" and that "most body shops will not even discuss the cheaper options" since the vast majority of their work is insurance.

He gave me three options. First is to repair to insurance standards which was almost as much as the other two. The second is not to remove the left rear window and trim but mask them off when painting, which was about $200 cheaper. The third is what he called a "spot repair" where they repaint only the repaired area and blend it out about 18" but in my case they would stop at the edge of the left door. He assured me that most people would not notice it, but that anyone familiar with body work, like the person who appraises it when I trade it in, would know it was done. This one was just about half of the original estimates.

Now a client recommended a place called Paintcrafters (anyone have any experience with them) and I phoned them and they say they can do a spot repair which will not be obvious to anyone. I plan on stopping out there today or tomorrow unless I hear anything bad about them. "

My FOAF did a spot repair, but it is so well blended that it's really impossible to tell. It was far less than the estimates but I'm still p*ssed that it happened and I'm far more careful about where I park now.

Here's the "after" shot of the area:

 

[NewOrleansSlimm]

the maaco guy is pretty much right on, yes most of our work is from insurance and they write the programs to do the estimates, the workers such as my self get screwed sometimes and you cant do much because, again they write the estimating programs...

where I am at my boss will tell the people, if you are not going through insurance and paying cash, we can do it for X amount.

last week we had a guy bring two cars in for broken glass vandelism, he asked my boss about repainting the trunk and fixing a small dent in it. boss quoted him $500, the guy said at another shop they said they would do it for $250, boss said they must be doing it cash on the side. guy said yes sir, and my boss said, $250, yea we can do that...

as for the spot repair, it is best to do on fresh paint like if you scratched it while putting it back together but it is not perfect on every car, you need someone who can match paint if it has sun faded...we do it every know and then, but like stated, we do more insurance work than anything and the estimators are idiots..they will not give you a part or time you need to do something, wait till the customer complains or the car sits for a week and runs rental bills up, then they get you what you needed and you have to take the car back apart to repair it correctly, now the insurance has to pay me twice for the job...happens all the time

 

[Joe]

So I talked to my insurance person this morning and she checked with the claims division. My rates wouldn't go because of this non-fault incident. However, because we get a discount for filing no claims, we would lose that discount and then the rates would go up.

End of story. Not getting it fixed and going to trade it in, as is. If they try and ding me too much, I can show them the estimate and negotiate from there.

 

[merlin]

So I talked to my insurance person this morning and she checked with the claims division. My rates wouldn't go because of this non-fault incident. However, because we get a discount for filing no claims, we would lose that discount and then the rates would go up.

End of story. Not getting it fixed and going to trade it in, as is. If they try and ding me too much, I can show them the estimate and negotiate from there.

How much are your premiums, just curious as I'm next door in Mn?

 

[Joe]

It's a bundle with a discount for 2 cars and homeowners. A 2014 & 2015 with full coverage. Also a discount for pleasure vehicle, less than 16,000 miles per year on each.
$577 per 6 months for both cars.

 

[merlin]

It's a bundle with a discount for 2 cars and homeowners. A 2014 & 2015 with full coverage. Also a discount for pleasure vehicle, less than 16,000 miles per year on each.
$577 per 6 months for both cars.

I paid about $600 a year for my toyota(1k deduct), just dropped the full coverage last renewal as car is 8 years old, now pay $380 for basic liability.